Riis Park

Gentrification Of A Beach:The Resurrection Of The Riis Park Bazaar And The Capture Of The Rockaway Boardwalk

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Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York

Queens Eagle

 A decision to award a 15-year Rockaway Beach Boardwalk concession contract to a new company could result in the eviction of a handful of beloved boardwalk businesses, say worried beachgoers and eatery owners.

The New York City Parks Department has contracted with Rockaway Beach Bazaar LLC, a company formed by the owners of Brooklyn Bazaar and nearby Riis Park Beach Bazaar, to renovate, operate and maintain three beachfront cafes, one shop and 20 additional units for the next decade and a half. The properties include the popular bars and restaurants Rippers, Low Tide and Caracas.

The LLC outbid Rockaway Beach Club, a coalition of local business owners that won the contract to operate concessions at Beach 106th, Beach 97th and Beach 86th Street in 2011. The Rockaway Times first reported on the contract.

The longtime tenants and many of their customers say they worry the new operator will evict the eateries or raise rents.

“The Rockaway Beach club has been the umbrella of love, hard work and fostered the CULTURE of the Rockaway we all know today,” the Rockaway Beach shop Zingara Vintage wrote on Instagram Friday. 

The store is located on Beach 91st Street, about two blocks from the boardwalk, and opens occasional pop-up shops outside Rippers. “It’s because of them that so many of us have had the times of our lives on the Rockaway Boardwalk,” Zingara said.

Zingara’s post also described a concern among many boardwalk businesses: even those offered leases to remain in their beachfront buildings may lose control of bar sales, a crucial moneymaker.

“This would crush their business,” Zingara said. “And what about the dozen or so other small businesses that operate in the concessions ? Where will they go?”

The businesses in place have weathered COVID-19 and helped restore the boardwalk in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, said Rockaway resident Sarina Parachini, whose husband owns Rippers, located near Beach 86th Street. 

“These are all Rockaway businesses owned by people from the Rockaways,” Parachini said. “We just got through COVID. We were on the boardwalk for Sandy, we rebuilt after Sandy in a huge way.”

So the Riis Park Beach Bazaar LLC has now rechristened themselves as the Rockaway Beach Bazaar LLC and are summarily anointed by de Blasio’s NYC Parks dept to run Rockaway Beach’s busiest part of the boardwalk for 15 years.

To quote a scene from the surreal suspense series Twin Peaks; “It’s happening again.”

As I documented here for a few years now this LLC, which has had almost as many name changes as Eric Prince’s war mercenary corporation Blackwater to adapt to the times and also to cover for their past failures from their own bottom line decisions, got tasked by NYC Parks and National Parks Service to “revitalize” Riis Park with their annual summer event of upscale foodie and leisure lifestyle culture consumerism. And as I observed and reported, while it did much to rejunivate the boardwalk with new concessions which included the restoration of the Riis Park Bathhouse, there was absolutely no improvements to infrastructure or even basic environmental maintenance like a sufficient amount of garbage cans or even intermittent collection of trash which piled up like sand dunes at the end of the night.

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And after all that prospective allure the concept of the Riis Bazaar LLC conveyed, many areas and public amenities remained in ruins during their time here.

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The only revitalization that occurred in Riis Park only happened where the Bazaar’s concessions were set up and it was never more pronounced than this year of the pandemic. While every other outdoor event was cancelled as New York was still on full lockdown, the Riis Park Beach Bazaar still went on as scheduled (even as restaurants on the Rockaway Beach boardwalk weren’t allowed to open yet). When the lockdown  was finally rescinded, the tale of two beaches continued on the Riis boardwalk, as the boardwalk by the Bazaar was filled with tables yet the popular grilling area was devoid of them except by the gondolas and all the grills were removed because of the peculiar arbitrary ban of outdoor grilling from social distancing guidelines.

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Even though the pandemic did have a devastating effect on the Riis Bazaar, Gateway NPS decided not to renew their lease, which should be a validation their failure for their attempt to revitalize the beach when it didn’t even need revitalization because people always came here (just not the people who spend frivolously enough).

Although Mayor de Blasio and some morons at the NYC Parks Dept. clearly refuse to see it that way. They have so much confidence in the former Riis Bazaar that they gave them this lengthy contract during the Christmas holiday while no one was paying attention and not many was Zooming in to see the hearing. Except the people that are worried about being supplanted, the people and businesses that make up the Rockaway Group LLC.  

