Gotbaum
Blasts Dangerous Conditions at City Beaches and Calls for Lifeguard
Pay Parity With Other Major Cities
Standing on the Coney Island Boardwalk
along the Atlantic Ocean, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum today
called upon the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
to implement measures to make its beaches safer. Citing the
deaths of at least six swimmers this summer, two of them off
Coney Island, three off Rockaway beaches and one off Staten
Island, Gotbaum called on the Parks department to hire more
lifeguards, increase their starting salaries, and place both
multi-lingual signs and safety ropes in areas where swimming
is dangerous.
Approximately 20 individuals have
died at City beaches since 2000. With five weeks remaining in
the beach season, Gotbaum said the Parks Department must take
immediate action to provide beachgoers with a safer swimming
environment.
“The rate of drowning this year
at City beaches is alarming. The City should provide beachgoers
with the safest experience possible by making sure swimmers
know about danger zones. For the safety of people who enter
the water when lifeguards are not on duty, swimming areas must
be equipped with life-saving devices such as safety ropes,”
Gotbaum said. Gotbaum pointed out that safety ropes have not
been in place since the economic crisis of the 1970s. These
ropes enable distressed swimmers to pull themselves to safety.
In a letter to Parks Commissioner
Adrian Benepe, Gotbaum wrote, “As a former Parks Commissioner,
I understand it is difficult to control safety at beaches and
realize the Department has financial limitations. But these
changes must be prioritized immediately to protect the lives
of New York City families.”
Gotbaum’s office identified
safety hazards at city beaches, reviewed lifeguard recruitment,
and compared salary statistics with those of other cities. Gotbaum
found that:
For five years straight (FY 00 to
FY 04) the City has fallen short of its lifeguard recruitment
goals. The following statistics show the how much the recruitments
levels did not meet the goals:
Number
of City Lifeguards
Actual
Need
FY00
935 1200
FY01
898 1200
FY02
984 1200
FY03
995 1200
FY04
975 1200
FY05
* 1200
*data
unavailable
Source:
Statistics from parks department
Lifeguards salaries are low, an issue
Gotbaum says affects safety at city beaches. According to the
Independent Budget Office (IBO), there is no specific funding
stream allocated to lifeguards in the Parks budget. Meanwhile,
lifeguards’ salaries in New York City fall short of their
counterparts in Los Angeles, Boston, Miami, Chicago, San Diego,
and Seattle. For example, Los Angeles starts its open water
lifeguards at $18.40 an hour, compared to New York’s starting
pay of $10.08. On the East Coast, Miami pays $12 an hour in
starting salary, Boston $12.27.
“New York City should be paying
its lifeguards on the same scale as other cities. This isn’t
some simple task. Lifeguards' job is to save lives. They should
be compensated for this work. LA pays its lifeguards eight dollars
more an hour to start. The City should be embarrassed,”
Gotbaum said.
Gotbaum called upon the City to meet
its recruitment goals, increase pay to life guards by giving
them parity with other major cities, and install warning signs
in multiple languages and other visual warnings informing swimmers
of dangerous conditions.
-#-
FACT SHEET
City
Beach Drowning Deaths 2005
Six
swimmers have lost their lives on city beaches this year.
June
5 16 year-old Male Rockaway Beach Queens
June 5 40 year-old Male Rockaway Beach Queens
June 12 24 year-old Male Coney Island Brooklyn
July 4 19 year-old Male Coney Island Brooklyn
July 19 23 year-old Male South Beach Staten Island
July 28 24 year-old Male Rockaway Beach Queens
Lifeguard
Pay
Los
Angeles (Open Water) $18.40/hr
San Diego $15.16/hr
Los Angeles (Pool Guard) $12.82/hr
Seattle $12.55/hr
Boston $12.27/hr
Miami $12.00/hr
Chicago $10.87/hr
New
York City $10.60/hr
( internationally recruited)
The following is a list of recommendations
that the Department of Parks and Recreation should consider
in order to better protect all NYC pool and beach visitors from
future tragic incidents:
* Increase wages for
lifeguards to recruit the 1,200 need for safe pools and beaches;
* Increase wages for
lifeguards recruited locally to equal wages of lifeguards recruited
internationally;
* Post beach and pool
warning signs in multiple languages, especially in communities
with high foreign born populations;
