Mayor Hopkins stays firm to reopen Budlong Pool, responds to “rebuke” of PAC, and City Councilor

Cranston’s partisan politics isn’t taking a break, even as the world explodes in concerns of World War, and people are fighting over religion and cultural divides. Cranston seems to be a microcosm of divide as any thought of compromise, working together, and agreeing to disagree has been lost – all over a dirty, mucky dead swimming pool.

Other issues that have come up recently have been how the $600,000 the city obtained to repair all of its playgrounds was distributed – equally among all 6 wards – and whether the Itri Park was worth doing. Neighbors noted that when one of the biggest developments in Cranston – Topgolf – cut the ribbon to open, why the full City Council wasn’t there, regardless of their initial support for the entertainment venue or not.

Cranston Forward, a Political Action Committee (PAC), continues its objections to Mayor Ken Hopkins (R) plans to renovate the city’s Budlong Pool. The Mayor has said it’s all enough and is moving forward with plans to put the project out to bid with specifications being finalized.

Cranston reaps rewards other cities wish they had; it’s often been called the #2 city to do business in. It’s a community that’s doing well, with a good tax base that allows some “bells and whistles” other cities can’t even think about doing. It’s a good city to send your children to school, and soon, during the holidays, many who have moved on, will enjoy coming home to meet up with their friends and family and go to The Thirsty Beaver or O’Rourke’s Bar & Grille or a Cranston High School East- or West game or event. They’ll shop at the successful Garden City and Chapel View. They’ll walk around newly spruced up Rolfe Street – and Pawtuxet Village. And this year there will be a unique TopGolf entertainment venue to explore.

The disagreement over the future of the Budlong Pool is the latest – but not the last – to stir the political pot in the city. And half of the City Council and a PAC called Cranston Forward are not done with their efforts.

As one journalist wrote after receiving Cranston Forward’s latest statement, “Cranston’s Ken Hopkins is arguably Rhode Island’s most successful Mayor, with a vision to expand the tax base by integrating high value retail experiences into established commercial corridors … with little or no taxpayer support or risk. With so many communities (Example: Pawtucket) in Rhode Island facing incredible existential challenges, it is difficult to believe that a controversy over a pool design would deliver this constant angst.”

Just when it seemed as though discussion over the Budlong Pool ended and the Mayor made clear plans were now moving forward, Cranston Forward – and at least 1 City Councilor began issuing statements and comments once again.

Here are two – one from Cranston Forward – one from Councilor Aniece Germain.

First, Mayor Hopkins response.

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Mayor Hopkins Stays Firm In Moving Cranston Forward With New Budlong Pool

“Mayor Kenneth J. Hopkins today reiterated that his administration is moving forward with plans and specifications for a safe and modern new Budlong Pool and bathhouse for Cranston families to enjoy for decades to come.

“Last week I directed our consultants to finalize plans to go out to bid for a new 8,000 square foot Budlong Pool because I determined it was in the best interest of the taxpayers and recreational needs of Cranston,” Mayor Hopkins said. “I am disappointed that the partisan political arm of local Democrats “Cranston Forward” and the Councilwoman of Ward 2 refuse to put the taxpayers first for the long-term interests of our community.”

“Cranston Forward has shown its true colors as a political action committee founded by local Democrats and supported financially by partisan opponents of mine who refuse to be objective about the existing pool’s deteriorating condition,” he stated. “Even in light of unimpeached expert opinion about the pool, its age and conditions and the costs to repair, they stay locked in an embarrassing position of unreasonableness.”

Mayor Hopkins said before they gathered the real facts, individuals like Karen Rosenberg [president] of Cranston Forward, stoked up the community with misinformation and the false idea that we could just put another band aid on the pool wall and re-open it.

“This group continues to mislead the public about my plans, the pool size, and planned amenities,” the mayor said. “Equally ludicrous is their assertions that my administration has been misleading or withholding any information regarding the pool.”

“I met with Ms. Rosenberg and tried to reason with her,” he continued. “As a union organizer maybe Ms Rosenberg is used to intimidating businesses with a bull horn and picket line. At least she has admitted that she has never used the pool.”

Mayor Hopkins said Cranston Forward has turned into a group of partisan activists who fail to represent its group’s goal of working “past partisan and political divides” to prioritize Cranston’s needs.

