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Damage Control

As people sat waiting for the Community Board 14 meeting to begin on Wednesday night, one almost felt sorry for the representatives of the Economic Development Corporation, NYC Parks and the mayor’s office as they arrived.


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City representatives presented updated design plans for the boardwalk at a meeting Wednesday where all anyone wanted to talk about was money — $480 million worth of FEMA money, to be exact.

“I’m going to ask that we maintain a respectful tone tonight,” Jose Velez, co-chair of the Parks and Public Safety committee, Community Board 14, said to open the meeting at PS 43. “I know that there are a lot of questions and that we are upset. But let’s be respectful so the meeting can move along quickly and everyone can ask a question about what’s going on.”

Committee members and meeting attendees honored Velez’s request, directing questions at Emil Martone, senior vice president of Capital Programs, New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC,) about boardwalk accessibility and construction timelines.

But when it came time to address what Councilman Eric Ulrich would later refer to as “the 800-pound gorilla” in the room, a memo recovered last week by The Wave between NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver and the Mayor’s office, things got less polite and more angry.

Boardwalk design takes shape

Martone presented updates for phases 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the boardwalk in chronological order.

Phases 1 and 2 are on schedule for construction, Martone said. Progress has begun on the H-Piles for the baffle wall and the sand retaining wall in Phase 1. In Phase 2, workers have begun pipe pile driving for later pile installation.

Martone said access points for Phase 2 were officially closed on Wednesday and will not be re-opened for the remainder of the off-season.

“So we’ll have no beach access until Memorial Day?” CB14 Chair Dolores Orr asked. Martone confirmed.

Phase 3 designs featured the most significant changes of any proposed designs, due in large part to concerns raised by residents back in August about beach access and flood protection.

Almost all of the planned staircases in that section of the boardwalk have been replaced with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ramps; a vehicle ramp has been added to Beach 116th Street and another tucked into the boardwalk near Beach 126th Street; and the boardwalk baffle wall that was originally planned to slope down at Beach 126th Street will now maintain a consistent elevation before it ties in with existing baffle walls beyond the boardwalk’s end.

Additionally, the bike lane has been narrowed to eight feet because of the reduced width of the boardwalk in that section.

While the Phase 3 alterations are much closer to what residents in that portion of the peninsula requested, Orr told Martone the changes presented significant inconsistencies in how the boardwalk is designed overall. In phases 4 and 5, a mix of ramps and staircases are used for access and those access points are fewer and farther between.

“Phase 3, pre-Sandy, had more access points than phases 4 and 5,” Martone said. “We are more or less replacing, in-kind, what was there Pre-Sandy.”

Velez told Martone that wasn’t good enough.

“I understand what you’re saying, that in the past there haven’t been as many. But looking toward a future at an area that is going to be rebuilt, we’d like to see more ramps,” he said. “To get to the heart of it, you have to take this back. We have a very similar population on the west end, and we need to see more ADA ramps and access points.”

“I don’t know what that’s going do to the schedule,” Martone replied.

Orr requested NYCEDC provide the Board with a complete list of access points block-by-block across the entire peninsula, beach-side and street-side.

At a Sept. 9 CB14 meeting, Martone eluded to the possibility of Phase 4A of the boardwalk being demolished this fall, rather than in the spring as originally planned. The idea would be to move up the completion of that section to before Memorial Day 2016.

Orr told Martone then that removing the boardwalk completely was not an option. But on Wednesday, Martone reiterated the same idea, with fall demolition appearing to be more of a certainty than a suggestion. When Orr asked how much additional time that could bump up completion of 4A, Martone said two to three months.

“Since Sandy, people have been driving from Belle Harbor all the way down to the [Beach 80th and 90th Street areas] to walk their kids on the boardwalk,” one meeting attendee said in public forum said later. “I can’t understand how you could rip down this existing boardwalk and not give us anything else to walk on. You’ve got to think about the community.”

Kelly Brooke, a committee member from Belle Harbor, expressed frustration at the slow progress of boardwalk construction so far. She said she ran from her home on Beach 134th Street to the Marine Parkway Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge and saw two pieces of equipment being used and 17 laborers “just standing around.”

“I think I had more guys roofing my house last year than I saw working from 130th to the bridge,” she said.

Martone addressed Brooke’s remark by stating this particular phase of the boardwalk construction is more equipment-intensive and laborers would be more strongly utilized as work began on phases 3, 4 and 5. He added that Rockaway’s boardwalk construction shouldn’t be compared to that of Long Beach or New Jersey.

“This is a very different boardwalk than what you had before,” Martone said. “It’s being built to protect you all so the boardwalk doesn’t end up in the middle of the street again.”

