Pool just the beginning of summer fun
Cohoes planning host of recreation programs
COHOES, N.Y. » Mayor Shawn Morse says children living in the Spindle City won’t have to worry about having something to do during summer vacation thanks to the reorganization of the city Recreation Department.
The city’s municipal swimming pool in Lansing Park on James Street will open for the summer Monday afternoon, and Morse said that will be accompanied by a wealth of other summer recreation opportunities.
“We will be having all sorts of great summer events,” said Morse.
Besides being able to swim and get free swimming lessons, Morse said kids will also be able enjoy a family camp swim night in July — where families can bring their children to camp out and cook in Lansing Park — Christmas in July, karate programs, soccer and basketball clinics, a summer sports academy, an environmental series, and education through recreation — where, starting in July, students can learn how to safely cross highways and roads.
Morse said having many positive programs for children throughout the year was an important issue to him when he campaigned for mayor.
“I made a commitment that the city of Cohoes really needed to have stability for our youth,” explained Morse. “That type of stability comes from offering a host and array of recreational things to keep kids busy. The whole goal
is to give kids constructive opportunities to utilize that energy that they have harnessed from being tied up in school and working hard towards their education.
“Summertime is a time for them to let loose, and we want them to have a very safe, structured environment through recreation.”
With kids in the city of Troy being without municipal pools this summer because of lack of funding and the condition of the city’s two pools, Morse said several organizations on that side of the Hudson River have reached out to Cohoes looking to allow kids from Troy to use Lansing Park’s pool without the mandated $5 non-resident charge.
“We’re currently working with a group of organizations to ensure that kids in Troy who want to swim in our pool will have the opportunity to do so,” said Morse. “We want to ensure that the kids in Troy have swimming opportunities, as well. That is all being put in the works right now because the No. 1 goal is to make sure that we can offer as many kids who want to come and swim the opportunity to do so.
“Cohoes kids obviously will have the first opportunities to swim, and we are limited to how many people can be in the pool at one time, so we are looking at our historical numbers for our pool attendance rate and figuring out how we can work it all out.”
For more information on city recreation programs, including a full schedule, visit the city website at www.cohoes.com.