It's sometimes easy to forget that New York is a city surrounded by beautiful beaches, some accessible for just the cost of a luxury MetroCard. All 14 miles of city beaches are free, and they open tomorrow, May 26th, at 10 a.m.! Click on the photos here for details on five excellent beach options within easy reach from downtown Manhattan: Rockaway Beach; Jones Beach; Fort Tilden; Sandy Hook N.J.; and Manhattan Beach. more ›

One year ago today New York City's ban on smoking in beaches and parks kicked in. So how's that going? Really, really great, if you ask the Department of Health. So how to explain why the police this year have actually started getting aggressive about issuing tickets for the offense, despite saying they wouldn't? Because we still see smokers in parks on a regular basis. more ›

More dolphins have beached themselves on the shores of Cape Cod in the past three weeks than typically beach in an entire year, and marine biologists have no idea why. This is the "single largest stranding" of dolphins in the Northeast since at least 1999, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and rescuers anticipate more to come. Interestingly, this is happening just as Congress is poised to cut funding for stranding response teams nationwide. "If scientists do not have the funds to determine the cause of a mass mortality event, there could be a threat to public health without anyone knowing," the IFAW warned Congress last week. Here's an MSNBC news video segment from the dolphin-clogged beaches of Cape Cod: more ›

Last week, after a four-alarm fire shut down the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant in Harlem, the city dumped millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Hudson River. That dump ended on Friday night but the fallout continues. more ›

Today the City Council is holding hearings on the Bloomberg administration's controversial plan to ban smoking in all city parks, pedestrian plazas, beaches and boardwalks. Queens Councilmember Peter Vallone, who has been a longtime supporter of anti-smoking legislation, is introducing a compromise bill that would stop short of a full ban, and create smoking sections in parks larger than two acres. His proposal would also allow smoking in the city's new pedestrian plazas. more ›

The territory controlled by the embattled Federation of Cigarette Smokers is being steadily whittled away like the formerly Grand Duchy of Luxembourg—it's only a matter of time before the city's last remaining smokers are reduced to a postage-size plot of land in a back yard on Staten Island, which they'll bitterly occupy on a time-share basis in dreary smoking shifts. Today Mayor Bloomberg is announcing the expansion of NYC's smoking ban to the city's 14 miles of beaches and more than 1,700 parks, playgrounds and recreation facilities, the Wall Street Journal reports. more ›

Last summer not only was the city's sand deemed disgusting, but the water at our beaches wasn't getting a clean bill of health either. In fact, no NYC beaches rated above 3 stars on a 5 star rating system. Well, over the past year not much has changed. According to this year's report put out by the Natural Resources Defense Council, we've still got some of the dirtiest beaches in the country! more ›

It's sometimes easy to forget that New York is a city surrounded by great beaches, some accessible for just the cost of a luxury MetroCard. Click on the images here for details on four excellent beach options within easy reach from downtown Manhattan: Fort Tilden, Sandy Hook, Manhattan Beach, and Jones Beach. more ›

Yesterday we were revolted by the sight of 1,000 cigarette butts that were dug up in the sand on Coney Island over the weekend, so today we're particularly primed for this bit of news: Mayor Bloomberg is moving forward with a ban on cigarettes on city beaches and in public parks. When the idea was first floated in September by Health Department commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley, Bloomberg seemed caught off guard, saying, "Our Police Department has enough to do. They can't be going around giving tickets [for smoking]." A few weeks later, he did promise to "get that done," but that was the last we heard on it... until now. The mayor told reporters yesterday: more ›

It's the unofficial start of the summer! According to WCBS 2, "AAA estimates 3.8 million people from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania will travel this weekend - that's an 8 percent increase from last year. Analysts credit lower gas prices for the higher travel number, but AAA says because of a still fragile economy, families will likely spend less this year on summer travel, taking more road trips instead of a flight." more ›

