The drama can't stop/won't stop at McCarren Park Pool, which opened to great fanfare on Thursday and quickly devolved into violence on Friday and Monday. But there isn't just blood in the water; there's also thieving in the locker rooms. Police sources tell Geoffrey Croft at NYC Park Advocates that four lockers were broken into yesterday—the same day two cops were sent to the hospital after trying to restore order at the pool.
"They stole my purse, they stole my purse," Maria, 40, a loan officer, said "while sobbing uncontrollably on the steps of the new $50 million dollar facility." Maria told Croft that when she returned to her locker she discovered the lock was gone and so was her purse, which "contained multiple credit cards, an $800 phone, house keys, drivers license, insurance card, $90 in cash, and a keyless card to the family's brand new Nissan purchased in April." Her irate husband told Croft, "You feel violated. It's a damn shame people has to go through this. Didn't the mayor think of this before they opened it?"
As a matter of fact, the mayor was asked about this yesterday. But when a reporter pressed the mayor about the violence, Bloomberg got snippy, saying, "I had no idea there was an incident. What was the incident? Did someone go swimming?" According to the Times, after a reporter explained what happened, the mayor said, "Well, what do you want me to say? O.K., we’ll put a cop next to every lifeguard in the city. Come on, think about it!" And DEAL WITH IT.
The Parks Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the robberies.
