Frequently Asked Questions About Budlong
What Is The Real Condition of the Pool?
In response to a public record request we have learned the following:
Between 2011 and 2020, the pool was overseen by Parks & Rec Director Tony Liberatore and serviced and inspected by pool company NE Aquatics. As far as we know, the pool was continuously licensed by state regulators (the administration has not turned over licensing records), indicating it met applicable safety and environmental laws.
In 2018, the Fung Administration installed a $200k pool liner with a 15 year full warranty and an average repair-free life of 30-40 years, not because of leaks but to save on annual maintenance costs.
In June, 2021, after the Council asked if the pool could reopen that summer, the Hopkins administration got an estimate from NE Aquatics that the pool could open with about $90,000 of work. Chief of Staff Moretti did not share the NE Aquatics estimate with the Council (he gave his own 30% higher estimate)—but said the pool could not reopen that summer as no funds had been budgeted for this and there was not enough time to prepare it and to hire lifeguards. Pressed on why there was no money in the budget even for maintenance, Moretti said it was because the pool needed only minor work (though the pool would have to be filled to check the filter and pumps). Moretti assured one councilor that the Mayor intended to re-open the pool in 2022, though he was interested in looking at whether its size could be reduced because it had recently been underused (a questionable claim not based on actual data).
In April, 2022, the Federal Hill Group, a consultant hired by the Mayor, reported that the existing pool had several significant issues (many of these claims have been disputed by Mr. Liberatore) but that it could still be fully refurbished and made ADA-accessible for significantly less than the cost of replacing the pool.
In July, 2023, facing growing backlash to his plan and with no real evidence of a need to replace the pool, the Mayor obtained a new evaluation from aquatic engineer Mark Mariano of Weston & Sampson. Weston & Sampson had been hired by the administration months earlier to design the Mayor’s new pool and also has another large City contract. Mariano’s report, like the FHG report, did not involve a physical inspection of the pool shell, did not cite sources or evidence for some of the most serious findings, and its claims have also been disputed by Tony Liberatore. At the Mayor’s 9/6/23 pool forum, Mariano claimed it would cost $9M to make the pool safe and operational. The City has never produced a breakdown of this cost estimate, but it appears to include replacement of the pool shell due to leaks for which there remains no credible evidence and a vast expansion of the pool house to add dozens of additional showers and toilets which Mariano has falsely represented that the City would be required to add should it continue to operate the existing pool.
The Mayor has refused to obtain an independent assessment of the pool’s condition or the cost of making any necessary repairs.
How Many People Use Budlong Pool?
The Mayor has claimed that the pool is under-used based on its size, and that usage was around 500 when it was last opened. We don’t know if he means to say only 500 unique users visited the pool all summer, or an average of 500 people used the pool daily or something else. At the Mayor’s 9/6/23 pool forum, Mayor Hopkins produced records from 2017-2019 of hourly headcounts that were manually recorded by pool staff that indicated maximum pool usage was 350. These records do not appear to reflect usage by approximately 700 participants in Cranston’s summer camp program, who visited the pool three times per week. The Mayor appears to have been unaware that the City only allowed 300 swimmers into Budlong Pool at a time. Residents who frequented the pool in recent years say that there were frequently lines to get in. The City has also done little or nothing in recent years to promote the pool, which might see greater use with some initiative by the City.
It is not clear whether the Mayor has any plan for the Cranston campers, who have had nowhere in the City to swim for the last 4 years. In a recent survey, 60% of the families participating in the camp programs listed the pool and swimming lessons as a top priority.
Don’t We Have To Replace the Pool to Comply With the ADA?
This is a false rumor. Budlong pool does not meet the accessibility standards of the Americans With Disabilities Aact (which was passed in 1990). Budlong is grandfathered because it was built before the law was passed though it might become subject to the ADA if the City were to make “substantial alterations” to the pool. Either way, we strongly believe the pool should be made ADA-accessible. There are a variety of modifications that could be made to provide access, from ramps, to lifts, to transfer walls. The Federal Hill Group estimated that the pool and bathhouse could be renovated and made fully accessible for far less than the cost of building a new pool.
Doesn’t It Cost A lot To Operate the Pool?
The pool’s regular operating expenses, reported in publicly available budgets, are a miniscule portion of the Parks and Rec budget —less than $100k after accounting for pool revenue. This amount does not include some costs, including water and unscheduled repairs, which records suggest would at most raise the annual cost to about $200k.
