Rockaway is known for its seven miles of city beaches and boardwalk concessions that have drawn millions of tourists every summer \u2013 two million people traveled to the beaches last year. <\/p>\n
Despite the excitement, this year\u2019s opening had a slightly somber tone after the recent drowning of 18-year-old Brandon Figueroa, a Bronx-native who went missing off Rockaway\u2019s shores last week. <\/p>\n
Figueroa was reported missing near Beach 73rd Street around 3:31 p.m. Tuesday, police said. His body has yet to be found. <\/p>\n
Another person who went into the water with him was rescued by first responders. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis tragedy is a hateful reminder that while our beaches are beautiful, our waters are also unpredictable,\u201d said Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers.<\/p>\n
Drownings off of Rockaway\u2019s beaches are all too familiar an occurrence for locals on the peninsula. <\/p>\n
They often happen outside of beach hours, when lifeguards are not on duty. <\/p>\n
Over a dozen people have drowned off the Rockaways dating back to 2020, according to the city. <\/p>\n
Among them were 16-year-old Elyjha Chandler and 17-year-old Christian Perkins, who went missing while swimming off Riis Beach, a section of federally-run beach on the peninsula in 2024. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt could be your child next,\u201d said Chandler\u2019s mother on Friday. \u201cIt\u2019s not a pain that anyone wants to go through.\u201d <\/p>\n
At Friday\u2019s opening, Richards and Rockaway\u2019s elected officials pushed for the city to extend beach hours, as well as the length of the beach season into September. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve lost way too many lives,\u201d said Richards. <\/p>\n
Local officials have also pushed for an increase in swim safety education and pool access in order to broaden the understanding of the ocean\u2019s dangers. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe love this day here in the community, but it is a moment of tragedy when we talk about a young life lost,\u201d said Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato, who has pushed swim safety legislation in Albany. <\/p>\n
This summer, Rockaway\u2019s beaches will be open \u2013 with lifeguards on duty \u2013 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day. <\/p>\n
\u201cOnly swim when lifeguards are on duty, be sure to obey any of the red flags,\u201d said Shimamura. \u201cWe just want everybody to have a safe summer out there. We want you to have as much fun as possible, but always, always be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rockaway is known for its seven miles of city beaches and boardwalk concessions that have drawn millions of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-243790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}