Discussing Summer Beach Safety

By Katie McFadden

Believe it or not, Memorial Day is next weekend, with beaches opening on Saturday, May 23, for a long and busy beach season that will go to September 13. That means preparations for the summer season are well underway. On Tuesday, May 12, the 100th Precinct welcomed Assistant Chief Christopher McIntosh of Patrol Borough Queens South to lead a summer beach safety meeting with all of the agencies who will be making sure the summer goes smoothly.

Hosting the meeting was a first for Chief McIntosh, but it’s his third summer working with Rockaway under Queens South. He was joined by newly promoted Deputy Inspector George Ng of the 101st Precinct, new Captain Sachi Singh of the 100th Precinct, plus leaders from Transit District 23, FDNY, U.S. Park Police, NYC Parks, NYPD’s Traffic, Towing, Marine, Scuba and Drone units, Community Board 14, local civic associations and more.

McIntosh began with setting out objectives. “The purpose of planning for summer deployment is we want to identify key safety concerns, quality of life issues, water safety, fireworks, etc. Summer brings a lot of people to the Rockaways. With that, you need to see visible deployment. Our plan is to have rapid response, interagency coordination, community engagement and postings in the right location for the right time. I have three focuses: visible deployment, safety and response and community conditions,” he said.

Visible deployment includes the beach detail, footposts, scooters, bicycles and motorized assets. Response includes coverage on the boardwalk, transit stations and at parks, with more resources available during peak summer weekends. Community conditions encompasses 311 complaints and quality of life issues followed up by the Q-Team.

Each agency spoke about the ways they’ll be serving these goals. Captain Singh said a few days before Memorial Day until a few days after Labor Day, they’ll have an additional two lieutenants, four sergeants and 36 officers. They’ll cover a 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. shift and a 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift and will be posted along the beach and boardwalk and other locations. Singh said they requested two Gators to help them access the beach, as well as two scooters and four bikes to help patrol the boardwalk. They’ll have response teams along the boardwalk, at Beach 73rd, Beach 116th, on Beach Channel Drive, Rockaway Beach Blvd. and near both bridges. Singh said Rockaway gets about 3.3 million visitors, traffic increases daily by 50% and 500,000 people get off the shuttle train at Beach 116th, so there are more people in certain areas. The Q-Team will be responding to 311 calls for loud music, large gatherings, speakers, public drinking, etc., and summonses will be issued. He advised people to leave a contact when making 311 complaints, so they can follow up.

DI Ng said they recently added 10 officers to the 101st Precinct and will be getting three sergeants, one lieutenant and 17 officers for the summer, deployed five days a week, especially weekends. Their main concentration will be O’Donohue Park and the boardwalk around DredSurfer Grill on Beach 17th Street. He said they issued 200 summonses last year for parking issues. The Q-Team will continue responding to quality-of-life issues through 311 complaints in under an hour.

Transit District 23 is expecting an increase in visitors this summer. They have a fixed post at the Broad Channel subway station. They’ll have another on the train from Beach 116th to Beach 90th, one on the train from Beach 98th to Beach 90th Street, one from Beach 116th to Broad Channel and one from Broad Channel to 80th Street in Queens.

Water safety was a hot button issue. Ed Lynch of the Belle Harbor Property Owners Association and CB14 suggested staggered shifts for lifeguards, covering 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., as most drownings happen after 6 p.m. NYC Parks Rockaway Administrator Elizabeth Walsack said she would mention it to Chief of Special Programs Bonnie Williams, who now oversees the lifeguard program, but added “It’s conventional wisdom that if we have people on until 8 p.m., people would be in the water until 9 p.m., so it’s about reinforcing the message of ‘do not go into the water when there’s no lifeguard.’”

This was followed by ways to improve mass messaging. Felicia Johnson spoke about getting the messaging on NYC Ferry, since they have an advertising system on board. Captain Singh said they’ll be distributing flyers to parents at school dismissals. Walsack also mentioned contacting the MTA to make announcements, alerting people of stops that don’t allow swimming. Nonprofits like Swim Strong and Rising Tide will also continue to have programs to educate about riptides, swimming and water safety. Ozzie Edwards recommended hosting educational programs in schools. Dolores Orr of CB14 recommended keeping the message simple—“No lifeguard, no swimming.” She added that CB14 has advocated for a public PA system to make announcements along the boardwalk, but funding is needed. Lynch also suggested making a designated path along the busy beaches so Gators can get around beachgoers. Walsack said it may have to be segmented since the landscape of each beach varies.

Another major issue discussed was traffic and parking enforcement. NYPD Traffic said they’ll have two patrol agents and two motorized patrols in both precincts. They’ll have two tow trucks on weekdays and four on weekends from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. A request was made to once again utilize the TBTA lot near the Cross Bay Bridge as a redemption area for towed cars. They’ll also have patrols at intersections including Beach 17th and Seagirt Blvd., Beach 35th Street and Rockaway Freeway and Beach 108th Street and Rockaway Beach Blvd. Liz Geraghty of the 100th Precinct Community Council suggested patrols at Beach 116th as buses ending at Beach 116th have caused traffic backups. Singh reiterated that the 100th Precinct has two patrols on the block. Orr suggested that the MTA have buses layover on Newport Ave. instead of Rockaway Beach Blvd.

Orr also suggested that cars not be towed from the south side of Shore Front Parkway, as the time it takes to tow a car from there creates massive traffic backups, and another car just takes the empty space. Singh pointed out that Shore Front has had longstanding issues since the No Standing signs adjacent to the lane can be confusing. They are supposed to be drop-off lanes only. He said there was a request to add metered parking and a request to add no parking barriers, but both requests were denied. Geraghty asked why the ambiguous lanes can’t be painted with stripes to keep people from parking there. DOT Queens Deputy Borough Planner Manny Evans responded, “It’s more of a reoccurring issue and putting down that much paint, when anywhere we put down paint in Rockaway Beach, people park there anyway, and we end up in the same conversation.” Bridget Klapinski of the Rockaway Beach Civic Association advised that the digital message signs placed along Shore Front should not have messaging saying, “lock your belongings in your car,” like they did last year, but rather messages like “Don’t park” or things about water safety. Additionally, Orr suggested that the curb cut to the on ramp at Beach 83rd Street should be made wider so emergency vehicles can access the boardwalk when needed.

FDNY and NYPD will once again have drones up looking for sharks or dangerous conditions. The FDNY and NYPD Scuba teams will have crews ready for reactive response. FDNY, Scuba and U.S. Park Police agreed that having lifeguards on until 8 p.m. would be a good idea. Asked about lifeguard numbers, Walsack said Parks would have a better idea next week and numbers would increase after schools let out in late June since many lifeguards are students and teachers.

As for fireworks, McIntosh said anyone caught setting off fireworks will have them confiscated and will receive a summons. The Q-Team will respond to 311 calls for fireworks.