Residents Speak Out on Cronin's Cove Swimming

Wednesday night's public hearing on swimmers in Crystal Lake's Cronin's Cove opened with a significant disclaimer from Alderman Amy Sangiolo.

The hearing, scheduled to discuss allowing "regulated, unsupervised" swimming should be allowed in Cronin's Cove (a section of Crystal Lake where numerous bathers currently, and illegally, swim), drew more than 80 people, a large enough crowd that the meeting was moved from a conference room to the aldermen's chambers. But Sangiolo, the chairman of the city's planning and services committee, started the meeting by reading a brief from the city's Law Department, stating that aldermen have no power to allow or ban swimmers from the lake.

According to the Law Department, that power lies with the city's Parks and Recreation Department.

In theory, that brief made Wednesday night's public hearing meaningless, but it didn't stop many in the crowd from passionately voicing their support (or opposition) to swimmers in the cove.

Currently, swimmers are only allowed in Crystal Lake during limited daytime hours from June 13-August 21 in an area supervised by lifeguards near the newly renovated Rogers Street bath house. Any swimmers using other parts of the lake, or swimming outside of scheduled hours, violate Parks and Recreation rules, and can be removed from the park by police.

The hearing was called to discuss a plan, proposed by Newton resident Deborah Fogel, that would allow and regulate the use of the full lake outside of lifeguard supervision. 

Many of the cove's neighbors opposed the plan, and spoke of significant problems that have been caused by an explosion of unregulated swimmers in the cove in recent years, including noise nuisances, littering, and swimmers engaging in public nudity, lewd behavior, public drinking, and public urination and defecation.

The majority of residents in attendance, though, applauded speakers who urged aldermen to accept the proposal, which would allow (and regulate) swimmers throughout the lake.

"The lake is a great community resource, and I'm all for the city finding ways to expand its use," said Fogel. "We already have unregulated crowds. Let's do something to see if we can control it, and see if it works."

Fogel pointed out that the city should work to regulate the use of the lake, since it was already expending resources in a failed attempt to keep people away. Newton police have been stationing squad cars at the cove regularly to curtail illegal use.

"If the city doesn't want to spend resources to expand the lake, why is it spending the resources to have two police cruisers sitting there all day, every day?" Fogel asked.

Al Leisinger, a Beacon Street resident, seconded that thought.

"We're paying for police cars instead of lifeguards," he said. "I swim there whenever I can."

Kenwood Avenue resident David Jacobs suggested that most of the opponents of the proposal were cove abutters who wanted to keep the area to themselves.

"Most people here who have spoken who are adjacent to the lake are advocating for taking a public resource for themselves," he said.

Jacobs cited communities that have successfully implemented "swim-at-your-own-risk" regulations for unsupervised swimmers, and suggested Newton should follow suit.

Cronin's Cove neighbors said the proposal ignores real problems caused by the current (illegal) use of the cove.

Schuler Larrabee, a Laurel Street resident, said that since there are no facilities at Cronin's Cove, swimmers regularly urinate and defecate in public areas.

"When nature calls, there are no facilities," he said. "It's pretty obvious what they do."

Many speakers insisted that they'd never seen bathers behave in such a manner, but Arthur Glasgow, another Laurel Street resident, insisted that such statements miss the point.

"I know that a lot of you who don't live on Laurel Street haven't seen these things, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen," he said. "I shouldn't have people nude, changing clothes, behind my bushes in my front yard. It's my private property."

After public comments, alderman Marcia Johnson pointed out that the Board of Aldermen has studied the feasibility of expanding swimming at Crystal Lake, but that the board was limited in its possible actions.

"We have had multiple meetings on this, because many people on the committee support what you are requesting," she said. "The way this city is set up, Parks and Recreation has control of those resources. I ask you to speak often, and loudly, and be heard, because they make the decisions."