A report from City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ office identified the Bronx’s Council District 13 as the only district in the borough without a public pool, but a Bronx Times analysis found that District 14 also lacks one, revealing flawed NYC Parks data.
In her 2023 State of the City speech, Adams said there are 16 out of 51 City Council districts across New York City without a public pool, as part of her push for better pool access. In the report that was released in conjunction with Adams’ March 8 speech and that she promoted on Twitter, a map illustrates District 13 in the East Bronx, which is represented by Councilmember Marjorie Velázquez, as the only district in the borough without a public pool.
But a review by the Bronx Times found that although District 13 does lack a public pool, so does District 14 in the West Bronx, which is represented by Councilmember Pierina Sanchez. And with the redrawn council district boundaries that were finalized in October and are being implemented in 2024, District 18 in the Southeast Bronx, which is represented by Councilmember Amanda Farías, will become a third district in the borough without a public pool.
According to Jorge Muñiz-Reyesa, a City Council deputy press secretary, the map in Adams’ report was based on current district lines, which are set to expire at the end of 2023. But still, it misrepresents Sanchez’s district.
The Bronx Times found that data behind the map classified Claremont Pool as part of Sanchez’s District 14, but the pool is actually part of Althea Stevens’ District 16, both in the current and 2o24 district lines.
After the Bronx Times pointed out this discrepancy, Muñiz-Reyes blamed NYC Parks for the error. The NYC Council data team relied on publicly posted Parks data for the speaker’s report, which NYC Parks coded incorrectly, he said.
The Bronx Times also found two other Bronx pools that were labeled with the wrong district in Parks’ data, meaning 30%…
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