“These highly political maneuvers and threats of recrimination have no place in the public dialogue of serious city issues,” he said.

The mayor said outlandish rhetoric and bullying tactics cannot guide governmental decisions that require thoughtful consideration and real-life choices. 

“I am amazed that Councilwoman [Aniece] Germain and these opponents fail to grasp we have $4.7 million available for the pool complex,” Hopkins said. “We cannot replace the existing 1930’s pool for that amount and even suggestions of an 11,000 square foot pool would break the budget.”

Hopkins emphasized his confidence in the city’s plans to introduce a dynamic new pool design that will provide Cranston families with a new, safe pool complex, handicapped accessible, that meets current health and building codes. The mayor said Cranston Forward wants to take Cranston “Backwards” to the days of Franklin Roosevelt and a depression era-built rectangular pool.

“I am prepared to defend my decisions at the ballot box, and in the community, as the right thing to do,” Hopkins said. “I am not intimidated by threats of political payback and ‘punishment at the polls’. At the end of the day, most Cranston residents will love the new Budlong Pool and appreciate the pro-taxpayer approach I took in addressing a project that had been neglected long before I was mayor.”

“I agree with Cranston Forward’s statement that Cranston deserves better,” Hopkins concluded. “I am delivering on that promise and I am absolutely committed to giving residents the new pool they deserve.”

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Cranston Forward’s statement “rebukes” the Mayor

On Sunday, Cranston Forward issuing a “statement of rebuke in light of the Mayor’s announced intention to move ahead” with the Budlong Pool renovation project. Here is their statement from Chair Karen Rosenberg:

“Earlier this week, to the shock and disappointment of many, Mayor Hopkins announced that he would proceed, against overwhelming public opposition, with demolishing the Budlong pool and replacing it with a new pool. The new pool will be irregularly shaped, two-thirds smaller, mostly very shallow, and designed primarily for small children. 

The Mayor added 3 lap lanes in a late effort to placate critics, but it is clear the new pool will not accommodate the City’s population and that it is not designed for the majority of users—which include teens, for whom the pool was a popular summer spot; the many hundreds of kids in the city’s summer camp (an estimated 700 this year); and the adults of all ages who also used the pool for exercise and socializing.

Rosenberg explained: “In May 2023, Cranston Forward began working with concerned residents to inform the public about what the Mayor was considering. We’re an all-volunteer group focused on grassroots organizing at the local level to promote good government and democratic engagement. It was immediately apparent to us that most residents had been unaware of the Mayor’s plan and thought it was a terrible idea. 

Thousands of Cranston residents have since called for the existing pool to be preserved—through a petition, emails and calls to elected officials, and at public meetings. In contrast, there has been a near-total absence of enthusiasm for the plan from any corner.”

Key Findings from Cranston Forward’s Investigation into the Mayor’s Plan for the pool:

• This past June, Cranston Forward obtained records through an Access to Public Records Act request that show that to justify his plan, the Mayor has repeatedly lied and misrepresented what is known about the condition of the pool. 
• The Mayor concealed a 2021 assessment by the company that has maintained the pool for years—which said the pool could be re-opened with minimal expense following its 2020 closure due to the pandemic. 
• The Mayor misrepresented the reason the pool did not reopen in 2021 (which is that he failed to include it in the budget) and misled the Council about the permissibility of using ARPA funds to reopen the pool. 
• After telling the councilors that the pool was not in need of significant repair or maintenance and that he planned to reopen it in 2022, he began pursuing grant funding to demolish the pool and began soliciting project designs. 
• His administration was instructed to keep these activities confidential. He misrepresented the first proposal he obtained, which stated the existing pool could have been completely refurbished at less than half the cost of the Mayor’s plan. 
• The records also revealed that while the Mayor has repeatedly claimed that experts advised him the pool is irreparable at any reasonable price, in 2021, he in fact had no report presenting evidence to that effect—until he had one produced in July, of this year, by the same engineer who had already been paid to design the Mayor’s new pool. 

“All of the evidence suggests that the existing Budlong pool could have continued to affordably serve Cranston residents for many years to come.”

