Queens Borough President Donovan Richards held a press conference Tuesday in Far Rockaway calling for better water safety measures after recent drownings.
Photo by Athena Dawson
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards held a press conference in Far Rockaway Tuesday to call for new swim safety measures following the recent drownings of two teenagers.
Richards was joined by local community board leaders and swim safety advocates at Beach 94th Street Boardwalk to discuss potential water safety measures, such as extending lifeguard hours and investing in city pools.
He started the event off with a moment of silence for two teenagers—Elyjha Chandler, 16, and Christian Perkins, 17—who went missing on June 21 in the waters off Jacob Riss Park. The bodies of the two boys were found over the weekend.
“We’re here today because we refuse to accept that this is just going to be a normal part of our summer out here in Rockaway and across the city,” Richards said.
Richards called on the NYC Parks Department to extend lifeguard hours to dusk, specifically during heatwaves. He stated that many residents stay on the beach past 6 p.m. when the working hours of beach lifeguards end. Richards also pushed for a concerted effort among city agencies such as the NYPD and NYC Parks to deter people from staying at beaches beyond 6 p.m.
Additionally, Richards said that the summer beach season should be extended, citing factors such as climate change that keeps the city hot later into the fall. He called on the lifeguard union DC37 to meet with NYC Parks to continue addressing the ongoing lifeguard shortage.
Richards also touched on the need for the city to invest in existing community pools and build more in areas that lack them. He shared that he had been working to open a state-of-the-art Olympic-sized pool in St. Albans for years, well before Mayor Eric Adams took office.
As for the Rockaway peninsula, Richards said that an agreement was…
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