What Should Be Done With Memorial Pool?

The future of Memorial Pool is something that's obviously of great  concern to many Fair Lawn residents. If one resident's remarks at last week's council meeting are any indication, rumors about the pool's future are rampant in town.

At Sunday's , candidates were asked what they would do with Memorial Pool. Specifically:

"For several decades, the municipality has poured millions of gallons of water and hundreds of thousands of dollars each year back into the Passaic River, via Memorial Pool. Do you believe that taxpayers would prefer a larger cost upfront for the installation of a more cost-effective pool, or prefer to maintain the status quo?" 

Here are their full answers:

Stuart Pace:

I don’t know what the residents want. They haven’t told me. I’ve swam in Memorial Pool once in my entire 50 years of living here. Not a big fan of not seeing my feet when I go into the water. You can blame Jaws. And the reason I never went in there, I kept saying, geez, this is right next to the river. And try as you might to keep that area clean it’s next to the Passaic River. And I think that it might be time to say, ‘You know what folks, there’s a lot of things gone in Fair Lawn. I think a sand pool isn’t worth having there,’ to be honest with you. I hear that residents aren’t going, the numbers are dwindling. Maybe an upfront cost, I’ll ask everybody. That’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to ask people what they want. I would prefer to see a cement pond.”

Kurt Peluso:

I have spoken to the residents…to be honest with the residents it’s about a 50/50 split. There are some people who like Memorial Pool as the status quo, there are some people who want to see some minor improvements and there are some people who want to see a cement pool. And we have to get that question maybe to the ballot. Let’s ask the voters. Let’s ask the residents what the solid numbers are. And I think when you have a pool, it really serves the community. The price tag, we have to keep it in check. Because as we said, property taxes are pretty solid here in Fair Lawn. We don’t want to increase them to scare our young families out of here or our senior citizens that are living on fixed incomes. But we should revisit Memorial Pool. I know there was a committee set up a few years ago.  Let’s look at it again, let’s revisit that question and find out what the true answer is for the residents here in Fair Lawn.

Joan Fragala:

Memorial Pool, I believe, is a jewel of our town. And we need to investigate by asking other towns. What have they done? I don’t think that not having a pool is the answer.  And I know that over the summer, you know we have so many camps there. And on many of those hot days, that pool is a breath of fresh air for those kids that are in camps there. Go there on the weekend and see how many people are using the pool. It’s, again, the jewel of our town. We need to revisit what would be the best way, the most economical way to maintain our pool for our citizens.

Cristina Cutrone:

I too think that Memorial Pool is a real jewel of this town. I spend a lot of my summer there, and I like that its sand bottom makes me feel like I’m at the beach. I think the bigger issue here really though is flooding. Something needs to be done about the flooding. And this is not just a Fair Lawn issue. This is an issue for Saddle Brook, this is an issue for Elmwood Park, this is an issue where the council needs to get together with surrounding towns. We need to work together so that we can lobby the state and lobby Washington. I’m not saying that what happened here is comparable to Hurricane Katrina, but when that happened the federal government stepped in and helped with those levees. We need the federal government to step in and help us fix this situation. Then we can leave Memorial Pool the way it is, and we can also be helping a lot of other residents with their homes at the same time.

Pamela Coles:

Memorial Pool is one Fair Lawn’s crown jewels. I swam there as a kid, I swam there as a teenager, and to this day, I still swim out to the raft. And you can find me there on any Sunday afternoon if you want a sight for sore eyes. Like I said it is one of our crown jewels. And we are afforded to be one of the towns affordable to have a pool so easily accessible, at a price that is so affordable for an entire family… Unfortunately, flooding is going to be an issue. Recreation is a perfect spot for a flooding zone. If we were to cement the bottom of Memorial Pool, right now there would be a boatload of sludge at the bottom. There would be no place for it to run off onto. We do have to address the flooding, but unfortunately the flooding is going to exist, and we have to address a bigger issue -- how are we going to maintain this pool?

John Cosgrove: 

I believe that we really need to put some effort into planning, and put together a master plan for the pool. Unfortunately, this probably is not the last flood. We’ve seen floods before and they continue to get worse. But we need to put together a plan. I remember when they put the trailers down there -- from what I’ve heard the trailers are no longer able to be used -- but the plan was, the trailers were supposed to be pulled out of there in the event of a flood. But anyone who knows anything about construction, once you put water lines and sewer lines in, you’re not going to do that. As far as the sand bottom, I have talked to many residents. There are pros and cons on each side. I think we have to put together a committee and take a look at this and provide leadership. We also need to find out from the state, there was talk that we weren’t going to be able to have a sand pool. So I’d hate to see us put the money and repair the pool and find out after a period of time that we won’t be able to use the pool. So it all comes down once again to leadership and management.

Lisa Swain: 

I love Memorial Pool. It’s one of the reasons my husband and I moved here. It’s one of the first experiences I had of Fair Lawn. But when I got on the council, it was one of the first areas I looked at because I knew about the water problem, about the water going into the Passaic, and it seemed like such a waste to me. So I reviewed all the plans that had been submitted from the previous committee years ago, and I think that we’re at a point now where we need to look at that again. We need to form a pool committee to look at what type of pool do we want to have, where is the best place to have it? I just wanted to point out to Stuart, that actually, membership was up this year. So people are using Memorial Pool and more and more. 

What do you think should be done with Memorial Pool? Vote.

And if you favor an option that isn't listed, tell me in the comments and I'll add it.