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Of course the city’s and  Rockaway Bazaar LLC’s s rationale behind this sneaky deal is yet again, “revitalization”. Which is immensely laughable because  the fact that Rockaway is actually a more popular locale than it’s ever been. Even during this COVID summer, citizens still showed up en masse even with a drop off of tourists, which is probably where they are deriving their “revitalizing” theory from. What’s ironic is that these concessions and businesses that the Bazaar LLC are the same kind they were pushing for five years at Riis. Although the distinction between the Group LLC and the Bazaar LLC is that they have been plying their business and lives locally while the Bazaar LLC are straight outta Brooklyn and have been pushing that brand in their entire existence and wound up gentrifying themselves out of there and Riis, justifying the Rockaway Group LLC’s how reckless they are with finances and shouldn’t be trusted at all with the city’s largesse for 15 years.

While their treatment of employees of the Bazaar LLC is news to me (though not surprising), they do seem to have a ruthless bent. Shortly before it was announced their presence at Riis was final, their high end nook “The Dropout” posted photos of trash left behind in the grill area from a party the night before, one of them clearly from the front passenger seat of a car.

 

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After this was dispensed on social media (and while the Dropout was closed permanently that day) and even though  visitations to the grill area and gatherings were permitted (and there will still a stunning lack of disposal cans) suddenly Gateway Park enacted new rules for the entire beach at Riis and a ludicrous new closing time at 9 p.m. and the still popular grilling area to be closed at 8 p.m.

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And the NPS weren’t fucking around either. The park rangers and police were combing the boardwalk and park space right after the sun went down. Leaving Riis Park, a perennial party place, a veritable ghost town.

Apparently, the Riis Park Bazaar and notably the Dropout must have been seething with envy that genuine vibrancy was going to go on without them, so in their sudden environmental concern about pollution of the beach of which they also continued to contribute too this year, they weaponized it against the people who weren’t their patrons.

So it’s easy to see why this is such a tremendously shitty deal that had to be done with dirty conniving tactics. The Rockaway Group LLC’s are right in their demand for this to be stopped also because it sure looks like tweeding was involved and the ludicrous longevity of this 15-year contract to the Riis cum Rockaway Bazaar has the potential to make privatization of the boardwalk a reality because while Riis Park was still a shambles when they were occupying it, the Rockaway Boardwalk is already set up for them because of the stunning repair and modernization and resiliency modifications of the beach with the sand walls and the long overdue and current placement of groins that are happening right now.

Basically, the Rockaway Beach Bazaar will have to try really hard to fuck up the hook up gifted to them from our elected and appointed officials. But if their record at Riis shows, they probably will and will sadly take down local businesses with them at the worst time right now for them despite the kind words coming from their claims and future press releases. 

Making the full on gentrification of Rockaway Beach not hard to reach.

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Gentrification Of A Beach And Federal Parkland, The Final Chapter: Requiem For A Summer Place

/ JQ LLC / 2 Comments

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Here are parts 1, 2 ,3 and 4

Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York

Well another summer has departed and the belated autumn solstice has arrived today after the climate change influenced unusual warmth of last October, so this would be the right time to document and review this years spring and summer season spent at Riis Park. And it’s not good at all and it has not ended well, as the dramatic changes that came forth with certain and way overdue (and selective) renovations took place

As the days of May got later, there actually was a itty bitty slither of hope for the people’s beach. The Riis Park Bathhouse renovation attracted more concessions and restaurant fare, as well as new food stands on the end of the boardwalk by the abandoned hospital and both were supplied with live laptop DJ’s. More food trucks were added to where the heart of the Brooklyn Night Bazaar Riis Park Beach Bazaar takes place, probably for people who do not care for the upscale foodie concept fare being sold in the restaurant inside and the stand by the pitch-and-putt course. There was also the return of the ludicrous high end slum camping concept Camp Rockaway in the dirty chigger infested backyard of the bathhouse. Volleyball courts were also added right in the next yard too for adventurous players and camp guests to play on the hard concrete. It was quite a sight to behold this year on every weekend, as people gathered to enjoy the summer breeze, sharing the company of diverse races and cultures, and extravagantly overpriced fast food, beer and cocktails. Vibrancy in action I believe it’s called.

