On what is typically a peak time for outdoor activities, all of NORD’s swimming pools, except for one, have been drained and will be closed the entire Fourth of July weekend.

WWL-TV

Pools are drained and the locks are on the gates at NORD pools this holiday weekend.

The pools were locked up and closed down due to a manpower shortage, according to Larry Barabino, the Director of NORD.

“Cut and dry it’s not having enough lifeguards,” he said. “With this falling up on a Friday, it’s falling on Essence weekend, they took a poll with the workers and a lot of people said they would not be able to come in and work.”

The exception to the pool closings is Whitney Pool on Magazine Street Uptown, which will be opened from 9am until 2 pm on Saturday only.

Babs Johnson, a child advocate who lives across the street from the Lyons Center pool and who helped get a playground open next door said the closing is a missed opportunity to provide recreation for the city’s children.

“It's a tremendous disservice for our kids," she said. “We wonder why we have a continuing crime problem that is getting younger and younger children involved and here’s our answer. We don’t have places for them to go and be kids.”

City Council President Jackie Clarkson said she will seek answers from NORD to give a report on the reason for the closings at the city council meeting this coming week, still she knows it will be too late.

“I wish the council had known in advance what the plans were so maybe we could have dealt with a budgetary item or something.”

Barabino said despite the weekend closing, the pools are open Monday through Saturday for an eight-week period during the summer.