BALTIMORE — On Wednesday, Mayor Scott spoke about the current conditions of Baltimore City pools; eight of the 23 are closed.
“Safety is a big issue; it is unsafe to have pools open that are in need of significant repair, period," said Mayor Scott.
Many people are wondering why some of these details were not shared at the beginning of the summer and what is being done to get the pools reopened.
“I think it's that full transparency of communication that folks are really looking at, and I think by not doing that, we sort of stir up some of those concerns," said City Council President Nick Mosby.
Many people shared their frustrations.
“I just feel like they need to lock up the pools more and they shouldn’t put the water in," said Amyra James.
Others are wondering why repairs were not done sooner before the summer since the issues Patterson Park Pool has are not new.
“I think that when we look at the pool situation, it's just a symbolic representation of a bigger problem, and that's for decades and decades and decades of many maintenance issues, many problems, concerns many upkeep of our facilities have literally just been kicked down the road," Mosby said.
Mayor Scott said the pool will be closed as they work on completely remodeling it, like what was done to the pool at Druid Hill Park.
“The Patterson Pool and those who live in the neighborhood there and folks who come from all over to go to that pool deserve to swim and have fun in a adequate pool, not something that was built 50, 60, 70 years ago," said Mayor Scott.
Still, the question remains: if the pool has been closed all summer, why was the pool full of water?
Video WMAR-2 News photographers took Tuesday shows the Patterson Park Pool full of the same green water, but by Wednesday the pool was completely drained.
Some people are left wondering why it was not drained sooner.
“I think the question that many people are asking and one that I look forward to talking to Recs and Park about is when we know a pool is not going to be operational, has major issues, you know, what’s the policy? what’s the protocols to actually drain them to make them safer for, you know, wandering kids like we saw?" said Mosby.
Mayor Scott says the city is investing record amounts into the Department of Recreation and Parks to ensure pools and rec centers are state of the art.
