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Mayoral Hopefuls Hold The Hot Air




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Sal Albanese is running for Mayor. Maybe you haven’t heard of Sal or Tom Allon or George McDonald. They’re all running and will soon be joined by others. Many of them will call or stop by The Wave as a way for them to say hello to Rockaway. We will be polite and maybe take their photo. But The Wave isn’t in the business of educating potential mayors about Rockaway. If any candidate wants favorable coverage they best come with some knowledge and ideas about the future. There’s clearly a lot to be done in this post Sandy world.

Of course, people have to get back in their homes and businesses need help to get open and stay open. Any rube can offer that. We hope they’ll do more than offer platitudes about how community input is important in the future of Rockaway. We know that, too. We might be nuts but we actually hope candidates will do better.

We’ll even tip our hand a bit – we’ll expect candidates to have specific ideas and proposals about how to improve transportation to Rockaway.

Our geographic location is a hindrance to be sure. It’s a hassle to get to and fro. Even journalists from major publications look for shortcuts when they “have” to cover Rockaway. They’d rather interview someone on the phone and get a story that way than come out and see with their own eyes.

Someone at the recent Community Board meeting suggested that tolls be suspended on both bridges to encourage people to come to Rockaway this summer. Because the boardwalk – an attraction in itself–will be missing, because some events and activities will have to be curtailed or shut down completely, Rockaway businesses will have a tough time attracting the summer crowds they rely on. Why not offer free tolls and discounted mass transit options for the summer season? It’s an idea. Let’s hope the mayoral candidates come armed with a few of their own.



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