To swim, bring a lock. To buy a lock, see the lemonade guy.
Yet again, New York rules just seem reasonable to me.
Partner and I arrived at the public pool at 4:05pm. There was a line. Not because the pool was full, but because Parks Department workers were ensuring everyone had a swimsuit and a lock.
- You must have a swimsuit (no street clothes allowed, presumably for hygienic reasons).
- You must have a lock, in order to store your items in a locker.
Further rules include:
- No cell phones at the pool area (presumably either to prevent people taking photos of each other, or because the park department doesn’t want to deal with phones getting wet or thieves).
- If you do not have any items to store, you do not need a lock.
- The lock must be sufficiently large that 1) it will fit the big loops of the lockers, and 2) the Parks Department bolt cutters can grip it to snip it.
The group ahead of us arrived at the front of the line without a lock. The entry workers indicated that they could purchase a lock from the nearby lemonade vendor. After they bought the lock, they could skip the line and re-enter.
The line itself took like 5 minutes: no harm, no foul.
My favorite is the bolt cutters: your lock must be strong enough to stop a thief and weak enough for the city to snip. New York rules don’t just have reasons: they have exit plans.
At the pool, one of the lifeguards called out “Brother man!” to a neighboring patron on his cell phone.
The patron replied, “Yeah?”
“If they catch you on your phone, they’re gonna kick you outta here.”
“Oh, thanks man!”
The system works.
Julian Wise 