It probably would be better conveyed and illustrated with pictures:

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It’s not exactly Coney Island, but it’s adequate enough. Especially in comparison to a decade ago when there was absolutely nothing here until a bunch of Brooklyn entrepreneurs and hipsters “discovered” it. The beach even has a cellphone tower now placed at the “abandoned” Neponsit hospital for all the foodie denizens instagram addictions. There is also app pay service for ordering, so I guess e-motorcycle delivery guys zipping on the boardwalk cutting people off is not a far away prospect.

So now it’s an actual destination spot, which is still pretty hard to believe since the Federal Parks Service didn’t give a fuck about this place for near a half century and let it rot for years. It’s even more surprising that the Bazaar folks and the hipster demo even found this summer place interesting considering it was the default garbage dump for all the neighborhoods destroyed property after Hurricane Sandy hit.

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Even the Riis Park clock, which although still ticked and barely survived Sandy’s pounding, suddenly got a major overhaul at the beginning of the summer and now its faces glow in the night.

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But progress is progress and even though I personally have never purchased anything at the Riis Park Beach Bazaar and avoided their rip off overpriced artisan fast food and cocktails, marked up rancid craft and commercial brand beers and only went by there to use the toilets, I admit seeing business activity like this was good to see. Even if it was just prototypical upscale lifestyle bullshit.

But something was missing from all the free market vibrancy going on the boardwalk. Somehow all the restorations and renovations and all the upscale prices that went into providing a venue for the bazaar did not transfer to a very essential part of beach and parkland that was already a big attraction. In fact it was the only vibrant destination spot before the natural disaster of a category one hurricane and the unwelcome appearance of gentrifiers hit the people’s beach (yes, I’m aware of the irony that gentrifiers are people too) and that is the picnic and grilling area.

This would probably be better illustrated and conveyed with sadness with pictures:

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Before that bitch Sandy came, it was arguably the best and most spacious grilling area in the city. Despite how small it looks, it had ample space and plenty of tables and grills for anyone that showed up anytime. It also had a lot of wind swept trees from the powerful Atlantic Ocean winds that gave the picnic area a cool presence and a visual wonder of nature.

But where are the goddamn tables? This is a federally tax payer subsidized picnic area.

Usually they get moved around by people for their cookout parties but there used to be more out here. A lot more. It’s darkly amusing though pretty annoying that the Riis boardwalk has tables while the picnic area barely has any, especially this year as the people brought more of their own chairs and tables than ever before. So National Parks apparently feel that the people actually making an effort to come to the people’s beach is not as worthy of table provision as the people that show up for the fucking beach bazaar. It should be noted that the people who grill out here are way more diverse than the bazaar people, ranging from African-Americans, Spanish people from Puerto Rico and South America, the Ukraine and Russia and even a few Italian-Americans.

A lot of the grill areas visitors also brought their own grills, as what looks like about 30 of them got destroyed and were never replaced (even from last summer too). All that are left are ashen stumps.

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To compound this offensive slight of an essential park area for citizens, the National Parks Service also decided not to provide the picnic area with ash cans to dump the hot coals in, leading people to dump mounds of smoldering coals and dust to pile up on the few grills left standing. Also noticeable is the lack of garbage cans too.

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There is something going on here and it’s appalling. Because what we got here is obvious discrimination and blatant inequity of park amenities. Because the people that use the grilling area are not going to go to bozo bazaar and waste their money there when they already spend it on their own food and booze that they hauled all the way from Brooklyn and Queens.

Although this was evidently done by vandals, the National Park Service helped destroy this grill area. Classic demolition by neglect. Although by the ways some of these grills look and how many are gone (even by the gazebos), it looked like it was done by malicious force. The tables that were once here have vanished gradually during the years as the amount of tables on the boardwalk gradually grown.

This is a pretty shitty way to distribute public space. In a way, this is similar to the whole “affordable housing” concept of building expensive apts along with lower rental ones for the baseless rationale that poor places can’t exist without rich spaces. The bazaar being the 80% market rate and the grill area being 20% affordable. And the results of where the exclusivity lies is brazenly apparent.

