Upper East Side Getting Hit By NYC's Lifeguard Shortage, Lawmaker Says

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — As temperatures climb, Upper East Siders are beginning to flock to swimming pools for a chance to cool off — but a citywide lifeguard shortage threatens to keep those refreshing waters off-limits.

The city's Parks Department has hired less than half of the roughly 1,500 lifeguards that were slated to patrol New York's pools and beaches this summer — part of a nationwide shortage that stems in part from young people having a greater abundance of summer job options.

Their absence has already been felt on the Upper East Side. When John Jay Pool, the neighborhood's only public pool, opened for the first time this season on Tuesday, swimmers were abruptly forced to exit the water by 1 p.m. in an apparent effort to keep capacity lower than usual, as Upper East Site first reported.

The entire pool then closed early and began turning residents away — "despite a significant demand," according to a letter by Councilmember Julie Menin.

"Even though City pools just opened for the summer yesterday, we have already heard from many constituents expressing concern about the pool’s limited operations and closure due to the lifeguard shortage," Menin wrote the letter, sent to Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday.

Menin is now calling on the mayor to increase the starting salary for new lifeguards from $16 to $20 — a step that Gov. Kathy Hochul has already taken for state-employed lifeguards, but which the city has not yet done.

Adams has said he wants to help stem the shortage by improving lifeguards' equipment and consider revising a policy that prevents city workers from moonlighting as lifeguards.

Experts have sounded alarm bells bout the shortage, which has also caused cuts to adult lap swim and free swim lessons for children — raising fears that kids could drown in the city's waterways this summer.

The mayor's office did not immediately comment on Menin's letter on Thursday.