Just as NYC beaches gear up to open for the season this weekend, officials warn that ongoing lifeguard shortages will have an effect on them.
According to Parks Department spokesperson Gregg McQueen while none of the NYC’s eight beaches will remain closed entirely this weekend, stretches of each beach will either remain closed or be closed for swimming.
Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi stated “We will be opening up our beaches on Memorial Day, but there will still be some segments of the beach that are closed.” An official told The NY Post that the “parks department makes decisions about where to close based on a daily lifeguard staffing headcount.”
City officials have stated that 230 lifeguards have been hired for this beach season, a number much lower than the amount required to fully staff NYC’s beaches. However, Joshi added that there are currently 560 new recruits in NYC’s lifeguard training program compared to just 375 at this time last year.
“They still have to go through the training program, but that’s much more than we had last year. We are confident that we will end up with a total number that is larger this year than we had last year,” stated Joshi.
NYC has been struggling to staff an adequate number of lifeguards for the last several summers, though the issue is actually present on a national level. Plus, NYC’s “extensive” and “intense” 16-week training program, as described by parks department commissioner Sue Donoghue, makes it even harder to find enough lifeguards.
Iris Rodriguez-Rosa, first deputy commissioner of the city Department of Parks and Recreation, said of NYC’s program:
You have to be able to do an extensive exam to make sure you can retrieve something in the water as though it were a person. It is quite complicated.
To combat this, Mayor Adams went as far as raising lifeguard wages to $22 an hour and awarding those who stay through the end of the season a $1,000 bonus as an attempt to attract more prospectives.
Currently, city officials have stated they expect to have about 900 lifeguards on staff at the end of June when the city’s pools open. In order to properly patrol all of NYC’s beaches and pools more than 1,500 lifeguards are needed.
And, considering NYC beaches and pools may remain open two months longer than usual this year, it’s definitely vital to have enough lifeguards staffed.