July 2023 Report

Cranston’s former Parks and Recreation director, who oversaw the pool for nearly two decades, through 2020, and who was never consulted about the pool’s condition, has characterized this report as filled with inaccuracies and fabrications. The engineer admitted at a public meeting on September 6 that the most significant problem described in his report—severe leaking—was based solely on a conversation with an unidentified source. At the same meeting, the Mayor falsely claimed that historic water bills substantiated the leaks, but when Cranston Forward obtained the records it discovered that they do not. Cranston Forward has a complaint pending with the Attorney General over the administration’s delay in responding and its failure to produce all the records that have been requested.

Rosenberg adds, “All of the evidence suggests that the existing Budlong Pool could have continued to affordably serve Cranston residents for many years to come. Cranston Forward repeatedly called on the Mayor and the Council to obtain a second opinion from an impartial expert but this was inexplicably not done.

The Mayor failed to consult or listen to the people of Cranston. He sidelined the Council. He hid or spun information that did not support his narrative. He is wasting money on a project his constituents do not want. The prospect that the Mayor will be punished at the polls next year cannot begin to compensate for what he is heedlessly destroying, an invaluable piece of the history, culture and life of Cranston. Cranston deserves so much better.”

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Cranston City Councilor Aniece Germain issued this press release:

“Words cannot adequately express my resentment and sadness at the announcement by Mayor Hopkins’s administration that he is moving ahead with his plan to destroy the historic Budlong Pool over the objections of thousands of Cranston families.

I am sad for my constituents and the families all over Cranston for whom the Budlong Pool has or would have been a beautiful escape from the city heat, and a place to gather with friends, exercise or learn to swim.

I am outraged by the administration’s disdain for the people of Cranston and his insistence on proceeding with the destruction of the pool despite the total lack of community support. The administration has dismissed the outcry from thousands of residents, who never wanted this new pool or the “bells and whistles” he has promised. They want the pool they have. A pool big enough to hold all the people who will need it as summers grow continuously hotter and longer, where children can learn the life-saving skill of swimming, where teens can safely socialize and people of all ages can exercise and experience community. The Mayor is taking something away from all of us that is irreplaceable.

I am disappointed that the administration is wasting millions dollars on this travesty, against the intentions of the Council and the taxpayers who do not want it and who are proud of our uniquely large and historic, WPA-built pool.

I am outraged by the dishonesty. The administration will seemingly say whatever is convenient, but the records tell the truth. They misled the public about the reason the pool was never re-opened since closing in 2020 due to the pandemic. It did not re-open in 2021 because they did not budget for it. The records show that the administration deluded when they told us then that the pool was not in need of repairs or maintenance and that they planned to re-open it in 2022 (while behind our backs there were preparing plans and seeking federal funds to demolish and replace it). The administration deceived the Council and the public by hiding reports from the company that serviced the pool and from their own original consultant which said the pool could be re-opened at far less cost than replacing it.

The administration tried to paper over these inconvenient truths with a belated report from the very engineer who had already been paid to design their new pool. That report was full of inaccuracies–most significantly, that the pool had been leaking massively. That claim was characterized as total fiction by the former Parks and Recreation director, who ran the pool for nearly two decades through its 2020 closure and who was never consulted. The Mayor’s engineer admitted at a public meeting that he based his claim of leaks on hearsay from an unidentified source. Water bills records cited by the Mayor did not support it. The Mayor choose to unilaterally destroy our 22,000 square feet historic Budlong pool to satisfy his agenda needs by misrepresenting the facts.

This is a shameful chapter for our city. This is a terrible mistake that will be with us forever. I hope anyone who participates in this scheme will be held accountable.”

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The Mayor does not need the City Council approval to move forward with plans to re-do the pool. Pool consultants who designed the pool to be built noted that it is with a $3.5M budget, which is all the city has for the pool. When asked how much it would be to replace the broken pool that is there now with one identical to it, larger than 2 Olympic pools, they estimated $9-to-10 Million. As one City Councilor said, “we can keep coming here, meeting after meeting, and we’ll still be here at Christmas, fighting, and in the summer we will have no pool at all for the kids in Cranston”.

Links to past stories on the pool issue:

Pool-a-palooza in Cranston. Mayor calls it sad, the constant bickering of Councilman, PAC advocates

Mayor Hopkins steps out of partisan quagmire, moves forward to rebuild Cranston’s Budlong Pool

Budlong Pool: Cranston plays political football while residents sweat out its future