SWIM PICKINS IN QUEENS
Few lifeguards within 2-mile Rockaway beach span Bathers: They never told us of closures
THE ROCKAWAYS were packed Saturday with sunbathers and swimmers reveling in the sand and surf — all ignoring a toothless city closure of the Queens beaches.
Angry locals ripped the Parks Department for its failure to publicize or enforce its sandy shutdown, accusing the city of creating a potentially lethal situation.
“There are a lot of families and children swimming, and there is no one here to watch them,” said an irate Sylvia Jager, 72. “Someone is going to drown, and the city is going to be at fault.”
Parks officials issued a reminder Saturday afternoon that the more than 2-mile stretch was closed between Beach 60th and Beach 113th Sts. due to a sand-replenishment program by the Army Corps of Engineers to repair damage from Hurricane Sandy.
There were no lifeguards in their chairs, and red flags hung on the beach to signal the shutdown.
Members of DC-37, the union that oversees lifeguards, said the city Health and Parks departments closed sections of the beach because a massive pipe and 20- to 22-foot-high piles of sand left by construction crews would prevent emergency vehicles from rescuing people.
“The Health Department interviewed the lifeguards about access to the beach and found it to be an unsafe condition,” said Henry Garrido, associate director of DC-37.
The project is expected to be finished in the next few days, he added.
Garrido said lifeguards were on foot telling people to get out of the water, but Parks officers said none could be found.
And Parks cops were just as confused as anyone.
“We didn’t know why we were there,” said one officer, who wished not to be named. “People were annoyed. They wanted answers about what was going on and how long they had to stay out of the water, but we had no answers for them.”For thousands of sun worshipers who came out via bus, car or subway, there was no turning back on a balmy summer day — and no one there to turn them back.
City officials said about 35 Parks officers were dispatched to the beach from across Queens, as well as from other boroughs, to enforce the closure.
One Parks employee was seen walking a 16-block stretch be- tween Beach 80th and Beach 96th Sts. and warning swimmers to stay out of the surf.
Few listened in the area where residents said there would typically be 16 lifeguards working.
Parks spokesman Phil Abramson said the 53-block stretch of beach has been closed since the season opened on Memorial Day weekend and will remain closed Sunday.
“This beach has been closed for some time,” he said. “We wanted to issue the advisory as another reminder.” Beachgoer Charlie Gruber, toweling off after a dip Saturday, disputed Abramson’s claim.
“We were here yesterday and there were lifeguards on duty,” said Gruber, 60. “No one told us it was going to be closed today. How were we to know?”
He had a question: “What happens if somebody drowns?”
Gruber and some pals arrived Saturday at 9 a.m. and said they never heard a word about the beach closing.
The weather was just about perfect, with temperatures in the low 80s beneath sunny skies and a gentle breeze.
Swimming was permitted at four locations along the shuttered shoreline: Beach Ninth St., Beach 17th St., Beach 30th St. and Beach 59th St.
By midafternoon, the entire expanse was flooded with people who either didn’t know or didn’t care about the closure. Surfers rode the waves without a second thought.
“Unless they literally close off the beach from the street, then people are going to go in the water,” said Tiffany Mayers, 30, who lives across the road from the beach.
“There are kids and teenagers who go to that beach on their own, and naturally they’re going to go in the water.”
The Rockaways mom laughed in disbelief as the Parks employee tried to work the crowd.
“He was blowing his whistle at us and I was ignoring him,” she said. “I was like, ‘No way he’s talking to us. We weren’t doing anything wrong.’ But we had no idea the beach was closed.”
Julieta Cuellar, 22, of Crown Heights, seemed to speak for much of the beach crowd after splashing in the water and soaking up some sun.
“That’s what I came here for,” she said. “I didn’t know this section was supposed to be closed. There should be more information about where to go.
“But I’m here now, so I’m going swimming.”