The Rockaway Boardwalk (Photo by Nick Normal, Creative commons license)
The full $480 million allocated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the rebuilding of the Rockaway boardwalk, much of it damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, will stay in the Rockaways, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced as he was joined by local leaders May 22 for the opening of the first full section of the newly constructed Rockaway Boardwalk, from Beach 86th Street to Beach 97th Street.
Mark C. Healey, writing in The Wave just ahead of the announcement, was cheered by the news. In September, there were concerns that the Rockaways might not get the entire amount, because the amount FEMA allocated considerably exceeded the $274 million that the city had budgeted for the project.
Healy checked in with Sen. Charles Schumer, who said he was sorry to miss the opening. Schumer had pressed for the federal funds.
“The new boardwalk won’t just be rebuilt, it will be able to withstand and protect Rockaway in the event of another Sandy,” said Schumer, who lobbied for the millions in funding from FEMA. “Despite the attempts of different forces on several levels, every nickel of the that money will stay in the Rockaways.”
The boardwalk is expected to be “continuously complete” by Memorial Day 2016. The de Blasio administration is committed, a press release from the mayor’s office said on May 22, “to using any remaining funds from the FEMA reimbursement on further protective measures along the Rockaway peninsula.”
At the event on May 22, Mayor de Blasio said, “I am very pleased that the city has made it clear, that when it comes to FEMA money for the boardwalk and mitigation, what gets sent to the Rockaways stays in the Rockaways!”