Council Member Shekar Krishnan’s Remarks at NYC Aquatics Symposium

NOTE: The the New York City Aquatics Symposium was held on August 18 at Brooklyn Law School. Representatives from NYC Parks, the YMCA, the Red Cross, NYC DOE, the NYC City Council as well as non-profits including Inclusive Community Wellness (ICW), the Magnus Mukoro Foundation, Musa Swims, + Pool, Rising Tide Effect, Swim Strong Foundation and Tankproof discussed and debated solutions to these and other concerns such as drowning, a dearth of learn-to-swim instruction and difficult access to water. CM Krishnan is the chair of the City Councils’ Parks and Recreation Committee.

Good morning I’m Council Member Shekar Krishnan from Queens. I'm so glad you all are meeting today and for the work you do every single day because this could not be a more urgent issue. I say this as a council member from a district that has some of the least open space—pool, park whatever. We do not have public pools. It means so many of our children don’t know how to swim.

CM Krishnan. Photo: Perry Williams

Here’s my issue in a broader sense, that there are parks, pools, beaches and making sure that every New Yorker, especially our children, knows how to swim and are trained in water safety

I maintain that our city government has a number one priority: the responsibility that every New Yorker knows how to swim. We are a city surrounded by water.

The city needs 1,400 lifeguards and we are probably close to where we were last year, about 900 lifeguards.

My bill in particular is requiring that the Parks Department every year provide an update on its lifeguard hiring. Where it stands, how close [Parks] is to fully staffing pools and beaches. What are the water emergencies that have happened across our city every year? What are the steps that Parks is taking to maintain our public pools and if there are public pools that are closed, what is the timeline to get them reopened?

I think this is information [that] If we are going to solve this crisis—and that's what it is, it's a city crisis. It is a national crisis. If we are going to solve it, the work for next year, as you all know, begins now. It began last year, frankly, and every year I say that at Parks hearings. It begins well in advance of before we actually get to pools and beach season.

[CM Krishnan on annual issues with city lifeguards, pool access]

That bill in particular will require the accountability that we need from our city government and our parks department to make sure that we can actually address this crisis. The bills that Council Member Books-Powers and Council Member Menin put forward will augment​ the work that you all are doing too which is to find ways to expand or open up new public pools, especially in communities like mine and others that don’t have public pools.

And on top of that to look at creative ways to get new pools open, Department of Education, school pools and [elsewhere]. But we've also as a council been able to secure $5.3 million in funding for swim programs this year as well.

This is a priority of Speaker [Adrienne] Adams, it’s a priority of mine as the Parks Chair, a priority of our city councils and we will continue to work with you all to advocate, to ensure that it remains a priority of City Hall, of the City of New York. And to make sure we address the really serious crisis we face in this city when it comes to making sure that our children know how to swim and how to employ safe practices in the water.

Diving well at Astoria Pool, currently closed for repairs. Photo: DNA Info

It is a holistic comprehensive effort. We have a long, long way to go. But I do feel confident that each and every one of you here who I've worked with in different ways in different capacities. We have the knowledge, the passion and the commitment in this room to make sure that we address this crisis once and for all.

It's only going to get worse. And the hearings that we have coming up this fall, we're going to be talking about these issues from a climate standpoint and otherwise.

But this will be a part of it too. As I said, we're not going to be able to be a sustainable city unless we take swimming and water safety. As seriously and urgently as we need to.