Governor Cuomo calls the Army to build a hospital at Aqueduct

 

LIC Post

 

 Governor Andrew Cuomo is calling for a 100,000-square-foot temporary hospital to be built at the site of Queens Aqueduct Racetrack.

The governor is working to increase hospital capacity as the number of cases of coronavirus continues to increase across the state. There are now more than 44,000 cases statewide, Cuomo said today, and 25,573 cases across the five boroughs — as of 8:30 a.m. this morning.

“With COVID-19 spreading quickly, our number one priority is expanding hospital capacity,” Cuomo said on Twitter.

The governor will ask President Donald Trump to authorize the Army Corps of Engineers to build the temporary facility at the Aqueduct today, he said.

The state’s normal hospital capacity is 53,000 beds and needs to get to about 140,000 beds at the apex of the coronavirus pandemic, which is expected to hit in about 21 days.

The Aqueduct, along with an additional hospital site being scouted in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island, would add another 4,000 beds to the state’s capacity.

Cuomo said he wanted each borough to have its own overflow facility. Manhattan was the first borough to get a temporary 1,000-bed hospital inside the Jacob Javits Center, where the governor delivered his daily press briefing today.

 If President Trump gives the go-ahead, construction should take around 10 days, Cuomo said.

Only eleven blocks of Rockaway Beach gets new sand

QNS

Rockaway Beach is whole again.

Mayor Bill de Blasio joined elected officials at Beach 94th Street Tuesday to announce the sand restoration operation mounted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was successful.

Now, the popular stretch of the beach from Beach 92nd Street to Beach 103rd Street, which was closed all last season due to erosion that made the area unsafe for swimming, will be open in time for Memorial Day weekend.

“For New Yorkers, summer means Rockaway Beach. That’s why I could not be happier to announce we will have the entire beach open in time for the Memorial Day weekend,” de Blasio said. “I want to thank all the stakeholders who came together to make the hopes of so many New Yorkers a reality. 

We could not have done it without your partnership.”

The Corps dredged the East Rockaway Inlet and pumped the sand two and a half miles west where bulldozers restored the beach.

“Getting tons of sand onto Rockaway Beach in time for summer, and avoid a repeat disaster of prime time beach closures, required every level of government to dig in deep,” Senator Charles Schumer said. “And using the sand from the East Rockaway dredge was a win-win plan because it keeps open a vital channel and all of Rockaway Beach.”

 The closure last summer hurt restaurants and bars in the neighborhood such as Connolly’s, Bungalow Bar, Community House, Thai Rock and Uma’s.

“This is great news, not only for the residents of the Rockaways, but also for the local business owners who suffered because of last year’s beach closure,” Councilman Eric Ulrich said. “I am looking forward to a wonderful beach season where people from all over the city can enjoy Rockaway’s beautiful beaches.”

In 2013, the Army Corps of Engineers placed 3.5 million cubic yards of sand on Rockaway Beach following Superstorm Sandy but infrastructure was never constructed to keep it in place. The New York District is awaiting final approvals from USACE headquarters for the Rockaway and Jamaica Bay Reevaluation Report, which will authorize construction of erosion control features such as jetties and new groins at federal expense.

 So they added tons of new sand from dredging the east side of the shore without protection again. I give this replenishment 70 days until it gets devoured by the ocean.