New Yorkers could make a bigger splash than ever this summer, as the City Council debates three bills Wednesday that would expand swimming pool access across the five boroughs.
The first bill, sponsored by Councilmember Julie Menin, would require the Department of Parks and Recreation to provide free swimming lessons to kids 13 and younger.
The second bill, sponsored by Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers, would ask the parks department to conduct a survey of city-owned sites to identify places where more pools could be built, specifying that the agency must focus its search on Environmental Justice Communities — low-income or minority neighborhoods identified from census data. It would also mandate that the parks department work with the Department of Education to open up school-owned pools to the public. Finally, the bill would require parks to offer free swimming lessons at all of the pools under its jurisdiction.
The third bill, sponsored by Councilmember Shekar Krishnan, would mandate parks to submit an annual report to the mayor’s office detailing staffing levels and training for the city’s lifeguards, a list of emergencies that occur at each beach and pool, and the number of pools currently closed to the public because of maintenance or other issues.
In a city survey from 2017 — the most recent data available — one in four students said they were unable to swim. Divided by race and ethnicity, more than 35% of Black students surveyed were unable to swim, compared with 25% of Latino students and just 8.7% of white students.
The push for more pool access follows a summer of fits and starts for city swimmers in 2022. A lifeguard shortage led to unexpected closures at city beaches and long lines at city pools last year. In response, the city offered a temporary 22% pay bump to $19.46 an hour to lure more candidates and the parks department also made some reforms to the lifeguard test earlier this year when it launched a new recruitment campaign.
On Tuesday, city officials announced they would be boosting lifeguard pay before the official start of swimming season.
According to data from city officials cited by the New York Times last year, NYC’s free swim program costs the city around $2.5 million annually and serves about 30,000 people.
But last June, the program was abruptly canceled, with the parks department blaming a “national lifeguard shortage.”
As of last summer, there were 50 operational public pools around the city, according to data cited by the Times. An additional 50 were owned by the DOE, but only 27 of those were operational.
Phil Corso contributed reporting.
