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Schenectady Mayor McCarthy, local officials break ground on new Central Park pool

Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy (third from right) and local officials and business partners break ground on a new pool at Schenectady's Central Park on May 3, 2023.
Alexander Babbie
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Alexander Babbie
Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy (third from right) and local officials and business partners break ground on a new pool at Schenectady's Central Park on May 3, 2023.

Schenectady’s city pool is a portion of Iroquois Lake that has had the bottom concreted over. Saying the cost has become too high to maintain it, Democratic Mayor Gary McCarthy and local officials broke ground on a new one Wednesday.

“It’s a great story for Schenectady. It’s a great story of the partnerships. A great story of the progress that’s happened within this community, and the value that we’re adding within this park. There’s something here for everybody,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy says he hopes the pool is completed quickly.

“It’s going to run through the summer and by the end of the summer, we’re going to have a brand-new facility here that again will add to the ambiance, the first-class facilities that are within this park,” McCarthy noted.

The new pool facilities will also include a bathhouse, a resistance walk, a splash pad, and parking. McCarthy noted that the funds to build the new facilities from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act allocation. As those are public funds, McCarthy confirmed that the city council had signed off on the plan.

"City council has approved two funding seams for this and again, that's why we're here today, with full-fledged design and construction underway,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy says that the new pool will only increase the options residents have for recreation in the area.

“It’s a great story for Schenectady. It's a great story of the partnerships, great story of the progress that's happened within this community. And the value that we're adding in this park,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy added that there’s even more nearby.

“Just down the road, we have the municipal golf course, which again, is a recognized facility for its quality, its play, and just the enjoyment that people get to make or get to have at that facility,” McCarthy noted.

To keep the pool in proper working order, McCarthy says that the pool’s operating budget will come out of the city’s general fund.

The new pool will go in where there used to be tennis courts. Emily Gardner, Director of Landscape Architecture at Saratoga Associates, the firm designing the site, says that putting the new pool where it is will utilize a under-used area of the park.

“This site was chosen, it had been the location of the former tennis stadium. It was underutilized, it was, you know, not at the point that it could be repaired affordably and the other tennis courts were really more in use. So, it presented an opportunity of transforming an underutilized space to something that would be an additional asset for the park,” Gardner said.

Asked what would happen to the old pool, Gardner says it will be filled in.

Although the pool’s upkeep is to be publicly funded, McCarthy says that access is free.

The total budget for the pool is projected at $10 million. McCarthy says that the aim is to open the pool as soon as possible.

“We’re hoping for this summer. The reality is with construction, some of the supply chain issues that definitely be open next summer, but cautiously optimistic that somebody might get to enjoy it this summer,” McCarthy said.

A 2022 Siena College graduate, Alexander began his journalism career as a sports writer for Siena College's student paper The Promethean, and as a host for Siena's school radio station, WVCR-FM "The Saint." A Cubs fan, Alexander hosts the morning Sports Report in addition to producing Morning Edition. You can hear the sports reports over-the-air at 6:19 and 7:19 AM, and online on WAMC.org. He also speaks Spanish as a second language. To reach him, email ababbie@wamc.org, or call (518)-465-5233 x 190. You can also find him on Twitter/X: @ABabbieWAMC.