Do we have any other swimmers out there who can fill us in? What's going on with the lifeguards and their policies. According to this 'call to arms' flyer posted by a unknown person, our lifeguards are not letting the swimmers swim. I've even seen a petition posted. Anyone got any clues - what's going on in the water?
19 comments:
If you read the Chicago Park District Beach Guidelines, there is no mention of a swimmer having to stay in front of the boats. At least, I couldn't find it.
I have been reading that we have had many more "no swimming" days this year, in addition to more beach closures, because of elevated E.Coli levels in the water close to the shore.
Chicago Park District Code: Chapter 7, Sec. B.4.b.
http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/docs/bcodes/chapter07.pdf
There is nothing that states the lifeguards have the authority to keep you within 50 yards of shore.
This is not a e-coli issue Laura. This is a issue of the lifeguards not letting swimmers go past water up to their hips.
Just another sympton of our law suit crazed society.
This happened to me on a very hot day last summer, I was only allowed to go into waist deep water. This "policy" in effect turns the lake into a wading pool. This just adds to the bull**** experience that is the lakefront in RP, dog bites, bums, and swimming restrictions.
BTW, Craig where is your story about the wall at Loyola Park? Last year you had that wonderful video, now that I've moved I would love to see this year's works. I'm amending my comment above to give credit to the wall. Love the wall.
Thanks for reminding me, I'll get to it. Plus, I'll have a story on the lifeguards at Pratt beach coming this weekend. Everyone should enjoy that too.
2006 Artist on the Wall.
Thanks for making that excellent point Abe. A friend of mine tried to make the same point on an Evanston beach on the 4th of July and was almost arrested for it. Her argument: that the City of Evanston wasn't liable if she hurt herself while choosing to swim and that the lifeguards had no legal authority to tell her how deep or far she could go out or where she could swim as long as she wasn't blocking boat traffic. Therefore, she should be able to swim at her own discretion. My friend is a competitive long distance open water swimmer and as it happens, she was in waist deep water at the time - just not in the spot preferred by the lifeguards. The issue wasn’t depth per se – it was staying between buoys parallel to the beach. She said: I’m not coming out.
So the lifeguards called the police and my friend made the same argument to the officer. The police officer threatened her with arrest and my friend asked on what charge. The police officer answered "resisting lifeguard authority" and my friends laughed in his face and then explained again that they have no such legal authority.
Apparently it's not such a good idea to laugh in a police officer's face when you are a 110 lb. dripping wet woman. Or something. Anyway, the officer continued to harass her with questions intended to intimidate and bluster and finally insisted she was "banned" from the beach for the rest of the day. Given my friend had a party to go to later, she chose not to go to jail in a bathing suit that day and left the beach. The beach she pays an extra fee to use on top of her hefty property taxes. Think the police had anything better to do in Evanston on the 4th of July than that?
That’s an Evanston story, but I think the same principles apply down here.
Can someone please tell me the why it is okay for a small percentage of the local population to take over the parks each summer to shoot off small colorful bombs for their own amusement but it's not okay for my friend trying to train for the Big Shoulders 5K to swim a half mile distance in the lake across the street from her own damn house?
I can't help but notice that the motor boats are being driven very fast much closer to the shore than they used to.
What are the rules here? Could the boats now be allowed closer to shore than formerly,and could that have something to do with new restrictions on swimmers?
I saw one moron in a jetski not more than 150'from the shore. Is this legal? Are swimmers being restricted to accomodate boaters?
The reason the sign is up -
CRAIG PISSED IN LAKE MICHIGAN.
It's so contaminated from his urine that it'll be unsafe for the remainder of the year season and the city of Chicago recommends all that have accidentally touched the water Craig Pissed in immediately go to the Center for Disease control to have the ANTI-VIRUS given to them to protect them from Craigs Germs.
Nice set up. When urine leaves the body it is sterile.
(Don't quit your day job, comedian.)
These kids know what they're doing, and sadly enough, are enjoying the adrenalin rush that goes with the pain they inflict and the pain they receive. The conditioning is deep with a lifetime of beatings from infancy, starting with getting the crap beat out of them during toilet training. I am so, so sorry for the lives into which they were born. Don't attack me as a bleeding heart. You gotta bleed a little when you see a toddler knocked around.
Still, I live in Rogers Park and am trying to raise a 16-year-old son to adulthood without him getting shot through the head. I bought him a beater car rather than have him on foot on these mean streets. I can only imagine the terror fellow Rogers Park mothers experience in fear for their children,especially teenage sons.
Urine is sterile from most human subject, craig being the exception. He spews bacteria and filth from all of his orifices
Actually Craig's pissed in his pants since infancy.
wally, natas, play nice or Ms. dorothy's going to make you go to your rooms without using the bathroom. now do i wear pamper or huggies, i get so confused.
So I know what this flyer is all about. My friends and I decided that we wanted to change the way the lifeguards behaved towards swimmers after several summers of standing in shallow water and getting harrassed every time we wanted to swim. We had the cops called on us on a hot Saturday after we had gone on the Chicago Park District website and seeing there were no rules posted. We made the flyer, and had 80 signatures within 30 minutes, making it clear that people in RP would like to swim and play with the ball in the water (something else apparently not allowed). The Park District was faxed these complaints and within a few days (4 to be exact), the lifeguards were told to stop making up rules and let people be free to swim and play. Now when you go to the beach you will be pleasantly surprised that you are allowed to swim up to the boueys and the boat has to move back, the lifeguards on the beach are supposed to be watching the kids in the shallow end and the boats are to be as far as the boueys when people are out there. The speed boats are not allowed to be inside the swim area (again the boueys) and can be fined I think $200 for doing so. Thanks for posting it.
the rules are there for a reason. no ball playing in the water because kids chase after them and go too deep and drown, its happened before. and the rule is not waist deep, its chest deep. and you are interested in doing some lap swimming in the lake (for whatever reason that would be), you would have to talk to the captain or mate on duty and they will send a lifeguard out there with you. but try not to ask them when they are short on staff as they already are.
Source: im a chicago lifeguard
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