But really what happened? This is the people’s beach right? How could the NPS and even the Riis Park beach bazaar let such discriminatory maltreatment of green space occur. And with the prices they charge for their artisan fast foodie fare and pretentious cocktails which the average person spends about $100 during the day consuming and along with the existence of an idiotic luxury lifestyle campsite, how come none of that money has translated to the upkeep for the grill area? Or even to other area of the park like the baseball field and the nearby handball, tennis and newly painted shuffleboard courts?

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There is something foul afoot with the beach bazaar, which in fact doesn’t even resemble one since real bazaars are dense with concessions, tent stores and games while this is set up in isolated areas far from each other. Another reason for the dubious profitability to justify the existence of this is that the organizers and promoters had their own Brooklyn Night Bazaar kicked out of a catering hall before this venture because they couldn’t afford the rent, it was the second time they got kicked out of the borough that they are responsible for gentrifying. Is it possible that the effort by Gothamist to help their Brooklyn transient comrades by writing a wretchedly and laughably pathetic journatisement post on Camp Rockaway didn’t help at all? Apparently not, because the proprietors of CR had to distribute discount coupons (and it looks like they had to skimp a little on the ink at the printers shop too)

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But I digress. Actually no, all this is relative. The Riis Park Beach Bazaar is a failure and it’s clearly still being enabled. There are obviously some investors behind them that have bigger plans for Riis Park. And it surely involves privatization. Because what the grill area looks like now is ripe for plunder and usurped for obnoxious commercial promotion events and dickweed startup networking functions.

It doesn’t have to be this way but it’s inevitable, for park privatization is spreading everywhere supposedly because the funding isn’t there to maintain them. And the Riis Park grilling area appears to show that there still isn’t funding for it, although it’s blatantly obvious that it’s being ignored on purpose. Every year gets worse over there, NPS clearly is trying to discourage citizens from using it and presumably there are vested interests to make Riis a luxury destination given the other changes and distressing developments happening on the Rockaway peninsula

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Despite years of warnings and universal scorn from the citizenry of the five boroughs, the scourge of gentrification of wanton hyper-development, real estate market speculation/fabrication and the mindless frivolous spending demographic they attract are not going to fade soon and it looks as if it’s going to spread faster instead of gradually now.

And it’s more than certain that is going to happen one of the best summer places in New York City in the borough of Queens (although I think a lot of these newbs still think it’s in Brooklyn). For now, I will concede defeat and let the Riis Park go. Which sucks because I love grilling out and I make kickass BBQ burgers. This glorious place was the easiest to get to on bike, despite only a few uphills on the two Cross Bay bridges, it takes less than an hour to get to Riis even while making a stop to get food and Yuenglings at Waldbaums.

But now it’s over. At least writing about it’s slow death is.

Goodnight Riis Park.

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Gentrification Of A Beach And Federal Parkland Part IV: The Riis Park Bathhouse Reopens With The Reckoning Of High End Fast Food Concession And Ludicrous Luxury Camping Bolstered By A Bike Share Outbreak Amidst Unacknowledged Beach Erosion

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087.jpgThe Riis Park Bathouse. Renovated and ripe for privatization

Here are parts 1, 2 and 3

Riis Park, The People’s Beach, Rockaway, QUEENS, N.Y.

In a rare bit of good news regarding parkland infrastructure, the historical landmark art-deco bathhouse pavilion in Riis Park as been re-opened after going through over 5 years of renovation following the devastation from the impact of hurricanes Sandy and Irene.

Unfortunately, the grand re-opening is marred by the privatization of the entire structure by the Riis Beach Bazaar collective of overpriced food concessions, a bevy of bars and the return and occupation of space for the still mind-boggling stupid and unjustifiably expensive luxury tent dwelling concept Camp Rockaway in a merger into a mindless frivolous spending consumption attraction and destination.

Now back in 2016, a nice park ranger gave a tour of the refurbished ground floor and the nice park superintendent remarked that to ensure the upkeep of the pavilion, it would have to come from private funding. Even though a few weeks before this report, the city received 47 million dollars in FEMA funds dedicated to rebuild and repair all structures that were destroyed along the peninsula in the last storm.

That the bathhouse is currently being occupied by an organization that was once sponsored by a local news blog and an idiotic concept that relied on crowdfunding just as recent as last year is quite unexpected and certainly needs more digging into if they can afford to lease the federal landmark building. Not much is known about who is funding this collective, presumably those pesky, sneaky private equity and venture capital firms along with various lobby or real estate firms and probably property owning mysterion LLC’s, but somehow they have clearly conquered the entirety of the “people’s beach” and turned it into an ersatz Brooklyn/Disneyland.

