High Tide
Happy Leap Day! February just will not leave us alone!
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Happy Rockaway St. Patrick’s to all! Get your green ready! The Rockaway St. Patrick’s Day parade will be held this Saturday, March 2, at 1 p.m., with festivities to follow throughout the entire peninsula. It is always a great day in Rockaway. Thanks to all who make it possible and congratulations to all of this year’s honorees!
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Advertiser Alert! As you may know, Rockaway’s St. Patrick’s Day also marks the unofficial start of spring around these parts, regardless of what the thermometers and the weather people say. With the thought of warmer weather also comes The Rockaway Times Summer & Community Guide! Back by popular demand, The Summer Guide, which has been a hit year after year, will be returning for its TENTH year! Time is flying by, so start planning your Summer Guide ad now!
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The wait is over. Crustinos Pizza on Beach 116th Street, taking over the old Ciro’s spot, will be open for parade day. Michael Fiore, owner of Meat Up Grill is behind this latest venture. He rolled out the dough this week and is serving up pies and slices as part of a soft opening, with more Italian delicacies to come. We’ll have more details next week.
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Jamaica Bay – Rockaway Park Conservancy is hiring for their 2024 Jamaica Bay Wetlands Fellowship. This is a six-month paid workforce development and job training program for young adults (ages 18 to 25) focused on skills for wetlands maintenance, monitoring, and restoration within Jamaica Bay. For more info and to apply, visit www.jbrpc.org/fellowship
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Speaking of summer opportunities, there is still time to become a NYC lifeguard. And we know how important lifeguards are to our community. Plus, starting pay is now $22 an hour! For more information and to register for the qualifying test visit https://www.nycgovparks.org/opportunities/jobs/lifeguards
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The Army Corps of Engineers has reported two incidents of vandalism to their ongoing beach dune construction in Belle Harbor. The first involved kids taking the crew’s supplies — mostly wood materials used to construct the perimeter of the dunes and walkways — to start a bonfire. The fire department was called and extinguished the flames and the crews presumably had to have all new supplies brought in to continue the work. This is unacceptable. The second incident, however, is a little bit more nuanced. With the recent snow, the dunes have served as an ideal sledding slope for kids in the neighborhood. The images reported as vandalism by the Army Corps are of the vegetation after the sledding. Obviously, this was not the intent of the sledders. But does that excuse the action and the resulting “vandalism”? Folks are on both sides of this argument. We even printed a letter last week concerning the need for kids to have some room for sledding. Kids will be kids. It seems the Corps’ latter example is unlikely to receive as much sympathy as the former.
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The Rockaway Republican Club announced another addition to their March 6 agenda: U.S. Senate candidate Cara Castronuova. She joins Sid Rosenberg and Curtis Sliwa on the agenda for RRC’s next meeting at the Catholic Club in Breezy. You can RSVP for the meeting at https://is.gd/zusa6l
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The Rockaway Times 2024 Photo Contest opened two weeks ago, and the submissions have been coming in fast and furious. The photos are looking great so far! But keep them coming. And be sure to follow the rules ladies and gentlemen! Remember, submit contest photos to Contest@Rockawaytimes.com. And only submit up to four entries! Have a few extra you want in the paper? Submit them to our weekly Local Color pages by sending those photos to Mail@Rockawaytimes.com
