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Q&A
Council Member Julie Menin questions Parks Commissioner on project delays and swim programs
4:02:57
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123 sec
Council Member Julie Menin questioned Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue about strategies to prevent delays in projects like Rupert East River Park and the implementation of a universal swim program for second graders. Commissioner Donoghue addressed efforts to improve inter-agency communication and the expansion of the Swim for Life program.
- Menin suggested creating an inter-agency task force to prevent project delays
- Donoghue highlighted ongoing efforts to improve communication, including deploying staff to other agencies
- Discussion of the universal swim program mandated by recent legislation and the need for additional funding to fully implement it
Julie Menin
4:02:57
So moving forward on projects like Rupert and similar projects in other members districts, why not have an inter agency task force from the beginning that is meeting, that is flagging these issues, and every single agency should have to sign off immediately on the front end so that we don't have these kinds of delays?
4:03:39
Okay, and then last question, moving to swimming.
4:03:43
I know you had a dialogue with Chair Krishnan about the lifeguard situation, so my question is about when are we going to see a universal swim program for second graders, which was mandated by the bill that the council passed last year.
4:03:59
We know obviously that you've allocated the additional 5,500,000.0 to expand it for an additional four thousand eight hundred second graders, but it's still not the universal program that was required under the legislation.
4:04:59
Okay.
4:05:00
Thank you.
Sue Donoghue
4:03:18
Absolutely.
4:03:19
And we have, as I said, through our capital reform process, we have looked at things like that.
4:03:24
We actually have people that we've deployed that are sitting at DEP to help with the communication, help to identify problems early on, so we're looking at all different ways that we can improve the process.
4:04:11
Yes, and thank you for the question, and thank you for recognizing the importance of our Swim for Life program.
4:04:16
It's something that we have, for decades, been very focused on and appreciate your support of it.
4:04:23
And as we know so thank you for also recognizing we did get the $5,000,000 in funding to be able to expand.
4:04:30
And that's really that's what it is, is that it requires funding, both in order to be able to have the swim instructors and all of the support staff needed to be able to train second graders to swim and the facilities to accommodate that swimming.
4:04:45
So we were pleased.
4:04:46
We're now up to about 18,000 students, individuals getting trained in swim in water safety, but it is a matter of continuing to have the funding in place to accommodate that.