Jersey City opens $5.2M pool complex in Lafayette section after years of delays; kids jump right in

Published: Saturday, July 02, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

After more than a year of delays and a decade or so of planning, Jersey City?s $5.2 million Lafayette Pool and Aquatic Center opened yesterday to cheers from dozens of kids ready to swim.

City officials expressed relief that the years of planning have finally paid off.


Kids play in one of the pools after the opening of the Lafayette Pool and Aquatic Center yesterday.

Aquatic Supervisor Jamie Gordon said contractors did an ?phenomenal job? finishing the complex, which includes one pool for teens and adults and another for children.

?Everything has turned out excellent,? Gordon said.

City resident Renee Jackson said she anticipates her 11-year-old daughter will spend much of the summer splashing in the children?s pool, which includes three slides. Jackson lives in the nearby Woodward Terrace apartments.

?We?ve been waiting since last year,? Jackson said before the ribbon-cutting ceremony. ?And we?re still waiting, because they told us 12 (o?clock) and now they?re telling us 1 (o?clock).?

The complex was originally scheduled to open last April, and was delayed again recently when city officials accused the original contractor of doing a shoddy job. Emergency contractors were brought in to finish the complex, city officials said.

Mayor Jerramiah Healy called the grand opening a ?great occasion,? and urged residents to keep the complex as clean as it looked yesterday.

?We think it?s money well spent,? Healy said. ?It?s going to give our youngsters a chance to engage in something pleasant and positive this summer.?

City resident Bernice Davis, at the pool with her daughter, Nicole, 6, said she plans to frequent the pool unless it deteriorates.

?As soon as it starts becoming rowdy, uncontrollable, then I won?t be coming here,? Davis said, adding that she wonders why the city didn?t include any chairs for parents to lounge on near the children?s pool.

?Where are we supposed to sit?? she asked.