New Yorkers will soon be able to seek relief from the summer heat in the waters of the city’s public beaches.
Starting July 1, the city’s 14 miles of beaches will open for swimming and be staffed with lifeguards, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed on Tuesday night. The city’s dozens of public pools, however, will remain closed.
The decision about the beaches came as New York City entered the second part of the state’s four-phase reopening plan. This phase permits outdoor dining and some in-store shopping, and also allows hair salons, barbershops and real estate firms to reopen.
READ ALSO: Alitalia to resume flights to New York and Spain as Italy’s lockdown eases
Typically, the city’s beaches open on Memorial Day weekend, at the end of May. Most other beaches in the New York region have been open for weeks, though many of them have limited access in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Mr. de Blasio’s decision, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, came as the City Council was threatening to force his hand. On Tuesday, Politico reported that Mark Levine, a councilman from Manhattan, was planning to introduce legislation that would have required the mayor to allow swimming at the beaches.
READ ALSO: New York’s Broadway theatres to stay closed until September
Henry Garrido, executive director of the lifeguards’ union, said the city pools were used to train and certify about 500 lifeguards this spring.
The current ban on swimming has not prevented all New Yorkers from going into the water. In Queens, where the beaches have been packed on weekends, people have routinely violated the rules and frolicked in the waves off Rockaway Beach.
Source: New York TImes
