Beachcomber (The WAVE)

Working with NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Housing Recovery Office (HRO) has identified more than 1,500 homeowners eligible for a NYC Build it Back nonrefundable credit of $750 on their next water bill. These people have been determined to have been out of their homes for a significant period of time between Nov. 1, 2012 and June 30, 2014 and as a result, had a minimum charge applied to their water and sewer bill. If any homeowners think they are eligible call the Build It Back Customer Service Line at 212- 615-8329 or e-mail housing@recovery.nyc.gov.

Dan Hendrick, producer, co-director and creator of the Jamaica Bay movie project: “I'm starting to see the light at the end of this tunnel. This will be one great film that we hope will make you and the Jamaica Bay community proud.” The project is funded through public donations and can still use contributions.

A film crew was at work on Friday evening, Aug. 22, on Broad Channel’s West 12th Road. They were shooting a scene for the CBS show, Elementary. Show stars Lucy Liu and Johnny Lee Miller did not appear to be present. Photographer and community activist Victoria Barber asks a simple but important question. “I'm polling Rockaway beach residents and visitors. What do you think or do you know what these cranes are doing off shore at our beaches?” Answers anyone?

The staff at South Island Medical Associates, including doctors, nurses, and administrative staff will be participating in the ALS ice bucket challenge. On Tuesday, Sept. 2, they will donate $500 and will challenge another major medical facility to participate in the ice bucket challenge.

A piece of Rockaway’s past emerged this week as workers cut through the pavement on Rockaway Beach Boulevard and revealed the cobble stone street below.

Last week’s article “Battle Goes On Over Mold House” highlighted a situation many saw coming right after Sandy. Abandoned houses where mold grows unabated and structures have deteriorated are a problem. Owners or landlords may have walked away, not having had the physical, emotional, financial ability to go forward. Or new regulations may have stopped them. Or grants, insurance and various help programs may have failed them. Or they are still waiting for that assistance. But it’s still a problem, for the whole community, and still needs a solution.

The big buzz on the boardwalk is that the NYC Honey Fest is coming to Beach 97 Street on Saturday, Sept. 13. The overall idea, of which Rockaway’s event is a part, has been so successful that it now known as NYC Honey Week.

Aug. 28 marked three years since Hurricane Irene came to Rockaway. Little did we know what was coming a year later. The actors of The Rockaway Project put on an outstanding performance event at Rockaway Artists Alliance’s T-7 gallery on Saturday, Aug. 23. Billed as a “Documentary Theater and Photography Exhibition About the Spirit of Rockaway Beach,” it featured performances by Ooma Roche, Carolyn Kettig and Jasai Chase- Owens and photography by Rosa Polin. More than 70 people attended.

This is the last weekend for the Rockaway! exhibition at Fort Tilden and the RockawayBeach Surf Club. The summer long arts festival is open up to and on September 1, from 12 to 6 p.m. There will be a Labor Day concert by Tree Laboratory, aka musicians Jessie Paris Smith and Eric Hoegmeyer, at 5 p.m. in RAA’s T-7 Gallery, Fort Tilden.

Rockaway!, was created through a partnership between the Rockaway Artists Alliance, the Museum of Modern Art/PS 1, National Park Service and the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy. Next year’s planning will soon be underway.

The Rockaway Theatre Company’s production of Godspell opens on Sept. 12. Seeing how fast every August performance of Gypsy sold out, you may want to reserve tickets now.

“The problem is this city has so many departments. Well, they don’t communicate together so well. They’re good people. But they need to work together.”- Hank Iori, Belle Harbor Proper Owners Association.

Hank Iori and others have also suggested having ferry parties. Go out Thursday or Friday late afternoon, enjoy Manhattan for a few hours, then come back on the boat back.

With A Name This Good: Spotted on a car bumper sticker on Cross Bay Boulevard “Beachcomber Camping Resort, Cape May, N.J.” Got an emergency on the beach? Call 911, just like you would on land. FDNY/EMS has special equipment and is ready to respond wherever they need to go.

“Build a sports stadium on it” one resident said about how to save the ferry. “This city has no money for schools, for hospitals, for ferries. But someone says they want a sports stadium? Suddenly there’s money, the city will clear out property owners and it’ll get built in no time! And they always say ‘And it won’t cost the taxpayers a thing’!”

Speaking at a Neponsit Homeowners Association meeting, State Senator Joseph Addabbo said that if the city is going to count ridership, they should run the ferry on weekend, and then get a true number on its usage.

Lew Simon recently received a “field promotion” courtesy of the AM NewYork. In a recent article about the ferry rally at City Hill, attended by “dozens of Far Rockaway residents,” the free Manhattan newspaper referred to him as “City Councilman Lew Simon.”

For hundreds of years the west end of Rockaway’s peninsula has been extending further and further out due to the geological drift of tide, time and sand. What is now the farthest point is not what it was a century ago. So even large parts of Rockaway didn’t originally come from around here
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