The wooden boardwalk in Rockaway Beach, Queens, in New York won't be coming back after it was torn apart and destroyed in Hurricane Sandy. In fact NYC will never build another wooden boardwalk after the storm, according to the city's mayor.
When Hurricane Sandy hit on October 29, it created a devastating storm surge that destroyed the small beach community. The ocean that is loved by the locals entered their homes, destroying basements, furniture, and lives.
The strong surge also overpowered the historic boardwalk which has lined 91 blocks of the beach for decades. More than a third of the wooden boardwalk is completely gone while 20 more blocks of it was destroyed.
"A symbol of the destruction [in Rockaway] has been the boardwalk," Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder the Daily News "When you really want to show how badly we got hit, show them the piles of boardwalk."Much of the boardwalk wound up in homes, driveways, parking lots and major streets of the small peninsula. In many areas, the only thing that remains is the concrete structures that held up the wooden boardwalk.
"It's sheer devastation," Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski told the News. "We had made such great strides in Rockaway over the past years. We really have to think strategically about how we rebuild."
With an announcement by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, plans for the rebuild have become more clear. There will be no more wooden boardwalk in Rockaway or anywhere in the city.
"I guess this settles the issue of wooden boardwalks versus concrete boardwalks," Mr. Bloomberg said during a meeting at The Wave, the local newspaper said. "There will be no more wooden boardwalks in Rockaway or anywhere else. I don't know that we can reconstruct the Boardwalk before this summer, but it will be done."
There were certain parts of the boardwalk that were made on concrete and they held up well during the storm.
Many believe a concrete boardwalk is necessary as it would create a barrier that would protect the peninsula against a future storm surge.Others are protesting as the wooden boardwalk brought a sense of nostalgia and held deep meaning to those who grew up in or visited the beach town.
After all, a concrete boardwalk wouldn't really be a "boardwalk." It would need to go by another name.
Parts of the boardwalk did survive and will be able to be rebuilt but the entire boardwalk will not be ready by the 2013 summer season.
Some are not too concerned with this as there are much bigger problems to worry about as the community tries to get back on its feet.
"Worrying about wood versus concrete, it's an important topic for the future, not right now," John Cori told NY1 . "We have to think about building a seawall, rock jetties and a lot of sand."
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