 

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As for Camp Rockaway, it is quite the anomaly and absurdity. Last year at the end of summer and continuing into November, they drove their stakes and placed their settlement on an unused football field, complete with a still present field goal post. But now that they joined forces with the Bazaar, this summer its glamour tents are placed in the backyard lot of the bathhouse. For the stunning price of $195 on the weekdays and $245 on the weekend, families and couples can enjoy the wonders of nature by traipsing on the “campground’s” filthy tire-tracked sand with speckles of depleted grass.

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To capture the experience of  “roughing it” and integrating it with what is described as “wellness”, the tents are furnished with mattresses, lamps, linens and dressers along with a phone charging station. Just like in actual real life nature.

Not mentioned is the illuminating of room freshener candles to soothe your senses as you drift into blissful slumber until hordes of people from Queens and Brooklyn and beyond head for the beach to enjoy it for free.

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If the people of the “people’s beach” knew what they are missing! If the people had more disposable income than stagnant income, they can further mindlessly spend on the various amenities that Camp Rockaway decided not to include on their two c-note a night dirt nap dwellings. Like paying nightly tolls at the Riis Park parking lot, one of the biggest in the nation! For the times you get parched and need protection from nasty entomological creatures buzzing around, there are empty water bottles for you and mosquito repellent to purchase if you’re stupid enough not to bring your own, and if you are already spending 200 bucks to sleep overnight in a tent in a public beach, chances you already are.

You can bring your own food but it has to be prepared and you need to eat it all up because the only genuine thing about this campsite is that it has no refrigeration to store your rations. It’s okay because they advise their guests to take their food back to their hot cars if they have anything leftover. Which is what any seasoned camper would do if one doesn’t possess an igloo cooler.

Just like in actual campsite’s and thanks to the new restoration, the showers are available for use once you start to stink after festering in your tent and sojourning on the beach and nearby towns foraging for food and booze that you’re not allowed to keep in your temporary abodes.

If there are any worries about intruders, who may be tempted to breach the “campground” either through climbing over the gate or cutting the rusty chains and locks on the gates with the knowledge of easy marks willing to spend exorbitant sums would likely have expensive possessions like thousand dollar cellphones containing a wealth of personal data, various credit cards, and other disposable cash, the geniuses behind this malignant concept assures that the national parks dept has rangers patrolling the beach all day and night long for the guests protection at the taxpayers expense.

Unfortunately no alcohol is allowed and it’s lights out at 10 p.m. at Camp Rock. There sure are a lot of rules that you have to abide by. Which makes this campground resemble more like a scientology recruit settlement than the neighborly community vibe they are trying to commodify. And it also kills the tranquil vibe and escape from civilization that real camping provides, since according to their activities page, the only thing to pass the time is to spend and spend and spend at, natch, the nearby Riis Beach Bazaar.

Speaking of the R.B.B., their little concept of bringing the blandest of Brooklyn’s designer food and social media culture has been the recipient of good fortune at the misfortune of other locales and transit service. Land erosion at one of the most popular spots in Rockaway led to the City Parks Department to close the beaches down from B90 to B102 streets, which included the closure of the boardwalk (it has since been reopened for access), which has led to a noticeable upsurge in attendance at Riis.

More pseudo-yachts ferries have been added, even though the city cut the free Hornblower bus service. There’s more frequent bus service, the Q53 from Woodside, the Q35 from Brooklyn, and even the rarely seen Q22 in Rockaway (which used to originate from Ozone Park), now heads towards Riis Park that historically has never seen this much bus transit activity probably in decades and arguably in the city bus services’ entire existence as every other bus line continues to be behind schedule.

The A train to Rockaway also has been rerouted going west to the 116th street station and suspended the Mott Ave. destination for the entire summer, leaving Far Rockaway residents to go through the inconvenience of getting off at the Holland St. Station and crossing over to the other side to go eastbound. But making it super duper convenient for the target demos, hipsters from Brooklyn and tourists, to take one straight ride to the desired area of the peninsula.

And to make things more convenient A train commuters, once they get off there will be plenty of bike share bikes out there ready to use and dispose of as they get to their destinations. Especially once the electronic motor share bikes are dropped on the streets.

