Dear New Yorkers, A lifeguard shortage last summer forced rolling closures of pools and beaches, sending parents, kids, seniors and anyone in search of a swim scrambling. The City Council hopes to fix that. A bill, championed by Speaker Adrienne Adams, would provide funding to keep the city’s public school pools open year round. There are also commitments to build new pools, offer more swimming lessons and create a stronger lifeguard pipeline. “Year-round access to public pools is critical to New Yorkers’ health and safety,” Adams told THE CITY. But it’s not clear how much money all these proposals would cost or how the Council intends to pay for them given that state financial watchdogs are warning of worsening economic conditions. Read more here. Some other items of note: An agreement between Amtrak and the MTA has put the Penn Station Acces megaproject back on schedule. To bring Metro-North trains to the West Side, MTA crews will get access to Amtrak’s tracks crossing Hell Gate Bridge — but that means the national rail line’s passengers potentially face months of service impacts. The Bronx borough president has extended the deadline for residents to join community boards by almost two weeks after THE CITY reported that several boards in the borough have struggled in recent months to assemble enough members to conduct business. Mayor Eric Adams had firm words on Feb. 7 for the operators of smoke shops selling cannabis illegally: “We’re not going to stand idly by.” Since then, the city has gone after four such businesses in court. But THE CITY found that while one was shut down by court order and another is operating under a partial injunction, two shops remained fully open while their nuisance abatement cases are pending. Bronxite Jason Morales has been getting arrested for pot, and only pot, for more than 20 years. He joined the FAQ NYC podcast to talk about how normal that seemed, how traumatic it was, and how he hopes the state can live up to promises to “make it right” for the people and in the places that were hit hardest by the old prohibition. Listen here. Does your FYP need more local news? Follow THE CITY’s new account on TikTok and hear our stories as you scroll. See how New York City is doing with our newsroom’s economic recovery tracker. - For the latest local numbers on COVID-19 vaccinations, testing rates and more, check our coronavirus tracker.
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