Catching wind of Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul’s pop-up appearance at Sandpiper Playground on Tuesday, local resident and activist John Cori jumped at the opportunity to send a few messages.
Cori held up signs demanding that Bay Breeze Park be finished, and that Rockaway’s NYPD officers be kept on the peninsula instead of redirected to World Cup assignments this summer. The signs caught the attention of Mayor Mamdani, who told Cori that he would have a staffer follow up. Cori says a staffer did speak to him after the conference.
On those issues, Cori said, “Bay Breeze is part of Sandy Recovery money. The last time the Parks Administrator addressed the Community Board and Rockaway Beach Civic Association on when the issues with the contractor would be rectified, she acknowledged the many years of delays, saying departments above her are working on it. When asked why they can’t just open the 75% completed portion, she said liability issues. In other words, no end in sight!”
On the NYPD issue, Cori said, “When NYPD spoke at RBCA meeting, we were given the heads up that we will more than likely lose most of our summer detail and possibly some regular officers to secure other parts of the city for the 4th of July celebrations and World Cup. A summer weekend in Rockaway is a major event. We get more people than the Greek Independence and Pulaski Day parades combined. So, we should be getting a detail on par with those parades.”
