Recent drownings at Rockaway Beach in Queens prompt calls for change. What leaders want to see happen.
NEW YORK - Local leaders are calling for change after two teens died of apparent drownings at Rockaway Beach in Queens recently.
Teenagers Elyjha Chandler and Christian Perkins disappeared in a wave off the south shore of Queens at Jacob Riis Beach just two weeks ago. It happened just after lifeguards went off duty.
Agencies spent days searching for the two teens. Two bodies were later found close by where they went missing.
While Jacob Riis is a national park, in response to this tragedy and the overall spike in drownings, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said Tuesday the city and Parks Department have to act fast to ensure beachgoers are kept safe.
"We need to use every tool at our disposal to ensure we can save lives," Richards said. "We are an oceanfront city, nine million people. Under no circumstances should we be struggling to hire lifeguards. Enough of the back and forth. This is about saving lives."
Richards and other leaders want several steps to be taken, including:
- Extending lifeguard duty until dusk, especially during heat waves. Lifeguards are currently on duty from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Lengthening beach season beyond early September
- More access to public pools
- Swim lessons added to the public school curriculum in New York City
They are also calling attention to the city's ongoing lifeguard shortage, saying more needs to be done to fix it.
"With climate change, New York will see as many 90 degree days at Atlanta," Richards said.
Shawn Slevin, founder of the Swim Strong Foundation, is advocating for swimming lessons in city schools.
"Think of the pool as a classroom and swimming is only one aspect. It truly is the situation knowledge of water that is as important, if not more," Slevin said.
Some beachgoers said any added measure would help them feel safer, especially extending lifeguard hours.
"When it gets really hot and the humidity, you need to have lifeguards here until eight at night," Glendale resident Catherine McGovren said. "Lifeguards staying later could save lives."
"The safety of everyone on the beach is important, including lifeguards. They spend long hours in the hot sun surveilling thousands of people a day. Their job is extremely susceptible to exhaustion and fatigue — even more so than pool lifeguards — and adding more hours to their regular shifts would put undue stress on them that would inhibit their ability to properly surveil the beaches and keep beachgoers safe," the Parks Department said in a statement.
According to the Queens borough president's office, around a dozen people have drowned in the waters off Rockaway Beach in the last five years. That includes seven people in 2019 alone, more than half of whom were teenagers.
