There's an article in today's New York Times about adults taking beginner swim classes in New York. This line gave me pause:

Beneath the skyline of low-income city neighborhoods, the closest pools were tucked inside community centers, and for many, the classes cost too much. Just like the archetypal New Yorker who does not learn to drive until he's 22 because he never had a car, many nonswimmers had no reason to get into the water. They had no water to get into.

This is a sentiment I've heard many times. My mother, who grew up in Brooklyn, claimed this is the reason she didn't learn to swim.

But here's what nevere made sense to me: New York City is an island.  (OK, well, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island are.) These people never figured out how to get to Jones Beach? Or Rockaway? Or Brighton Beach? Or Orchard Beach?