Buffalo, NY – Assemblymember Jon D. Rivera was joined today by Mayor Sean Ryan and State Senator April Baskin to announce that a vital community resource is once again serving Buffalo’s West Side as renovations to the pool at the Belle Center have officially been completed and the facility has reopened to the public.

The project was made possible by $2 million in state funding secured by Assemblymember Rivera in 2022 to upgrade aging mechanical systems and complete critical maintenance that had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and years of insufficient funding.

The pool, which closed in September to allow construction to move forward, is now fully operational and open year-round for open swim programming and youth swimming lessons, restoring a cornerstone of recreation, health, and safety for families in the surrounding community.

The reopening arrives at a critical juncture as public swimming pools have increasingly disappeared from American communities and school curriculums. Across the country, pools have been lost to budget cuts, aging infrastructure, and the long legacy of racism and desegregation, even as urban populations grow and hotter summers make access to water more essential for public health and cooling.

According to the National Recreation and Park Association, there is now one outdoor public pool for every 38,000 people in the United States, up from one for every 34,000 people in 2015.

The retreat of government investment and the privatization of swimming pools and recreation have harmed low-income communities and communities of color the most, according to historians and public recreation experts. As a result, the United States has become, for a majority of its residents, a swimming desert.

A Red Cross survey found that more than half of the population lacks basic swimming abilities, and millions of people are without access to safe places to enter the water.

The public health consequences of this reality are severe. Drowning is the leading cause of death among children ages one to four, the second-leading cause of accidental death by injury among children ages five to fourteen, and the third-leading cause of accidental death by injury for Americans age 24 and younger. Younger Black adolescents are more than three times as likely to drown as their white peers.

These disparities are rooted in history. For decades, cities provided fewer and often substandard pools for minority residents. Even after desegregation, many public pools closed entirely, and families who could not afford private clubs or expensive swimming lessons were left without access to facilities where children could learn to swim.

Today, many minority neighborhoods still lack regulation-size pools, with some communities opting for cheaper alternatives such as splash parks that allow children to cool off but do not teach lifesaving swimming skills. Recent data underscores the urgency of restoring and maintaining public pools.

In 2021, drowning deaths among Black Americans increased by 28 percent compared with 2019, while rates remained unchanged for American Indian and Alaska Native populations, according to 2024 CDC data. Nationwide, roughly 40 million adults do not know how to swim, including 37 percent of Black adults, compared with 15 percent of adults overall. More than 60 percent of Black adults and 72 percent of Hispanic adults report never having taken a swimming lesson, according to the latest CDC data.

By investing in the Belle Center pool, New York State has taken a meaningful step toward reversing these trends on Buffalo’s West Side. The completed renovations modernize the facility’s mechanical systems and ensure the pool can safely serve residents for years to come, while year-round programming provides children and families with access to swimming instruction, recreation, and a critical public health resource.

The reopening of the Belle Center pool reflects a commitment to equity, safety, and opportunity, ensuring that every child, regardless of neighborhood or income, has access to a safe place to swim and the chance to learn skills that can save lives.

Assemblymember Jon D. Rivera said, “Reopening the Belle Center signals that we are investing in equity, public health, and the safety of our children. At a time when public pools are disappearing across the country and drowning rates remain unacceptably high, especially in communities of color, this $2 million investment ensures families on Buffalo’s West Side have year-round access to a safe, modern facility where kids can learn to swim, build confidence, and gain skills that can save their lives.”

Senator April N.M. Baskin said, “Swimming is a life-saving skill, yet too many children in communities of color never have the chance to learn it, putting them at greater risk of drowning. As the only indoor pool on Buffalo’s West Side, the Belle Center plays a critical role in keeping our children safe and healthy. I thank Assemblymember Rivera for securing this vital investment, which will ensure the Belle Center’s pool remains a safe, accessible resource for generations to come.”

Mayor Sean Ryan said, “Funding pools and community centers gives kids a safe place to learn, families a space to come together, and neighborhoods the public resources they deserve. For too long, too many Buffalo neighborhoods have watched the places that once kept communities healthy, connected, and safe shut down. Reopening the Belle Center pool is an example of government doing what it's supposed to do: investing in the basics people rely on every day. This is the kind of investment that makes a real difference in people’s lives, and I thank Assemblymember Rivera for his work to make this possible.”

Niagara District Councilmember David Rivera said, “As soon as the weather starts to warm up, I begin to worry that youth, in an effort to cool off, will hop into water that is unsafe. Our children now have a restored pool to go to, where they can learn how to swim, which is nothing but beneficial to the lower West Side and the community as a whole.”