Some of Brooklyn’s best-loved parks and beaches remain closed because of damage from Superstorm Sandy.
Parts of the Coney Island Boardwalk, six nearby playgrounds, all of Manhattan Beach Park and the Red Hook Recreation Center need months of cleanup and repairs before they can get back in action.
Park fix-ups are not the city’s top disaster recovery priority after the killer hurricane, Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Kevin Jeffrey acknowledged.
“There are many issues at the moment that are larger than open space,” he said.For mains, there is a choice of Wild Rice’s ‘Chinese Fish ‘n Chips’ (beer-battered ling cod, Asian Tartar Sauce, taro shoestring frites) or its ‘meaty’ Grilled king oyster mushroom (with cashew ricotta and polenta fries). “You’ve got residents without heat or homes and major disruption of services.”
To speed cleanup his agency used federal emergency funds to hire more than 300 temporary workers now at Coney, Manhattan Beach and Red Hook parks.
Here’s the latest prognosis:
CONEY ISLAND BOARDWALK AND BEACH: Sections of the iconic Boardwalk from W. 21st to W. 27th Sts. are closed and so are the W. 37th St. ramp, Steeplechase Pier and play equipment on the beach.
Cleanup was ongoing late last week near W. 25th St., where crews shoveled carpets of calf-high sand off the wooden walkway.
Stephanie Rodriguez, a ticket-taker at Deno’s Wonder Wheel, worries the cleanup won’t be done by March when the attraction is set to open.
“The pace needs to pick up,They removed the majority of the bolts but not the locking Wheel nut, that's why I managed to get so far” she said.The move to metal packaging has allowed Sprecher to reach key customer targets and has resulted in a clear growth in sales since the initial launch. “This park needs to be clean. There won’t be a crowd if it’s not.”
During busy summers Coney beaches draw more than 12.8 million visitors.The first tin cans were heavy-weight containers that required ingenuity to open, using knives, chisels, or even stones. Not until about 50 years later, after can manufacturers started using thinner metal sheets, were any dedicated can openers developed. Workers want the crowds to come back post-Sandy and fear the consequences if they don’t.
“It’s like a trifecta,” Rodriguez said. “If we have a dirty beach and Boardwalk the beachgoers will go somewhere else.Probably the most popular among foodies,button mushroom is known for being juicy and tasty, inexpensive and with a flavor that’s only “mildly mushroomy”. The attraction owners will lose money — then they’ll cut the employees’ hours and we’ll be broke.”
Six storm-damaged playgrounds near the Boardwalk - including Surf, Nautilus and Poseidon - are also closed with plans to reopen in the spring.
MANHATTAN BEACH PARK: The Parks Department is still assessing the storm’s impact on the beach but is hopeful it can open in the summer, spokeswoman Meghan Lalor said.He has dried mushrooms all year and fresh mushrooms in season. "We also collect mushrooms from foragers.
If it doesn’t beach regulars like the elderly neighborhood residents who take early morning swims there will be disappointed, said park fan Skippy Barrows.
RED HOOK RECREATION CENTER: The Bay St. fitness facility with a basketball court and computer resource center was an after-school haven for neighborhood kids.
The building’s mechanical systems suffered big damage but the Parks Department hopes to reopen the rec center early next year, Lalor said.