This post may be a bitter hate read, but even the most naive person would find that there is a massive effort by the city and their parks dept and even the national parks dept. to make sure this luxury bazaar and camping merger is successful, all attributed to a combination of the extreme effects of climate change and the aforementioned improvements to transit service. When the city parks dept. shut down beaches 91 to 102st at the last minute before Memorial Day it caused widespread panic to the enraged community and the businesses there, notably the new bar/restaurants that only opened on the boardwalk just a few years ago. And it wasn’t like the city wasn’t warned of the gradual debilitation of the shoreline, because they have known for years prior to when Sandy hit and did nothing about it since in congruence with continuing disputes with FEMA officials in a display of shithead solidarity buck passing and willful indifference as 10,000 tons of cubic sand wasted away in less than two years.

 

Regarding this closure, which is going to take a speculated two years to replenish it, it’s starting to look like the area in front of the Riis Bathhouse might have some apparent erosion issues of it’s own. Judging by the disturbing ponding by the boardwalk.

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Will this also get the proper attention and will it merit the the same severity from the city as the measures they took to shut down the former popular beaches by Rockaway Park???

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“Why see the world, when you got the beach”

Frank Ocean, “Sweet Life”

The Riis Park Bathhouse’s return is a no doubt a great thing, but it’s too bad it’s not being utilized for it’s intended use as a facility for the citizens and is being privatized this way to cultivate and manufacture a homogenized hip hangout and some sort of luxury destination with that stupid camp. As for the latter, this is actually a thing that’s been going on in other federal parks, most recently and more insanely at Governor’s Island. 

Even the bike share program, after only a few days, is already starting to become a blight on the beach.

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But it’s doubtful that any action be taken or the slightest concern will be taken here. There is obviously a lot being invested that it’s taken precedence over the worrying concerns of smaller businesses that enthusiastically opened up and the residents enjoying the sun, sand and surf in Rockaway. In addition to the further neglect and inequity of services that are plaguing throughout the boroughs that favor pleasure seekers over the working classes in general. And monetizing the one free amenity and destination for people who can’t afford to go to the Hamptons or jetset to island and beach resorts around the world.

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The effects of climate change and global warming are existential threats that must be combated, but it’s not as big as the current threat by the city to irresponsibly sell out public space and services for lame entrepreneurs trying to turn every locale into Brooklyn food and beer festival.

When will this bullshit stop? Probably another bitch hurricane. But it didn’t stop this collective of climate deniers before and it certainly won’t this time despite any documented evidence. For these elected and appointed officials, absolutely nothing will get in the way of monopolizing parkland for frivolous spending idiocy, and most of all the profits for their sponsors and investors.

It’s all fucking insane.

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JQ LLC’s Broad Channel/Rockaway Beach Immersion Tour

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464Let’s go for a joyride.

Hi everybody. Welcome to my immersion tour, inspired by recent posts by Queens Crap including the title of this one, which stems from a similarly named tour in Ridgewood back in June to spur food culture interest in that neighborhood as a guise to spur gentrification through higher rental market rates and displacement, and also from the extreme effects of Climate Change which saw my ride enhanced by a balmy 72 degree Saturday in the certainly soon to be warmest October worldwide in recorded history.

It’s called an immersion tour for my readers, all 6 of you, for I was immersed here when I was pushing 10. To make this sight seeing trip more comfortable, I will provide the proper musical accompaniment.

We start this sojourn at the intersection of Cross Bay Blvd. and Liberty Avenue. Which has seen a sudden and dramatic potentially deal breaking and car and bone breaking infrastructure change to accommodate more Select Bus Service routes. Like the 2 Q53 buses from Woodside I saw leaving the stop before I snapped this photo.

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Unbelievable. This sight was unblemished for decades and now the DOT decided to literally put a fork in the road. The bus stops to the left there as it always has been, but from the looks of this, the east lane is going to be used for turning right and the bus is going to make it’s stop in the middle of the street. This is sanctioning congestion.

Responsible drivers never had a problem before transitioning into the 4 lane Woodhaven Blvd that is right ahead but hey this is for presumably everyone’s safety. Vision Zero and all that. It’s in this host’s opinion that this serves absolutely no purpose except for a place to stand while traffic speeds by.

Next up, BEER TOWN!

