“Floundering” In An “Ocean” — Get It?

The superpowerful lifeguard union — not for the first time a subject of criticism — gets more pressure:

The lifeguard program falls under the Parks Department’s jurisdiction, but it has been run, autonomously for the most part, by two men for 28 years. Peter Stein ran it from 1979 to 1997, until his dual roles as lifeguard coordinator and president of the lifeguard supervisors union, Local 508 of District Council 37, finally caused the city to force him to choose one or the other.

He remained as president, and another top union official, Richard Sher, took his place as lifeguard coordinator, often working in close consultation with Mr. Stein, according to people who have worked with them.

“The New York lifeguard program is run a bit like a fiefdom,” said B. Chris Brewster, president of the United States Lifesaving Association, which promotes the surf rescue standards that are followed by many of the nation’s largest lifeguard programs. “That in itself wouldn’t be of great import if, in the end, the service was delivered well, and the reality is it is not.”

Mr. Stein did not respond to interview requests, and the Parks Department would not make Mr. Sher available for comment.

For both men, criticism is nothing new. At least four reviews by the city’s Department of Investigation and by the public advocate’s and comptroller’s offices between 1992 and 1999 cited problems ranging from missing training records and inadequate supervision to widespread favoritism in hiring.

The most withering report came in 1994 from Mark Green, then the public advocate. He said the program “was floundering in an ocean of mismanagement, secrecy, favoritism and even deception.”