Providence Pool Demolition Costs Nearly as Much as Rehab

Providence Pool Demolition Costs Nearly as Much as Rehab

The City of Providence approved a bid in May for the demolition of the Joslin Recreation Center Pool, which was closed last year, for over $30,000 -- while supporters of reopening the Davey Lopes pool this summer are looking for ways to raise the estimated $40,000 to make the infrastructure improvements deemed necessary to make the latter usable.

"When I found out the city awarded $30K on a pool demolition...it's spending what we're supposedly saving by not fixing the Davey Lopes pool. It makes no sense to me," said Providence City Councilman Davian Sanchez, who has been an outspoken supporter for pool, which falls in his district.

Several council members have offered to give a portion of their Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds earmarked for their districts to the Davey Lopes pool -- and former State Rep and civil rights leader Ray Rickman had offered to cut a check for $1000 to bolster a fundraising campaign.  

At last night's Providence City Council meeting, the full council considered a resolution introduced by Councilman Sanchez "requesting his Honor the Mayor to re-open the Davey Lopes pool" -- and approved the measure by a unanimous vote of 15-0.

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Costs of Alternatives Decried

In documents leaked to GoLocal earlier this week, GoLocal learned that a request-for-proposal went out from the city in April for bidders to provide "limited demolition of the Joslin pool, fill pool with common loam, seed, and burrow, R&D existing fencing and provide temporary fencing."

In May, the city Board of Contract and Supply voted that the "Acting Purchasing Director be authorized to engage V&L Construction...low bidder, for the Joslin Pool Demolition, in a total amount not to exceed thirty one thousand, four hundred thirty-eight ($31,438) Dollars, in accordance with the offer of said firm submitted on May 6, 2013."

"I didn't realize it cost that much to demolish a pool," Councilman Luis Aponte told GoLocal. "It seems to me that since Joslin didn't have a deep end, Davey Lopes would probably cost even more then to fill-in. And as far as the part that's damaged, well, that was done by the Parks Department."

On Thursday, former City Council member and current State Representative John Lombardi raised the issue of how much the city was spending to open fire hydrants during the current heat wave.

"The city's sending fire trucks out to open the hydrants -- and close them, and open them again," said Lombardi. "That starts getting into the thousands, and tens of thousands [of dollars] for all those runs."

Kids Looking for Ways to Beat Heat

On Wednesday, Davey Lopes Recreation Center Director George Lindsey provided an oversized inflatable slide outside -- with a hose -- for kids to cool off in the front yard.

Councilman Sanchez was critical of the city's attempt to bring kids from Davey Lopes to other facilities for actual swimming purposes.

"When they sent our kids to Zuccalo recently, they stood in line for an hour in the sun, because the paperwork wasn't ready," said Sanchez. "There were a couple of kids in the pool when they got there, and we sent 22 kids. Why are we going somewhere else when we have more kids here needing how to learn to swim?"

"They only got to swim for about ten minutes before getting sent back. This is supposed to be once a week, but I'm not sure we're doing to be doing this again," Said Sanchez.

See Joslin Pool Demolition RFP Here

See Joslin Pool Demolition Award Here