Under summer heat, some pools remain shuttered

On hazy, sun-soaked afternoons last summer, Andrew Christman, 35, regularly took his young son, Jozef, to the Fishtown neighborhood pool to splash in his water wings. But, because of city budget cuts, that recreation center pool is now closed. So is the Hancock pool, also a few blocks away. And so is the Cione pool, roughly a mile from his home.

As Philadelphia faced a fiscal crisis, there were predictions that only 10 of the city's 73 pools would open. Through private and public donations and money restored to the budget, the city this summer will open 46. The openings began this week and will continue through Friday, some marked by ribbon-cutting, music, and water ice.

In communities like Fishtown, where less than half of the pools in the Recreation Department district will open this summer, some residents are still questioning how the city decided which pools to reopen and which to shutter.

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(Photo credit: Akira Suwa, Inquirer Photographer)