Photo Tuesday at Hamilton Fish Pool by Stacie Joy
In addition, officials have developed a training program to fully staff the city's mini pools, such as the one in Tompkins Square Park, for ages 16 and under (and their guardians).
"Every New Yorker deserves to safely enjoy our city's public pools and beaches this summer and my team has taken extraordinary measures to make that happen. Today we reached a deal with the lifeguard union to address the immediate needs of our pools," Mayor Adams said in a statement yesterday.
As Gothamist pointed out:
The temporary pay raise comes as city pools have struggled to open at full capacity or in some cases, at all. Many have criticized Adams for failing to raise the pay prior to the start of the season as problems of a national lifeguard shortage became apparent.
Just how severe is the shortage? Per City & State:
The agreement between the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and the union representing lifeguards, District Council 37, is the latest in a long-standing effort to adequately staff the city’s 53 pools and 14 miles of beaches. As of Tuesday, there are currently about 778 lifeguards, which is roughly half of the city’s parks department goal of 1,400 to 1,500 people each summer.
This summer, the city was forced to cancel all swim programs, including lap and senior swim. Starting this past Friday, hours were split into five separate sessions at crowded pools to provide access to more patrons.
In an email from Tuesday, an EVG reader and longtime East Village resident shared his experiences at Dry Dock (above) on 10th Street at Avenue D with his family on the Fourth of July (he shared the letter with local elected officials as well):
The pool service has been downgraded since last year when it was an absolute delight.Specifically the downgrades I noticed are:
- Only half of the main pool was available to swimmers
- The kiddie pool was closed
- The games (corn hole, oversized connect four, etc) weren't out
- The staff said there was an hour wait to get in on all previous days.
According to the Parks Department's Twitter, there is a lifeguard shortage. But according to the staff that I spoke with, this lifeguard shortage is because NY state pays more, and so all lifeguards can take a job with the state instead of the city.However, there were no less than 2 police officers on duty at the pool at any time. I don't believe there were any officers at the pool last year.So... the city has money to pay overtime for NYPD officers to be at the pool but not enough to pay a competitive rate for lifeguards?
11 comments:
Really disturbing that the City had no problem wasting money on fake stoops, planters, dog get-together events and other completely unnecessary things for “open streets” (which chiefly benefit affluent or gentrified areas) - yet completely underfunded and messed up administration of critical pool resources.
Not related to pools, but East River/Corlears Hook Park had several NYPD planted at the ferry dock and footbridge this last weekend. Other security personnel in green uniforms that could have been Parks Dept or contracted security, were all over Corlears Hook, which is a very small park. We counted at least 7. Who is paying for that and why are they there? There are none in Tompkins Square, so how is the city deciding what parks get policed and how much is needed? Seems to be way too much money spent on police and not anywhere near enough on parks and community.
Also, EMT s can now work a second job as a lifeguard if they are certified
Last year, there were also days when only half the pool was available due to lifeguard shortages. But this year is the first time that I've seen 2 cops hanging out there. In the past, one might walk through, particularly in the main building, but never hang out.
@8:52 The NYPD illegally blocked off areas of the city this last weekend for their families to have exclusive viewing parties. They posted officers outside to stop people from viewing from those spots.
The cops at the pool are not on overtime. They are assigned to the pool for the summer just like the cops that get assigned to the beaches. It’s not costing anymore money having them at the pool then it was having them drive around in a police car.
@anon 9:25pm, the email writer was talking about July 4th, a holiday, so he may have presumed officers get paid extra for working on a holiday. I myself don't know about that.
Agreed @7:33 the open streets thing is getting to me, it just makes transportation more annoying, and it's noisy, who the hell decided the department of transportation was in charge of providing zones for people to hang out, wtf is that.
The lifeguard shortage stems from other issues besides pay which are not being addressed. My friend, a father of two with his own business, took the lifeguard test and went through all the requirements to lifeguard at his neighborhood pool to help with the shortage. After two days of mandatory union orientation meetings, he was told there was a 40 hour per week requirement and he would be assigned to a random pool. He could not request his neighborhood pool. He could not work part-time. There is also a vision requirement of 20/20 vision without corrective lenses. There would not be a lifeguard shortage if these requirements were not in place. There could be a 20 hour per week minimum requirement that would immediately change this problem. And, if someone lives walking distance from a pool, allow them to work at that one instead of one an hour subway ride away.
Open Streets is a waste of tax payer money brought to us by our beloved Councilmember who is campaigning for another job and thus neglecting our district. Prioritize the pools - we need to do something since the Lower East Side is going to be hotter this summer due to the absence of 700 trees in East River Park.
Anyone know why the Tompkins pool has been closed the last couple of days? With this being the hottest week of the year so far, I was surprised to find it closed.
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