When the Health Department first announced a plan to ban smoking in public parks and beaches run by the city, Mayor Bloomberg seemed caught off guard, and backed away from a full ban, saying, "Our Police Department has enough to do. They can't be going around giving tickets [for smoking]." more ›

Yesterday Mayor Bloomberg stepped back from a plan to make smoking in public parks and beaches illegal, cautioning that the proposal would stop short of completely outlawing smoking on Parks Department property. Bloomberg boasted at a press conference, "Nobody is more of a believer in saving lives and stopping smoking. In fact, we already ban smoking, for example, in playgrounds." However! "There's also the practical aspect of how we can enforce it. Our Police Department has enough to do. They can't be going around giving tickets." Not with all those photographers and superheroes on the loose, anyway. The mayor explained that the ban would not cover entire parks, only select areas where large crowds might gather. He also acknowledged that if you, the embattled smoker, are "sitting in the middle of Sheep Meadow and you’re the only one there, are you doing any damage to anybody other than killing yourself? Probably not." At the same time, Bloomberg reaffirmed his tough anti-smoking stance: "Make no mistake about it. This city is not walking away from our commitment to make it as difficult and as expensive to smoke as we possibly can." So smoke 'em while you can still (barely) afford 'em. more ›

One day after city health commissioner Dr. Thomas A. Farley revealed his intention to expand the city's smoking ban to parks and beaches, something terrifying happened: We woke up this morning to find ourselves in complete agreement with conservative NY Post demagogue Andrea Peyser. Obviously, this means that we were wrong in supporting the ban and ought to start smoking Lucky Strikes at once. Peyser opines:

Visiting the beach or the park should no longer require an oxygen mask. If one wants to smoke, there are places to freely enjoy that activity. Like China... The idea won't sit well with the pathologically addicted few who continue to force innocent citizens to unwillingly breathe their poisons. But this is a scenario whose time has come... Few things are more aggravating and disgusting than being forced to swallow fumes emitted by a mother, father, grandpa or stalker whose bond with nicotine prevents them from stepping outside the city's precious, toddler-filled recreation areas in order to slowly kill themselves.

First they came for the smokers in bars and restaurants, and we said nothing—we simply enjoyed breathing air without carcinogens. Now the Mayor is coming for the smokers on park benches and beach towels, and we're still saying nothing! As part of an ambitious new public health initiative, city health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley announced that the Bloomberg administration would seek to ban smoking in all city parks and beaches. Public health advocates like Dr. David A. Kessler are elated; he tells City Room, "The issues with secondhand smoke are very real and the majority of the population today doesn’t want to be breathing in tobacco smoke, whether indoors or outdoors." Farley says the proposal to proscribe cigs may require the approval of the City Council, and health department spokeswoman Jessica Scaperotti tells Bloomberg News that officials haven’t yet devised "a specific strategy for reducing smoking in parks." But if cops can be as militant about busting smokers as they are ticketing people for public drinking, we're sure this'll be a big cash crop for the city. more ›

For the second weekend in a row, Parks officials did end up going ahead and closing down city beaches along the coasts of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island due to the residual effects of what was Tropical Storm Danny (yes, they are closed to swimming today, though sunbathing and some surfing is okay). Long Island beachgoers didn't have much better luck with Nassau County shutting down 20 of its beaches and Suffolk following suit with a couple more. Well there's always Orchard! WCBS 2 also says that Suffolk officials discouraged swimming at 64 other spots along the Sound due to "sewage discharges and elevated bacteria levels" that occur sue to storm runoff water. While the storm itself did not create much of a stir, it managed to rough the tides up once again, just a week after Hurricane Bill drew out hordes of surfers looking to catch 10-foot waves. One Mastic Beach resident said, "You feel like you're gonna break your neck or something. The waves are strong, you can feel the current tearing at your feet." more ›

