Pennsylvania state lawmaker Amen Brown is making sure kids have access to the public pools in the city by giving out free swimwear in West Philadelphia on Wednesday. He said kids have been denied entry to pools due to their attire. NBC10’s Aaron Baskerville has more.
Pennsylvania state lawmaker Amen Brown will be giving out free swimwear to Philadelphia kids on Wednesday after he noticed dozens of kids getting turned away at public pools.
It has been an extremely hot week with feels-like temperatures in the triple digits and it has left many turning to public pools to find some relief from the heat.
However, Brown said some kids are denied access to the pools because they are not dressed in the right swimwear.
“People getting turned away, dozens a day, just at one pool we are doing this event at, now imagine citywide, and we have dozens of pools,” Brown said.
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According to Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, all swimmers must wear bathing suits. T-shirts, mesh shorts, and cut-off shorts are not allowed. Rash guards or Lycra-like shirts are fine, and so are swim diapers.
Brown took to social media to address the issue with his video gaming over 200,000 views.
"One parent said in the comments, this is right on time because I was going to have to wait until I got paid next week to get my son some trunks," Brown said.
Lifeguards say they routinely have to turn kids away because they don’t have the right gear.
Brown is now having a huge swimwear giveaway on Wednesday at noon at 39th and Olive Street in West Philadelphia.
“We’re a city that’s always talking about creating safe spaces, why we denying children access to safe spaces? So that’s what this is,” Brown said.
