With New City Parks, Cities Get to Say "Everyone Enjoy the Water!"

On a count of three, Mayor Flowers cut the ribbon, and the Pulaski Pool was open for the summer! 

Photo courtesy of the City of Poughkeepsie 

This weekend, New City Parks (NCP) was thrilled to join our City of Poughkeepsie partners in celebrating the completion and grand reopening of the Pulaski Pool House and Pool. With bathing suits and floaties already on, eager residents and community leaders gathered for a joyous public ribbon-cutting event hosted by Mayor Yvonne Flowers, with remarks from State Senator Rob Rolison (former Mayor and NCP Board Member), former Mayor Marc Nelson, 1st Ward Councilmember Ernest Henry, NCP founder Rose Harvey… and many others who worked to make this project possible. 

The tale of the Pulaski Pool House is an all-too-common refrain for NCP-cities and their recreational infrastructure. Originally constructed in 1957, the pool house had severely deteriorated and remained closed to the public for many years. In 2021, NCP began working with the City to facilitate a community-led design process for a total rebuild of a new pool and pool house complex and supported the initial design. Based on this vision, NCP helped secure a $500,000 Environmental Protection Fund grant from New York State to catalyze the eventual $3.3 million transformation.  

After being closed for two long summers for construction, neighborhood residents now have access to a safe and updated facility to enjoy during these sweltering summer days! 

Project collaborators celebrate the transformation of Pulaski Pool with Mayor Flowers (center); the result of the shared vision and tenacity over three successive mayoral administrations to get the job done! From left to right: Donte Artist Poughkeepsie DPW, State Senator Rob Rolison, NCP Executive Director Rose Harvey, Director of Architecture, Saratoga Associates Chris Whiting, Commissioner of Finance Brian Martinez, and 3rd Ward Common Council Member Terriciena Brown.

Photo by: Elsa McElroy

At the ceremony, Mayor Flowers recounted fond memories from her own childhood summers spent at the pool and expressed how much she was looking forward to sharing the same joy with her grandchildren this summer. 

The renovated pool house complex is ADA accessible and features changing rooms, bathrooms, and a welcome desk in addition to a space for the lifeguards and a kitchen. The building is not the only thing that got an upgrade! The pool area now includes picnic tables and a brand-new splash pad – a major source of excitement on opening day for the little ones!  

Local children enjoying the new splash pad at Pulaski Pool. Photo by: LoriJeane Moody

• Splash pads will feature in five upcoming NCP-revitalized green spaces! Two will be located in green schoolyards (PS12 and PS34) in Jersey City, NJ, two neighborhood parks (Barbour and Vera Ames) in Paterson, NJ, and one large flagship park in Buffalo, NY (Roosevelt). 

• A kayak launch in Paterson’s Westside Park will reconnect residents long cut off from the Passaic River.  

We can’t wait for these communities – and eventually many more – to experience the joy of water like those in Poughkeepsie this weekend.  

This achievement would not have been possible without the support of our irreplaceable community of park lovers.  

Thank you!