When looking at the value of the pool to the City, its operating costs should not be viewed out of context. The City has finite resources for sure and the pool does cost money to run. How the City chooses to spend our finite resource is about values and priorities. We should look at Budlong’s benefits: a refuge from summer temperatures that are rising every year and are becoming more and more of a public health hazard; a place where residents learn the life-saving skill of swimming, where teens can engage in healthy social activity and an opportunity for some to gain marketable lifeguarding training and experience; a place where all generations can exercise and that brings the entire community together for family fun. We should also look at other areas that have received very substantial investment from the Hopkins administration—$8M for an aesthetic make-over for tiny Itri Park and $1.5M or more for astroturf for Western Cranston High’s football field, to name two. And we should compare how many people and how many Cranston neighborhoods stand to benefit from different projects as we decide how Cranston should investment its resources.
Why Is The Pool Open So Few Weeks A Year?
That is a choice made by the City.
But Isn’t It Too Hard To Find Lifeguards These Days?
There is no evidence that Cranston was unable to fully staff Budlong Pool in years past. Recently, there has been a tight labor market, which has made it hard to fill all kinds of jobs. But that seems to be easing, and the truth is that if the City offers competitive pay rates, it should be able to hire enough lifeguards. (In a real pinch, the City’s first responders, who have the relevant skills, could fill in—or worst case, a portion of the pool could be cordoned off when needed without closing the entire pool!) In past years, the City offered lifeguard training at the high schools. This is not just a great way to make be sure the City has enough lifeguards for the pool, but is also an investment in vocational training for Cranston youth.
Why Should We Have Such A Big Pool When Other Communities Have Much Smaller Pools?
Budlong is about 40% larger than an Olympic-size pool. It was built in the 1930s or 40s by the Works Progress Administration. Until the 1960s and 70s, large public pools were a common part of American cities large and small. Public pools offered poor and working families a place to socialize, experience community, and cool off during the summer heat. Communities began closing their public pools out of resistance to desegregation, and white and more affluent families fled to the suburbs sand built backyard pools or joined private clubs.
More recently, municipalities have been downsizing and closing pools as part of a general trend toward privatization and disinvestment in public goods. This has led to an alarming rise in Americans, particularly working class and people of color, growing up without knowing how to swim. Thousands drown each year in what the New York Times recently described as a “public health crisis” that is being ignored. Swimming is a survival skill and the ability to acquire it should not be based on class or income. There is also another trend to be concerned about. Temperatures have begun rising dramatically due to climate change, summer heat is becoming increasingly life-threatening and this is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. There are going to be not just hotter summers but longer summers. Now is not the time to reduce our pool capacity but to prepare for more demand for places to cool off.
The Mayor and his supporters frequently argue that other communities are building smaller pools so that is obviously what we should do, too. This trend has generally not been driven by resident preference, but by municipal budget cutting.
Cranston is the second biggest city in the State. It has just one public pool, compared to Providence’s five (there is apparently a movement afoot to build another, Olympic-sized public pool in Providence now). Warwick, smaller than Cranston, has multiple public pools.
Whether to have a pool, how big a pool and what kind of pool are choices that reflect our priorities and values. We are not obligated to follow what other cities do. We get to choose for ourselves. Smaller is not better. It’s just… smaller. A pool two-thirds the size of the one we have will hold two-thirds less people. An irregularly shaped, mostly shallow pool is not necessarily the right pool for people to learn how to swim or for teens or adults to play, exercise and socialize.
The great thing about our pool is that it is made to accommodate multiple generations and uses. A third of the pool is shallow enough for small children. A third of it is set up for laps and exercise. And a third of it is perfect for teens and adults to swim and socialize.
Why Can’t We Just Compromise on Size, Say With An Olympic-Sized Pool?
Compromise is great. We might be happy enough with a pool 20 or 30 percent smaller than our very big pool. But, a 7,000 sq. ft. pool is to small to comfortably accommodate an adequate number of users or the ways they use the pool. At least according to the FHG, it is less expensive to fix than to replace the pool.
Why Can’t We Have Splashpads And Other Nice Things?
Splashpads, pickleball courts, picnic tables, fitness areas, dog parks, playgrounds all sound great. But, the land where the Budlong pool sits is not the only place in Cranston those things can go. We only have one public pool, and there is no reason that other nice things have to come at the expense of Budlong.