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This may be the best name of a discount beer distributor store of all time. Sandwiched between a 99 cent store and a karate school and a few blocks from the homeless Comfort Inn and the adjoining Days Inn. I use to frequent this place because it was the only one to carry the Molson pilsner and Yuengling lager brands, which are my personal favorites. Pabst Blue Ribbon used to cost 4 bucks here. I like to point out that I was drinking that turpentine elixir way before it became the hip brand for the Brooklyn gentries.

Next up continuing the path up Cross Bay, is the small town of Broad Channel. Which after 5 years since Hurricane Sandy, a lot of homes are still in the rebuilding process, as evidenced by this obstruction in the right lane of the road.

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This dumpster bin took up both the faded bike lane and a entire vehicle lane. It’s placement there is almost akin to someone dropping their wallet.

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Brought to you commuters by the fine folks of the Build It Back program and Regency Carting.

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As you all can see here, this presents quite a pickle for proper egress.

Next is a place that has seen a big controversy between two council members, who are from different districts,  erupt as election day draws near. The Bayview restaurant was renovated and reopened finally last year after getting leveled by Sandy. But for some reason this year it has not seen any business activity. It turns out it was shut down at the end of the summer last year when it was bum rushed by investigators from the SLA, FDNY and the MTA (why the MTA???) because of trumped up violations involving a bar stand and the good old cabaret dancing ban which was just recently lifted, and for something about a ruckus outside of the marina caused by one of the sons of Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley according to local Councilman Eric Ulrich.

Now if there is justification to shut down an establishment because a fight happened outside of it, I think every bar would have to face the same fate, especially in the recently city planning freewheeling and  SLA approved crazy towns of the East Village and the L.E.S.

But anyway, this is what it looks like today and it’s quite a mystery.

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This excavation and placement of what looks like some sort of elevated patio has been going on for a few months now. There is no indication or information on what this is or when it will be done. This actually started around the time when the cashless toll taker was placed on the Addabo Bridge entrance to Rockaway Beach, so this presumably might be the reason why the MTA was involved in the restaurant’s closure and year long suspended state. Other than being the fact that Ms. Crowley is the cousin of Congressman Joe Crowley and the official Alpha Girl of the Machine Democrats and nobody will further dare repress the sense of entitlement of her gadabout sons. Or disrupt the pervasive influence of nepotism in politics.

Now we land in Rockaway Beach coasting up Beach Channel Drive and check out the vibrant sights of the new ferry and it’s elaborate dock. And the massive Six Flags style line waiting to board and those exiting the boat.

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But wait, what are these things doing here?

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And how come there hasn’t been absolutely any reporting on their existence? These have been popping up by the two’s and even three’s, waiting for the ferries arrivals for the past month. Fun fact, before these started showing up all summer long since the debut of the insufficient aquatic vessels, there were massive charter buses parked along this strip. I wondered aloud were these reserved by moneyed groups interested in the sights of the beach or was it paid with the citizens tax dollars by the city and state. These new shuttle buses might surely be the answer that they were, it’s bedecked with NYC logos and the subway line graphics adorning them.

Like the elaborate infrastructure going on by the aforementioned bridge pedestrian path entrance, there is nothing indicating where these buses go. There is a bus stop sign and pole but no schedules on them. That info is only available online. They just show up right on time or just wait there for the boats arrival, nice and convenient for it’s commuters. It’s not known either if it’s an extra fare or the transfer is free. Peculiar that in what is and always has been a public transit crisis going on that these buses have been prioritized for easy transfer for curious denizens of the newly hip and happening beach, even now that it’s off season despite the freakish elongated summer this state is fortunate to be having. It’s also quite irritating to see considering a recent story about a bus line cut off 7 years ago that’s desperately needed and being denied to elderly citizens living in Oakland Gardens in eastern Queens.

It’s also maddening that these buses were made possible by that awful shortchanging contractor from San Fransisco, Hornblower.

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At least the buses are made here, I think, being that these are the road space hogging Trans Express buses. Which usually provides services to elderly and handicapped people. So this might suck even more, since the city is rerouting services again to pander to tourists and pretentious gourmands. In addition to the fact that there continues to be startling inequity in city transit services.

Next up, the sights of Jacob Riis Park. Which has seen an equal amount of vibrancy and citizen concern. Like the immediate first sight of the former and seemingly abandoned Neponsit Medical Center.

