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Lifeguard shortage means no adult lap swim at NYC pools
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Jun 30, 2023
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Caroline Rubinstein-Willis/Mayoral Photography Office
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Jun 30, 2023
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A dire shortage of lifeguards has prompted the city to once again cancel adult lap swim at public pools.
It’s the third consecutive summer that the popular program for adults to swim unimpeded in lanes in the morning and evening has been scrapped. The parks department confirmed it did not have enough staff to continue the program this year.
Swimmer John Murk said Friday he’d been trying to get information from the parks department for weeks about whether adult swim was available at Hamilton Fish pool in the Lower East Side, where he’s gone for the past 20 years. He came to the pool when it opened at 11 a.m., only to be told the lifeguard shortage had killed the program for the summer.
“Now you have to be cautious. I’ll try and come but you really can’t swim freely like you did before,” Murk said before heading home.
Linda Griggs, who lives on the Lower East Side, said she wasn’t surprised the program was canceled again, but still disappointed.
“I have to do the sidestroke around a lot of kids now, so I don’t really get the full stretch that you get when you do the freestyle,” Griggs said at Hamilton Fish.
However, she said she still appreciates public pool access, calling it a “great indicator of a civil society.”
The parks department had hired 650 lifeguards in the city as of Thursday. In 2019, before the pandemic, 1,400 lifeguards monitored city beaches and pools.
“Due to limited staffing, unfortunately we won’t be offering Early Bird and Night Owl Lap Swim at outdoor pools this summer. At some pools, where feasible, staff will set up lane lines to accommodate lap swimming,” parks spokesperson Izzy Verdery said. “We're doing all that we can to recruit as many lifeguards as possible.”
The early bird adult lap swim from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and night session from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. were particularly popular among older New Yorkers who used the free pool time to enjoy low impact exercise.
Verdery added that free swimming lessons, which were paused last year due to the lifeguard shortage, are available this summer.
Hamilton Fish, which was built by Robert Moses in 1936 and designed to accommodate 1,700 swimmers, is beloved by regulars like Andre Ramos, 62. He lamented the loss of adult swim at the massive pool he described as a “melting pot.”
“They should reinstate the program,” Ramos said. “I understand there’s a shortage of lifeguards, but that still is not an excuse.”
Gothamist has previously reported on factors contributing to the lifeguard shortage, including the city’s unusually strict training guidelines for certification. The staff shortage threatens to result in pool closures. At least two public pools were listed as closed on the parks department website Friday afternoon, with no explanation given.
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parks
Ramsey Khalifeh
Ramsey Khalifeh is a transportation reporter on the NYC Accountability desk covering the largest transit system in the country. He was previously a general assignment reporter at Gothamist and worked on the Boston Globe's metro and copy desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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