Philly prepares all pools for opening after closures, delays due to DC 33 strike
City pools begin process of reopening as strike ends
Work to get all city pools back up and running is beginning after the District Council 33 strike has ended.
PHILADELPHIA - One problem Philadelphians faced with the ongoing strike was a way to beat the heat. The city planned on opening close to 60 pools this summer season, but some gates were locked when lifeguards joined the picket lines. The city wants all the pools to open, but it may not be that easy.
What we know:
The DC 33 strike ended Wednesday with a tentative agreement reached. Municipal workers on strike immediately returned to work Wednesday morning.
Union employees who maintain city pools were affected during the strike. The Department of Parks and Recreation is working to get all pools back up and running for families. Some will reopen by Monday. It could be two weeks before all are back in operation.
By the numbers:
The strike began July first. At that time more than 40 pools were already open.
The Department of Parks and Rec was forced to temporarily close 17 of them. That left 26 city pools open.
The opening of the remaining 20 pools was delayed due to the strike.
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What they're saying:
City pools like the one at Murphy Rec Center on West Shunk Avenue in South Philly are busy on hot days. Residents were able to stay cool even during the District Council 33 strike. But some other pools were locked up and closed while striking municipal workers who maintain the pools were off the job.
"As a result of the work stoppage we had to drain water out of 17 of our pools," said Susan Slawson. She is the commissioner of the Philadelphia Parks and Recreation. The strike ended Wednesday and she says by next week pools that had to be closed will be back open.
"It's a matter of them refilling and cleaning the pools," she said. "But by Monday, this coming Monday, we will have all 17 of those pools open," said Commissioner Slawson.
That will put the city back on track after just over a week’s delay in all of its pools being accessible to the public. The timeline for it all is within two weeks.
"Making sure all of our pools, our 60, 62 pools are opened within the next couple of weeks," said Slawson. "So the pools that we had to actually take the water out of as a result of the strike, those pools will be a lot simpler to refill. But the pools that we were still working towards, we have to now go and power wash, we now have to go and paint, and then we have the chlorine levels and the water. That still has to be done for the 20 pools that were not opened as of yet," she added.
Commissioner Slawson encourages families to also continue using any of the 112 spray grounds that exist around the city.
"Our team our staff, they're working extremely hard to get these pools up and running for our community members," she said.
What's next:
The Department of Parks and Rec says the 17 pools that were drained during the stoppage are being refilled and will reopen by Monday. They are:
Schmidt, Vogt, Northern Liberties, Mitchell, Fishtown, Francisville, Morris Estate, Shuler, Fletcher, Ford, Sacks, Feltonville, Waterloo, Shepard, Bridesburg, Lonnie Young, and Ridgway.
For more information on the remaining pools, visit the city's pools website, here.