Danny has been downgraded from "Tropical Storm" to "Tropical Depression," but it'll still cause dangerous surf this weekend. 1010 WINS reports that "Danny had been mostly absorbed by a low pressure system associated with a cold front over North Carolina," with hurricane specialist Lixion Avila explaining, "We were expecting that that was going to happen sooner or later. It happened a little bit sooner. Basically Danny has been swallowed by the big low." The NYC Parks Department hasn't closed beaches, but warned that "beachgoers [should] exercise caution at all city beaches due to Tropical Storm Danny. Large swells are expected to produce dangerous surf conditions and life-threatening rip currents during the next day or two. The coastal impact may result in temporary restrictions, including requirements that swimmers remain in shallow waters and closures at city beaches during this weekend." (More details here.) And beach-side businesses will be taking another hit this weekend—the manager of the Jones Beach food court said, "It's been exactly like this. It's been like a ghost town." more ›

Though Hurricane Bill is weakening and spinning away from New England's coastline, nearby beaches were still closed, due to rip current threats and flooding. While NYC preemptively closed most city beaches on Friday, Long Island and NJ beaches weren't closed until yesterday. NYC beachgoers were threatened with tickets if they tried to approach the water while Long Island's Robert Moses Beach had to be closed—a state parks spokesman told Newsday, "The entire sand part of the park is under water" (the beach did reopen later for sunbathing). In NJ's Ocean Grove, lifeguards told the Star-Ledger, "We're only allowing surfers that seem competent. We've had pretty bad rip currents," but one in Ocean City told WCBS 2, "People are walking and it's ankle deep and get swept out because ankle deep goes to knee deep goes to chest deep." more ›

As Hurricane Bill heads north and not too close to our shores, there are still concerns about rip currents from the storm. The Parks Department said that it is "closing Rockaway Beach, Coney Island Beach, Manhattan Beach, South Beach, Midland Beach and Wolfe’s Pond Beach to swimming due to the approaching hurricane. Orchard Beach in the Bronx remains open assuming conditions do not deteriorate and the city’s 63 pools and 650 spray showers offer opportunities to cool off." more ›

Despite increasing warnings from Parks officials and a drowning death toll that continues to rise, swimmers are still finding their way into the Rockaways after lifeguards are off-duty, often into the night. The Times goes out to the Queens beaches to discover that "police officers patrol the area until 9 p.m. or so...but daring swimmers know to wait until the police leave to dive in, stepping past signs in English and Spanish warning against nighttime swimming." And one local resident tells the News, "Kids think it's just a big bathtub." City Councilman James Sanders held a community "brainstorming" session this week to discuss how to put an end to a deadly summer that has already claimed six victims, three times as many as all of last year. A Parks deputy described just how dangerous the waters can be by saying, "In certain weather conditions, particularly with a lot of south wind, the waves can create an opening in the bar. When that happens, it's like turning over a 5-gallon water cooler bottle and ripping the lid open - all the water comes rushing out." Here's a tutorial on what to do if you're caught in a rip current. more ›

A deadly wave of drownings in the Rockaways has prompted the Parks Department to encourage heightened caution while swimming in what have been strong rip tides throughout the Queens shoreline this summer. Jose-Luis Olivares became the sixth swimmer to drown this summer while rescuing his wife and daughter; only two people died from drowning out there all of last year. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe points out that all six swimmers died at an unguarded beach or when there were no lifeguards on duty. With the first real heat wave of summer arriving this week, Parks officials called on swimmers to only go in while lifeguards are around. Benepe told the Post, "We have over 300 lifeguards and supervisors in the Rockaways. We also have 50 security personnel who patrol the beaches both before and after hours to prevent people from going into the water. There aren't many other municipalities that do that. We've sometimes been called beach Nazis." more ›

A Queens man trying to rescue his wife and daughter became the latest victim to drown in the Rockaways this summer. 36-year-old father of two Jose-Luis Olivares of Ozone Park became the sixth person to fall prey to the rough tides along the Queens beaches, the second to die at Jacob Riis Park. Olivares went into the water after his wife and ten-year-old daughter around 7 p.m.—an hour after life guards go off-duty. An off-duty park ranger pulled Olivares out and he was airlifted to Peninsula Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Both his wife and daughter survived; it was unclear how they managed to get out of the water. The victim's brother told the Post, "We're all feeling very bad right now because he was a hero today. He saved his daughter and his wife. He is a very good father — he loves his daughter. She is devastated." Parks officials continue to search for the body of Heyward "Winky" Patterson, who was pulled in while swimming late at night on a nearby beach earlier in the week. more ›