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Actually, it’s not abandoned at all, for it received a million dollar grant from the city’s Health and Hospitals Corp. to renovate it, in addition to annual funding for it’s current upkeep. This was recently brought to light in a recent Queens Crap post, which noted the NYPD police car in the lot, as you can see on the far right and the unsettling creepy aura it displays. Maybe from the ghosts of the 2 patients who died when the city decided to close the hospital from unfounded hurricane damage.

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The irony of the dubious decisions to shut down because of the impact of  Hurricane Irene should not be lost considering the resilience of these buildings after the devastation wrought to nearby Breezy Point and parts of Belle Harbor 5 years ago by Sandy.

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Good grief. This poster is from an “event” thrown by various moneyed concerns aka non-profit groups from Bloomberg, various LLC’s and the Central Park Conservancy from back in July which I covered in this summer’s post on the gentrification of the beach and it’s still there. Just another atypical case of parks dept. forgetfulness and neglect.

If you think this looks scary during the day, check out this place in the dead of night.

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To top this peculiar finding off, there has been an unmarked car parked at the entrance of the facility driveway with the gates open as if the security patrol is encouraging intruders. For conspiracy minded folks, this looks like some area 51 shit going on there, or some personal info data mining factory like the one in Tribeca, or a suspenseful eerie scene from “Stranger Things”.

Riding further west to the end of the boardwalk and a bridle path, is what can ultimately and aptly be called a stupid thing.459

What the fuck is this shit? Oh, it’s the latest idiotic attempt to gentrify the beach, Camp Rockaway. Let’s meet the fine delusional hosts and their wacky guests.

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This is actually being funded by the Federal Parks dept. In fact it’s the second fake camping site that is being placed here in a outlandishly lame attempt to make going to an all access and free beach and park into a luxury destination and commodity. Spurred on by Sinclair Media/Pix News advertisement passing as a news item. Basically advert-journalism. Not seen in the clip is Tamsen Fadal’s lead-in stating that this is located in Brooklyn.

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False adverjournalism too (FAKE NEWS!). For this tucked away corner of the beach is actually in a playground field, note the soccer net. 20 yards away there is a football field goal post and north of this “upscale” camp, you can see kids playing ball and other activities. The loony thing about this is it’s the second, ahem, “glamping” site on the beach, for there was another one located on the grounds on Fort Tilden further east as I mentioned in the same post on this issue. This stupidity will cost the average frivolous spending loon from 65 to 195 bucks a night!

Let’s get the fuck out of here. These people are crazy. And check out some other sites of continuing federal park neglect…

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Here are some handball courts outside of the pitch and putt golf course. Which used to be the most popular local sporting pastime in the city. In fact it still is, just not that much in Queens anymore and with the predominant transient gentries that the city and state that are pandering to and no doubt the ubiquity of addictive app games. This sight, as well as other blights that those glamorous campers might notice on their hikes in the park and beach, has not changed one iota in 10 years.

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Here we have a keg trailer by the base of the seemingly infinite beach bazaar. This should dispel any doubt about parks and rec’s foisting a party lifestyle and culture here.

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Here is the long, long ago vibrant and still abandoned buildings and bathhouses. Which earlier this year the NPS tried to privatize the renovations but could not get buyer interest, even with all the activity and appearance of artisan food trucks and the new ground floor restoration completion 4 years after Sandy.

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And finishing off, here we have the moldy ol’ Hotel Der Mar. Still sitting shitty despite the new boardwalk’s presence. The environmental hazard and property devaluing corpse house was also on the news recently.

I hope y’all enjoyed your immersion viewers. Yes, it was a bummer and didn’t have any craft beer or  pretentious artisan fare tastings but at least it was free and you didn’t have to get up. Also, you get to see a side that is being obscured by the local news media, for these areas are still struggling and are being subjected to senseless and unnecessary infrastructure upgrades, lousy and ineffective city assisted programs, bizzaro zeitgeist bullshit and the looming gentrification threat.

This tour is not discourage and dishearten. These are still great places to visit and ride through. It’s very fortunate to have this freakish and unnatural summer weather this autumn. So go on a joyride yourselves and enjoy the many pleasant sights as well as the shitty ones.

Smell ya later. It’s a long ride back to base, so here’s some appropriate musical accompaniment.

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