BREC has multimillion-dollar plans for a new recreation and aquatic center at historic Brooks Park, which Old South Baton Rouge residents say the area has needed for a long time.
The parks and recreation agency has requested $22.4 million in state funding for Brooks Park to advance a proposed $28 million investment. The project would replace the outdated pool with the parks agency’s first indoor swimming pool and create space for recreation and community programs year-round, according to the agency.
In the 1940s, the Rev. Willie K. Brooks and the United Negro Recreation Association fundraised for a pool where Black families could swim due to being excluded from the segregated pool at nearby City Park. The Olympic-sized Brooks Pool opened in 1949, and the pool and surrounding area were later donated to BREC for management.
Backing the new proposal is the Rev. James R. Riley Sr., pastor at First Little Rock Missionary Baptist Church — the same church Brooks once led. Riley said he believes this investment could be the “start of a resurgence that needs to happen in Old South Baton Rouge.”…