While the Parks Department's solution to the city's garbage is a giant Dumpster amongst the trees, the same thing can't quite help our water. The Daily News has a report card on our beaches, and of the 13 rated in the annual "Testing the Water" guide... things aren't looking so good. more ›

Officials in Babylon have announced that the town will become the first on the Atlantic seaboard to offer free WiFi at beaches, parks and pools. The Suffolk County town will be opening four separate internet cafes at its various beaches over the next few weeks, the first one debuting this weekend at Overlook Beach. The cafes will also offer three free laptops as loaners and the signal will be strong enough to reach nearby boaters. Babylon Supervisor Steve Bellone told the Post, "For the first time you'll be able to surf the Internet. It is very cool. We're very excited. You can take it down to the water, you can go into the water, if you want to." Less cool news recently came out of nearby Robert Moses State Park, where the only signal beach goers were getting was from Park officials telling them to head elsewhere since large portions of the shore had to be closed off due to erosion. more ›

Yesterday, a number of beaches, including Coney Island and Manhattan Beach, were closed after concerns that raw sewage, which overflowed from a sewage plant, had contaminated the water. But one beachgoer at Coney Island ignored the many announcements and actually decided on a swim—only to be "cited for failing to comply with an officer" (the Daily News also has a photo of him being restrained from possibly heading back to the water). Others were disappointed, telling the Daily News, "We were looking forward to this day all week. It takes two hours to get here from the Bronx. The water looks okay to me," and "In New York, they exaggerate. They see a mosquito flying near the water, and they make a big deal." Beaches are reopening, but swimming is not allowed. more ›

Those out in Coney Island today for the all-day Coney Island Bordwalk Party may have jumped the gun by wearing their swim trunks. The Parks Department closed off the water in Coney due to possible raw sewage overflow from a local treatment plant. Nearby Manhattan Beach was also shut down for the same reason, but both beaches remain open to sunbathers. Earlier in the weekend, Nassau County had shut down 22 beaches because of the heavy rain on Friday and yesterday it was revealed that a sizable chunk of Robert Moses State Park would have to close down due to erosion. more ›

After years of spot erosion accumulating on Field 5 of Robert Moses State Park, the beach's deterioration has been so severe this spring that half of the popular Babylon site and its parking area are going to be closed down for the summer. Off-shore storms and possibly the ghost of Jane Jacobs have left the beach in a state where at high tide, the surf goes right up to the dunes, which have now been replaced by an eight-foot cliff. A state parks director told Newsday, "The surf cut into the dunes and at high tide there is no beach for people to put their blankets on. This is the worst erosion at that section of Robert Moses that we have seen since at least two decades." Field 5 can usually play host to up to 10,000 sunbathers and its parking lot holds 1,200 spaces. In order to accommodate, Field 4 has begun taking on some of its lifeguards and will now be open on Thursdays and Fridays starting in July. Just last summer the Suffolk park celebrated its 100th anniversary. more ›

It may not feel like the time to think about the beach, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has cleanup crews combing the sand of Surf City, NJ—so far, it's found over 450 "potentially explosive fuses and ordnance" (from the World War I period) since late January. The AP reports, "The corps unwittingly sucked the munitions from the sea bed and pumped them ashore as part of a beach replenishment project begun in late 2006. Beachgoers began finding them in 2007." D'oh! While some people are upset they had no idea there was a sandbag bunker nearby, one woman told NBC 10, "I don’t think they’ll explode -- they’re old and they’re rusted." Over a thousand have been found in the past two years and it's hoped the cleanup will be completed by May for this year's beach season. more ›