Urban planner and author Ann L. Buttenwieser in conversation with Emily Raboteau about The Floating Pool Lady, Ann's book and nickname.

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About this event

On the Brooklyn waterfront in 2007, a unique conveyance pulled alongside the shimmering summer streets of the city and opened its doors to the public, which jumped in with two feet: a barge named The Floating Pool Lady. Ann L. Buttenwieser was the urban planner behind the project to bring back the floating pool, a once very popular NYC amenity that disappeared after WWI. The Lady's journey from concept to funding to engineered reality, shared with many others, is the subject of a collectible illustrated book of the same name. Registrants will receive a free copy of the book, thanks to donors to this event and Cornell University Press; and a Zoom link under separate cover.

Ann will be in conversation with author and professor Emily Raboteau to look back at the project--and forward to future possiblities in an evolving context of convulsive public health and racial justice developments. They'll hold their talk via Zoom Webinar, and will field questions from the audience.

Ann Lubin Buttenweiser is an urban planner and urban historian. She has taught at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. She is the author of, in addition to The Floating Pool Lady, books titled Governors Island and Manhattan Water-Bound.

Emily Raboteau is the author of a novel, The Professor’s Daughter, and a work of creative nonfiction, Searching for Zion. Her fiction and essays have been widely published and anthologized in Best American Short Stories, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and elsewhere. She resides in NYC and teaches creative writing in Harlem at City College.

New Yorkers for Parks is NYC's champion for the creation, protection, and care of the city’s treasured parks and open spaces. As the City’s leading parks advocacy organization, New Yorkers for Parks works intensively with local communities and with public officials and advocates across the city; acts as a convener; and produces essential research that drives inspired public policy.

Humanities New York supports democratic society by mobilizing public engagement in the humanities. Founded in 1975, HNY is the sole statewide partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and is a private 501c3 that may accept federal, city, and private funds.

Cornell University Press, established in 1869 as the first American university press, embodies and advances the Cornell University’s core values by disseminating fundamental and practical knowledge. Works published under its imprints reflect a commitment to excellence through rigorous evaluation, skillful editing, thoughtful design, strategic marketing, and global outreach.

With thanks to the donors who made this offer possible: Barbara Dixon; Adam R. Rose and Peter R. McQuillan; and others.