Evanston’s Parks and Recreation Department today announced that it expects Greenwood Street Beach will be closed for the remainder of the summer to ensure adequate staffing and public safety at the city’s other beaches.
“The safety of visitors and staff is our top priority as we work to provide exceptional lakefront recreation opportunities this summer,” Parks Director Audrey Thompson said in a statement.
“Amid a nationwide lifeguard shortage and swimming closures in a number of Chicago-area communities, our team has focused on retaining and recruiting USLA-certified lifeguards committed to a culture of safety, accountability and trust,” Thompson added. “We appreciate the public’s understanding as we work to ensure safety for all beachgoers and staff this season.”
She says South Boulevard Beach, Lee Street Beach, Clark Street Beach, and Lighthouse Beach are open and fully staffed. And the Northwestern University-operated Lincoln Street Beach is also open. Daily beach status reports are available online.
The city has 23 new certified lifeguard recruits for the 2022 season and it is seeking more.
Thompson said Greenwood was chosen for closure because it received the smallest number of visitors last year.
The new parks director stated recently that the beaches would be fully staffed. What happened since then?
So…they’ll need people to enforce the closure right? Who would that be?
How long until the discussion begins about turning this into a dog beach?
Ridiculous!!! Greenwood is the only beach I go to!
Not happy about this at all—-Greenwood’s s been my favorite beach for only about sixty years—-I was there this week—-it’s being used exclusively by the city’s aquatic camp—-how nice—-also saw fancy speedboats we paid for so the kids can go tubing—-all next to the sailing center beach where I’ll never get a kayak slot—so it goes