Committee Asks The FEMA Question

As technical discussion about the boardwalk designs wound down, the energy inside the cafeteria grew more uneasy.

Last week, The Wave published information about a memo recovered from NYC Parks to the Mayor’s Office stating the anticipated FEMA reimbursement for the Rockaway Boardwalk to be $480 million. That’s significantly more than the $274 million allocated for the project from NYC Parks and approved by the Office of Management and Budget.

“We continue to be concerned that it will be a political liability for the Administration in the Rockaways when the full $480 million FEMA reimbursement funding for the boardwalk becomes known, if the City is unable to announce funding for additional boardwalk elements and rebuilding the destroyed recreational zone,” the memo states.

Leading up to Wednesday’s meeting, the FEMA money was on everyone’s mind, but committee member Ahmed “Ozzie” Edwards was the first person to address it aloud.

“Ever since this article came out it opened my eyes,” Edwards said. “I don’t know what to believe. I can’t believe what’s going on here. It’s much bigger than you and I feel that the Mayor and Parks Commissioner should be here.”

Helen Ho, a representative from the Mayor’s Office, introduced herself and Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski, and said she’d answer any questions.

“We’re still in negotiations with FEMA now,” Ho said, fighting to finish her sentences before being interrupted by meeting attendees. “No agreement has been reached. As soon as a number has been reached we will broadcast it to the world.

“It will most likely be a lot more than our original number,” she continued.

Committee member John Cori asked Ho when the Mayor’s office would know how much FEMA money would be granted.

“Soon,” Ho said, stating there was no set date. “We should know very, very imminently.”

Some back and forth discussion about additional amenities such as shade structures, recreational structures and more ADA ramps occurred between Cori, Lewandowski and Ho.

Lewandowski said funding is allocated for very specific replacement projects, and how much of the requested amenities could be constructed in the future will be decided when funding comes through. She added that so far Parks plans to replace the skate park, the performance space at Beach 94th Street, and Sandpiper Playground.

Edwards expressed his disappointment with the Mayor’s repeated failure to visit Rockaway throughout the boardwalk planning process.

Ho said she represents the Mayor – whose last appearance on the peninsula was in March — and she’d come to however many meetings the people of Rockaway wanted.

“But you’re not the mayor,” said one resident.

One board member asked the representatives whether all the money provided by FEMA for Rockaway would be spent in Rockaway.

“I think that’s the question we all want to know,” he said.

Lewandowski said the City is committed to rebuilding the resiliency of the boardwalk. The man asked once more whether the FEMA money would be spent anyplace other than in Rockaway.

“You have a commitment from the city to continue to rebuild the resiliency of the the boardwalk and the community,” she said.

First Deputy Commissioner of Parks Liam Kavanaugh showed up toward the end of the meeting and reiterated the FEMA number was not finalized.

“When we first started this process, FEMA was estimating the boardwalk replacement value at less than $100 million,” Kavanaugh said. “The city made a commitment to rebuild the boardwalk, even with the understanding that FEMA might award significantly less than that. Thanks to a lot of hard work…we are on the brink of getting significantly more money for the reconstruction.”

Kavanaugh added he couldn’t say exactly where each portion of the money would go, but the City would come back and discuss how the money would be spent.

Rockaway Park resident Christine Stengel Puma requested looking into using FEMA funds for a possible resiliency fund to protect Rockaway in the future.

“Not just the shorefront, but for the bay, too” she said.

Ulrich, addressing the previously mentioned “gorilla,” told the group he has asked Comptroller Scott Stringer to look into the FEMA money matter via a comprehensive audit, and added that he and the other elected officials plan to ask Silver questions about the $480 million when he appears before the City Council and the Recovery and Resiliency Committee.

“We will have those questions, you will know what those questions will be, you can watch it online or television,” Ulrich said. “It is a very transparent oversight process. But tonight is not the right place to ask those questions.”


Large crowd waits to address the latest boardwalk designs at Wednesday’s Community Board meeting.

Large crowd waits to address the latest boardwalk designs at Wednesday’s Community Board meeting.

Helen Ho (center), a representative from the Mayor’s Office, looks at her notes.

Helen Ho (center), a representative from the Mayor’s Office, looks at her notes.

Emil Martone, from the EDC, informs the attendees about boardwalk accessibility and construction timelines.

Emil Martone, from the EDC, informs the attendees about boardwalk accessibility and construction timelines.

City Councilman Eric Ulrich, who has called for Comptroller Scott Stringer to do an audit of all the FEMA money being spent in Rockaway, confers with Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski

City Councilman Eric Ulrich, who has called for Comptroller Scott Stringer to do an audit of all the FEMA money being spent in Rockaway, confers with Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski

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