From the Daily News:The Rockaway Beach boardwalk — battered by Hurricane Irene — will be fixed in time for the summer season, Parks Department officials said Wednesday.
But local activists are pushing for a long-term beach replenishment and protection program, worried the shoreline will be whittled away by future storms.
“The sand is not only for recreation, it’s protection for our neighborhoods,” said John Cori, who formed Friends of Rockaway Beach last year. “It’s the first line of defense during a storm.”
The group has started a “Demand the Sand” campaign, urging people to contact elected officials and get them to focus on the issue.
While the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is slated to dredge the East Rockaway Inlet for navigational purposes in the near future, there is no current funding to transport the sand to eroded beaches.
9 comments:
Neighborhoods ?
What neighborhoods ?
What you have there is a bunch of transplants and gang animals living off the goverment.
I play private partys in Breezy and Roxbury during summer.
Last july 4th I had taken the train from JFK and as I walked down beach 116 to the old cab stand several groups of "young bucks" were sizing me up.
Note: I use a triangle shaped Bass bag on my back so it doesnt look like a guitar--It was not like I was broadcasting "come get me"
The savages just dont like "white people"
When you bought your houses and other properties, didn't you see the ocean outside trying to reclaim this peninsula?
Let nature run its course and next time don't buy in an area where nature has been putting it under water for centuries.
That anonymous poster is nothing but jealous. where do you live?
Beach replenishment is nothing but a waste of money for the taxpayers. Beaches have moved since the melting of the last glacier, and they're not going to stop just because someone was foolish enough to build a house on them. Both federal sand pumping projects and federally-subsidized flood insurance programs are boondoggles that do not benefit the general public and should be at the top of the list of programs to be eliminated in any upcoming budget cuts.
Not only is it as pointless as King Canute trying to hold back the tide, for the big storm will always come to overcome the beach's defenses, but it is of no benefit to most of those who actually pay the freight. At a bare minimum, any beach that benefits from sand replenishment should be readily accessible to the public--and yes, that is READILY accessible, meaning that a condition of the replenishment is a removal of parking restrictions on all roads within a fixed distance--let's say at least 1/2 mile--from the shore, and each rebuilding plan should contain adequate easements from the road to the beach to assure that the public who paid for the beach can get a full opportunity to use what they paid for.
Of course, the beachfront residents won't be too happy with that, as they're glad to take the taxpayers' money, in the form of replenishment projects, so long as they don't have to come wiht the taxpayers along with it.
They should remember the words of the Bible, which reminds us, in Matthew 7:24-25, that the wise man builds his house on rock. "The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been build solidly on rocks."
Does anyone believe that a house built on sand would be held up as an example of wisdom?
Beach replenishment is nothing but a waste of money for the taxpayers. Beaches have moved since the melting of the last glacier, and they're not going to stop just because someone was foolish enough to build a house on them.
Folks know the risks to a home next to the ocean - it's plain as day how big the ocean it vs the shoreline and proximity to the water. Sorry - but the beach shore line has been replenished zillions of time and here we are again......
Joe, you need to toughen up a little bit my wife and I ride our bikes all over Rockaway, we are white middle aged New Yorkers - not translplants, it is not that bad on 116th street - you have lots of old drunks mumbling to themselves and yes that is a shame - but it is far from scary. You can ride the boardwalk / near boardwalk all summer without issue, the projects - well yes you need to stay away from them for fear of the small % of residents who make life miserable for everybody but mostly their fellow residents.
Anon - most of the sand pumping and jetties have been put in place to protect inlets and sea lanes for commercial and recreational traffic, years ago people were apoplectic that the army corp of engineers were giving away free sand while trying to dredge a sea lane. The Jetty at Breezy POint was initially put in place to protect Jamaica Bay inlet (a Army/Navy base at the time) and to limit sand deposits in New York Harbor - I'm pretty sure boats still use that.
I don't know about your Bible quite anon - we used it in my wedding ceremony - the marriage lasted 7 years the house built on sand so far 40.
Anon, almost all the streets in Rockaway have access to the beach, street parking is available up until about 124th street - which I tend to agree is annoying, OTOH, it forces people to use the paid parking at RIIS park which in turn pays for lifeguards, showers and other services. I agree that people should be allowed to park on the public streets of Neponsit, however, it should not be free.
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