Rockaway Beach Residents Say Erosion Is Putting Summer Season In Jeopardy
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Rough water the last few months has whipped-up our coastline.
Rockaway Beach residents say the conditions are some of the worst they've seen and wish the city would do more to ensure there will be a summer season there.
As CBS2's Jessica Layton reported, you wouldn't know it by the weather or the condition of the badly battered beach that the kickoff to summer is about five weeks away.
Fifty-year resident John Cori said the sand has been disappearing for months.
"The erosion is by far the worst," he told Layton.
He fears the crown jewel in Queens, where thousands flock beginning Memorial Day Weekend, is in jeopardy.
He and Layton walked from Beach 86th Street to Beach 92nd, where he figures at least 150 feet of recreation area between the ocean and the boardwalk have been lost in storms since last season.
"People are really worried," said resident Eddy Pastore, adding that even the dunes put up for protection are disappearing.
It's gotten so dangerous, the Department of Parks and Recreation closed some of the beaches this week.
"There's not going to be a summer in Rockaway," Pastore said.
Employees said they'll grade the sand before the beach season starts. But residents insist what's really needed is more sand.
"Mayor de Blasio -- we haven't seen him on these beaches," said Cori. "It's time he come and walk these beaches with us. That's what he needs to do."
The Army Corps of Engineers plans to start installing "stabilization structures" like a sea wall and jetties sometime next year. But residents worry it's not soon enough to save the shoreline they love.
