Media Advisories
Friday, May 28, 1999
No. 137
BEACHES OPEN TOMORROW FOR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
DATE: Friday, May 28th, 1999
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ALL OF CONEY ISLAND TO BE STAFFED BY LIFEGUARDS
Tomorrow at 10:00 am, New York City’s seven beaches will open to the public, marking the beginning of the season which will last until 6:00 pm on September 6.
Brooklyn’s Coney Island and Manhattan Beaches, Queens’ Rockaway Beach, the Bronx’s Orchard Beach, and Staten Island’s South, Midland and Wolfe’s Pond Park. Beaches have been combed, graded and are ready for bathers. On Tuesday, the City’s Department of Health announced that each beach’s waters were safe for swimming, although surf temperatures are still in the low sixties. Here is a preview for what beachgoers can expect for Memorial Day weekend:
Due to an aggressive lifeguard recruitment campaign, we will open all of Coney Island (except for the western-most of twenty-two bays which will be closed to control erosion) and Manhattan Beaches to swimmers, as well as a stretch of the Rockaways which was closed in 1998. Last year’s lifeguard shortage closed half of Coney Island and several stretches at the Rockaways. By the Fourth of July weekend, we aim to have lifeguards at every section of beach which can accommodate swimming. As in every summer, sections that are open during the weekend may be closed during the week until late June or July.
Park workers have been preparing for this season since Labor Day of 1998. On historic Coney Island, a team of carpenters have been working on every inch of the seventy-six year old Riegelmann Boardwalk, even inspecting each of its 640 benches and recently replacing boards on the West 16th Street Pier. In addition to the $3 million worth of capital projects that has replaced sections of Boardwalk and reconstructed Steeplechase Pier in recent years, we completed a $750,000 project, that replaced boards and supports from Brighton 2nd to 4th Streets and built a new ramp at West 21st Street in 1998. Asser Levy Park and its bandshell, home to the annual summer concerts series, is undergoing a $950,000 renovation. At the end of this season, Parks will execute a $300,000 contract to rebuild the boardwalk between West 37th Street and Corbin Avenue, replacing old cross boards, sea railings and drinking fountains. The only bay that will not be open to swimming is Bay 22, which is off-limits due to erosion control. Our hard work was recently recognized by Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden who stated in his annual report card that Coney Island has improved in six out of eight categories since last year.
At the Rockaways, the City’s longest beach at 6.4 miles, the entire length of the boardwalk will be open for the first time in 25 years. Since last summer, we have rebuilt the sections between Beach 69th and 72nd Streets, 114th to 116th Streets and rebuilt the ramp at 109th Street. Also, we will soon rebuild the sections between Beach 68th and 72nd Streets and Beach 108th to 114th Streets. In addition, over the last decade, Parks has spent over $7 million reconstructing almost two miles of the Boardwalk between Beach 31st and 55th Streets, and between 60th and 69th Streets. The only stretches which will definitely be off limits to swimming throughout the summer are Beach 44th to 57th Streets due to the Piping Plover nesting grounds and Beach 26th to 41st Streets to control severe erosion. Beach 21st to 22nd Streets will re-open for swimming this year; 61st to 75th Streets will not be staffed by lifeguards but could open by the Fourth of July weekend.
At Orchard Beach, a 1.1 mile crescent shaped stretch built by Robert Moses in Pelham Bay Park, a new playground and tennis court are under construction and the north games area is being renovated thanks to a $2.6 million capital project. Last year, the upper and lower sections of the Pavilion underwent a $3.3 million renovation to install bluestone pavers, replace the drainage and lighting, repair the limestone terra cotta-terrazzo floor, and reset the granite stairways. 90% of Orchard Beach will be open to swimming.
In Staten Island, South Beach playground is almost through its $1 million renovation, along with comfort stations rehabilitated for $500,000 and new bathrooms under construction at the ballfields. The playground at Midland Beach is also being renovated and two years ago, a quarter-mile of the boardwalk that links South and Midland Beaches was re-built at a cost of over $1 million. Thanks to a new lifeguard training center at the Broadway YMCA on Staten Island, there will be twice as many lifeguards on duty on the borough’s beaches as there were last year, more than enough to accommodate the 100,000 people that visit the island’s beaches each year.
QUEENS
Rockaway Beach
Beach 9th to Beach 149th Sts.
(718) 318-4000
THE BRONX
Orchard Beach
Pelham Bay Park Access Road
(718) 885-2275
BROOKLYN
Coney Island Beach
Riegelmann Boardwalk from
West 37th Street to Coney Island Avenue
(718) 946-1350
Manhattan Beach
Oriental Blvd. from
Ocean Ave. to MacKenzie St.
(718) 946-1350
STATEN ISLAND
Wolfe’s Pond Parke Beach
Highland Blvd. &
Hugenot Ave.
(718) 984-8266
South Beach
Father Cap. Blvd. &
Seaview Avenue
(718) 390-8006
Midland Beach
Father Cap. Blvd. & Jefferson Avenue
(718) 390-8006
Last year, an estimated 7.6 million people visited the City’s beaches. The City’s 55 outdoor pools open on Thursday July 1 and close on September 6.
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