Parks Department

Youth

Summer Camps Shut Out of Parks Dept. Pools: We’re Drowning in New Costs

March 20, 2023, 5:00 a.m.March 19, 2023, 9:47 p.m.

Day camps that used to offer sessions at the city’s public swimming holes have been treading water with pricier private pools since the beginning of the pandemic.

Pools and Beaches

Flushing Aquatic Center Pool Finally Reopens After Three Years — But Not for Long

Feb. 27, 2023, 7:21 p.m.Feb. 27, 2023, 9:07 p.m.

With two other pools due to close, it may soon be the only Parks-operated indoor swimming pool open in Queens.

Parks Department

Modular Portland Loo Toilets Are Finally Coming to New York City

Feb. 27, 2023, 5:02 a.m.May 30, 2024, 1:29 p.m.

Five prefabricated bathrooms will offer relief in one park in each borough — after a painful wait for a company coping with city bureaucracy.

How to New York

Want to Become a New York City Lifeguard? It’s Easier This Year.

Jan. 10, 2023, 5:00 a.m.May 14, 2024, 2:25 p.m.

Still feeling the cramps from staff shortages last summer, the Parks Department is making changes to encourage more people to become lifeguards. Here’s how to take the test.

Queens

$67 Million Flushing Aquatic Center Still Closed Months After Emergency Roof Repair

Nov. 21, 2022, 4:41 a.m.Nov. 21, 2022, 2:12 p.m.

Now the issue is a repair to the pool’s special floor that’s 0% complete — and as the center is already scheduled to close, for at least another year, the summer after next.

Brooklyn

More Trees Grow in Brooklyn, as Council Member Pushes to Fill Every Empty Pit

Nov. 2, 2022, 5:00 a.m.Nov. 1, 2022, 8:28 p.m.

Councilmember Lincoln Restler wants to cover his district with saplings, from Boerum Hill to Greenpoint

Pools and Beaches

Parks Dept. Bosses Lifeguards for Rare Meeting After Rocky Summer Season

Oct. 13, 2022, 7:42 p.m.Oct. 14, 2022, 3:29 p.m.

All the city’s indoor pools were closed Thursday so lifeguards could attend an hours-long ‘meet and greet’ at Chelsea Recreation Center in Manhattan, the first such gathering with the commish in recent memory.

Parks Department

Embattled Tree Bros Hang on to City Pruning Contract With DOI Monitorship

Sept. 29, 2022, 7:39 p.m.Oct. 7, 2022, 5:39 p.m.

When the sibling owners of Dragonetti Brothers Landscaping were indicted in an insurance scam last year, tree maintenance in Brooklyn and Queens was put on hold. But the city Department of Investigation is working with Parks officials to rev up the chainsaws again.

Playgrounds

NYCHA Turns to Parks Department for Public Housing Playground Fixes

Sept. 13, 2022, 7:54 p.m.Sept. 18, 2022, 10:59 p.m.

Housing officials are consulting the experts in city green space to tackle longstanding problems at some crumbling play spaces.

LGBTQ

Queer Riis Beachgoers Celebrate Community as Demolition of Nearby Hospital Looms

Aug. 29, 2022, 8:32 p.m.Aug. 31, 2022, 2:07 p.m.

With major change to an LGBTQ-favorite park on the horizon, queer beachgoers rejoiced in the annual Ms. Colombia Walk even as they face an un-shore future.

Parks Department

Summer Camps Shut Out of Parks Dept. Pools: We’re Drowning in New Costs

Flushing Aquatic Center Pool Finally Reopens After Three Years — But Not for Long

Modular Portland Loo Toilets Are Finally Coming to New York City

Want to Become a New York City Lifeguard? It’s Easier This Year.

$67 Million Flushing Aquatic Center Still Closed Months After Emergency Roof Repair

More Trees Grow in Brooklyn, as Council Member Pushes to Fill Every Empty Pit

Parks Dept. Bosses Lifeguards for Rare Meeting After Rocky Summer Season

Embattled Tree Bros Hang on to City Pruning Contract With DOI Monitorship

NYCHA Turns to Parks Department for Public Housing Playground Fixes

Queer Riis Beachgoers Celebrate Community as Demolition of Nearby Hospital Looms

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