New McCarren Park Pool Having Problems With Fighting, Thievery

Fight and thieves bringing negative reactions to the newly-renovated pool The newly reopened McCarren Park Pool is having a few problems more severe than the occasional toddler screaming. The park, amidst an array of criminal problems, was shut down for the second time since its $50 million opening last Thursday, The Huffington Postreports. After a three-year closure and a highly anticipated renovation from Brooklyn residents, recurring fighting and thievery from the pool's provided lockers has forced closures and certainly doesn't portend favorably for the park's future. On Monday, three arrests were made after an assault on two police officers trying to enforce the pool's "no backflip" rule. One officer was punched in the face while another was injured on the wrist, the Huffington Post reports. On the prior Friday, the park was forced to close merely hours after its grand reopening because of an attack on a lifeguard that results in shed blood and almost resulted in the lifeguard's death, said the same report. Also, in a more recent report by Gothamist and NYC Park's Advocate Geoffrey Croft, just a little bit before Monday's assault, four lockers in the pool's locker room were broken into, resulting in at least one purse's disappearance. There are cameras throughout the facility, but not on the locks, one police officer told Geoffrey Croft. This all comes after a [huge project](http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/mccarrenpark/pressrelease/20887), part of PlaNYC, by Mayor Bloomberg and the parks department to restore the site back to a pool -like it was in 1983- after it was a popular Brooklyn music venue for many years. It seems a bit odd that the same site continuously seems to be a victim of violence, especially with its ambition to be a family-friendly park, and people are voicing their opprobrium on Twitter. (http://nypress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Picture-1.png) (http://nypress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Picture-2.png) Hopefully McCarren can clean up its act, or the acts of the people using it, but even I'd pick another pool for now. Poops are less scary than punches. --Nick Gallinelli