Some Rockaway residents say more needs to be done to address an increasing amount of erosion along local beaches. As NY1's Angi Gonzalez reports, they say a fix is needed sooner than currently planned.
The city's beaches may be open but some living along Rockaway Beach say they're seeing more surf than sand these days.
"We have to make sure we get that beach back, cause now it’s gone. There are beach closures already and no one is talking about it," said John Cori, the co-founder of Friends of Rockaway Beach.
A Parks Department spokesperson told NY1 that while they're aware of the erosion that it’s not behind any beach closures so far this season.
They said that areas like Beach 90th street will open once lifeguards are back at full staff, closer to July 4th.
Some residents said that when that time comes, there won’t be a safe place to put them.
"It’s got to the point where there is no beaches," explained Eddie Pastore, the other co-founder of Friends of Rockaway Beach.
So local advocates are now planning a rally for June 25th where they will demand that the federal government take immediate action to control the erosion along Rockaway Beach.
They argue the jetty's or "stone groins" used further up the boardwalk could help.
"It’s important as an elected official to jump ahead of this hurricane season and get the groins and the jetty's out here immediately," said Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato ( D-Queens)
Officials with the US Army Corp of engineers say they are well aware of these "erosion hot spots".
They add they've already completed a study and drafted a plan that includes the construction of 12 new jetty's between Beach 90th and Beach 122nd streets.
That proposal, however, is under an extensive approval process.
So, at the earliest work couldn’t start on the project for another two years.
"We have what maybe 150,000 people who live on the Rockaway peninsula we have taxpayers here and they deserve better," said Rockaway resident Edwin Williams.
With forecasters expecting an above normal hurricane season this year, those who lived through and rebuilt after Hurricane Sandy say that's just too long.
"We're going to have to move. We're not going to be able to stay here," said Jeffrey Williams, another Rockaway resident.
That is something those demanding action say doesn’t have to happen if they can get the right people to act now.