Again, Tostado did not respond.Įarlier this month, the Crusader also sent a status update request on pool closures this summer with a list of the pools by wards. When Tostado did not respond to the questions for two weeks, the Crusader re-sent the email on May 22. On May 8, the Crusader sent these questions to Irene Tostado, the Park District’s Deputy Director of Communications. There are also questions of how many lifeguards are needed to patrol the city’s 27 beaches and how Park District officials determine which pools to close and which pools to keep open. After another year and many lifeguard training classes throughout the city, the Park District won’t disclose how many lifeguards have been recruited or how many have returned. Last year, Alderman Anthony Beale (9th) questioned the District’s efforts after knowing about the lifeguard shortage for a year. The lifeguard shortage continues despite the perks.
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So far, lifeguard applicants have been offered a $600 signing bonus, free Chicago Fire soccer tickets and Divvy memberships. The Park District has been aware of the lifeguard shortage for at least two years now, but the real question is whether Park District officials are doing enough to address the problem to keep pools open at a critical time of the year. Can the Park District blame this on the lifeguard shortage when beaches are closed during the fall, winter and spring?
Four had been closed all year for an unknown amount of time. In Alderman Jeanette Taylor’s 20th Ward, six indoor and outdoor pools were closed last summer. Nor have officials been transparent as questions linger as to how much progress or what efforts have been made to step up the recruitment of lifeguards to avoid a repeat of last summer’s pool closures. To date, Park District officials have not said whether they will be closed again this summer. Last summer, the most popular outdoor pools in Black wards, at Washington Park, Palmer Park and Tuley Park, were among the 28 swimming facilities closed on the South and West sides. But last year, as 28 pools in Black wards were closed during the lifeguard shortage, teenagers, families, and taxpayers who fund the District’s public pools were left without a facility in their neighborhoods where they could cool off. Many residents and families frequent the District’s free public pools during the summer. While North Side residents may be able to enjoy pools at private clubs, gyms, luxury apartments and condominiums, residents on the South and West sides have few such facilities.
In Black wards, the potential closures will be felt the hardest. That’s when the District will announce which indoor and outdoor pools it will close during the summer season. The Park District this week announced it will close all of Chicago’s indoor pools until June 23. Those facilities were nearly half of the 57 indoor and outdoor pools the Park District closed, citing a severe lifeguard shortage, a personnel deficit they knew about for at least a year.Īnother year has gone by and with the unofficial start of summer this Memorial Day weekend, Park District officials once again are experiencing a lifeguard shortage that may hit Black wards the hardest for the second consecutive year.
Last year, the Chicago Park District closed 28 pools in the city’s 17 Black wards during the busy summer season. The investigation has unveiled a pattern of pool closures predominantly affecting Chicago’s Black wards, sparking concerns over the potential disproportionate impact on these communities. This article is part of a broader, ongoing collaborative investigation into disparities in public pool access across various wards of Chicago.
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