With pool closed, Cohen on mission to raise $15K for Patterson Park splash pad

As some Baltimoreans are forced to battle this summer's intense heat without a pool nearby to cool off, there could soon be some relief.

A request was approved Wednesday to raise money for a splash pad in Patterson Park, where the pool is closed for renovations.

Now, the fundraising begins. 

Councilmember Zeke Cohen has been vocal about the importance of having things like pools accessible to people in Baltimore, which is why he made the request for his district. 

It's a short-term fix while Patterson Park Pool is still closed for renovations.

Now that the request has been approved by the city's Board of Estimates, Cohen is on a mission to raise the needed $15,000 to make this happen.

The money will pay to create the pop-up splash pad and for water usage, water features, and free or discounted refreshments.

But that doesn't mean the efforts to re-open the second-largest pool in the city will fade away. The city shut down the pool this summer to give it a complete renovation.

Mayor Brandon Scott says the 70-year-old pool was dangerous after just being patched up for too long, which led to the need for an overhaul.

"We are talking about pulling the band-aid off of infrastructure that lived its life cycle 30 years ago," Scott said. "We can not have band-aid approaches to this."

Cohen said pools could be a preventative measure against rising youth violence in the city. 

"When we think about what actually prevents violence from occurring before it happens, having safe places for our young people to be is mission critical," Cohen said last month.