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Cranston Opens City Splash Pad Early – TODAY!
With high temperatures this week, there will be an early opening of the Cooney Playground splash pad off Oak Street, near Hugh B. Bain Middle School.
The splashpad was originally set to open at the beginning of July, but Cranston Mayor Ken Hopkins announced that with the projected high temperatures for Monday and Tuesday, children and families needed an opportunity to cool off.
“With the support of the community and our dedicated city staff, my office has made the decision to open the city splash pad ahead of schedule to provide our residents with a fun, refreshing way to beat the heat during the coming days,” Mayor Hopkins said.
The splash pad, nestled in the heart of Cooney Playground, offers a fun and safe environment for children to play. The decision to open early reflects the city’s commitment to enhancing the quality of life for its residents, ensuring that everyone has access to recreational amenities regardless of the season.
Mayor Hopkins encourages residents to take advantage of this early opening and reminds everyone to stay hydrated and use sunscreen while enjoying the summer sun. The city will continue to monitor weather conditions to ensure the safety and comfort of all visitors.
The splash pad, which was constructed in 2023 and was fully supported by Community Development Block Grant funding, will be open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. for the summer season.
Recently the city announced that due to a construction problem with rebuilding the Budlong Pool – namely finding a large drainage pipe that was not on any engineering documents – the Pool will miss the 2025 year in opening. As pool problems developed over the last few year, the Cooney Playground splash pad was quickly put together for the community to use, and has proven to be a popular feature.
NOTE: Providence also opens today – Listing HERE!
JOHNSTON also open!
And again, I’ll remind people that there was nothing wrong with the pool and nothing is being done.
The new ‘kiddie’ splash pads at Doric won’t be finished until August (per Moretti, the sidekick).
A day late and a dollar short.
They found a large drainage pipe under the pool as it was being rebuilt – explains the drainwater constantly filling the pool. A WPA project, it was never noted on any of the plans. So now they will dig it up and do it right. The splash pad at Doric is interesting – the kids are gleeful, though it is very plain and just opened in a pinch. The new one at Doric will be top notch – hopefully the pool will be open in 2026.
But – We kept asking the City to drain the pool, remove the fairly new liner to see what was going on. The City and the companies involved never did. We were brushed off by the Mayor and his yes men. They insisted we didn’t know what we were talking about. They chose to ignore us because they had a wad of money to blow. They made a ”guesstimate” – a very costly and unnecessary guess. The pool would have been opened today but Hizzoner knows more than anyone (he thinks). I took pictures in March of the excavation. The pool looks the same today as it did over 3 months ago. I guess no one has the brains how to divert the drain. BTW – my son watched as the liner was pulled. The liner was fine and he didn’t see any cracks in the pool itself. This is on the Mayor for destroying something that generations of Cranstonians enjoyed. Disgraceful.
The evaluation team that came in showed the destroyed liner and that the water was seeping up (now that makes sense with the pipe underneath that no one knew was there) – and not collecting from rain. Why would the city NOT want to open the pool as soon as possible and make voters and others happy? Makes no sense to think otherwise as to motive. One more year!
The City didn’t want to open the pool ASAP. Hopkins wanted a new pool. It was closed in 2020 because of the pandemic. Where was maintenance? Nowhere to be found. I live close enough to have heard them when they maintained the pool, even in the winter (probably checking the pumps). Nobody came in 2021, 2022, 2023. The City dropped the ball. Even an above-ground pool in a backyard requires regular maintenance. How did they ignore a pool of this size?
The drain was probably installed years later. The Cranston Fire used to fill the field in the winter for skating. The water damage would have shown up a lot sooner. Not many years ago, there was no liner in the pool. It was emptied after every summer, and in the spring, it was scraped and repainted. I’m not against change but I’m against being buffaloed.
You are right about little maintenance – but that goes back to the Fung administration and even before that. Imperatore confirmed that. No buffalos here – just cows coming home to roost and unfortunately saddled in this admin.