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Lifeguard shortage persists as NYC pools open
By
Sophia Chang
Published Jun 29, 2023
Modified Jun 29, 2023
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By
Sophia Chang
Published Jun 29, 2023
Modified Jun 29, 2023
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The city’s outdoor pool season kicked off on Thursday amid a dire shortage of hundreds of lifeguards.
The parks department has hired about 650 lifeguards to monitor beaches and public pools, according to spokesperson Meghan Lalor. That’s far short of the 1,400 lifeguards the department said it had on staff before the pandemic, and hundreds fewer than the 900 employed last summer.
Errant alerts from the Notify NYC app indicated that Crotona Pool in the Bronx and the Fort Totten Park pool in Queens were closed. But the parks department said the alerts were the result of a testing error. On Thursday afternoon the parks department listed five pool closures in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island. The agency did not immediately respond to an inquiry whether the closures were related to a lack of lifeguards.
Two other pools, Van Cortlandt pool and the Marie Curie minipool for toddlers in Bayside, were closed due to mechanical issues.
At Fort Totten, Angel Torres, 37, said he and his family would be upset if access to their favorite pool was limited due to a lifeguard shortage.
“They’ll limit the people who can go into the pool if they have a shortage. That would be a bummer,” said Torres, who was with his wife and two daughters.
Dharma Maharjan, 40, of Bay Terrace, checked online before heading to the pool. Last summer, he and his family stood in long lines and dealt with frustratingly short swim times at a pool in Woodside.
“Hopefully there’s enough staff and it doesn’t get closed down,” he said.
The parks department previously said the city’s 14 miles of beaches — which opened for swimming on Memorial Day — will remain fully staffed this summer.
Lalor said the city will continue to recertify experienced lifeguards through July in an effort to reduce the shortage.
While cities nationwide have had trouble recruiting enough lifeguards since the pandemic, the parks department has unusually strict guidelines requiring the city to train lifeguards through a local 16-week program that begins in the spring. The training is run through DC 37 Local 508, the union that represents lifeguard supervisors that was probed by the Department of Investigation in 2021.
The city does not accept outside certification for lifeguards from respected training organizations like the Red Cross and the YMCA. The lifeguard unions also have ignored invitations to join a task force formed by the YMCA of Greater New York and ABNY to address the staffing crisis.
This article has been updated with information on new pool closures.
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new york city
parks
Sophia Chang
Sophia Chang is a former WNYC and Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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