No More from Alma

Dear Editor:

My name is Denise Brown and, I am a life-long resident of the Rockaways. I presently live in the Surfside Development, 107-10 Shore Front Parkway.

For some time, the landlord of our building complex, Alma Realty, has been putting forth plans to build, change and reconstruct our living spaces. Adding to this, there is constant construction in our small area of residence from Beach 100th Street to Beach 109th Street.

Since 2006, when Belle Shores, Ocean Colony and the Medical Building were constructed, we have experienced an increase in population, water issues (no water, cold water-only), no heat, road work, power outages and parking problems to name several issues. The streets have been torn up to lay new pipes due to the Rockaway Hotel. By the redesign of Beach 108th Street, we were rerouted in all directions. The Rotary on Beach 108th Street, where the children’s roller/ice skating rink is located, had become a danger for those children because of all the heavy equipment. People driving had their daily routes changed without any notification. The streets were torn up to lay new pipes all the way to Beach 116th Street. This caused all sorts of havoc and dangerous scenarios, especially for the Seaside Elementary School and PS 47Q, which is housed in the former Stella Maris building.

The increase in sirens, subway breakdowns and announcements, horns going off in the middle of the night and car congestion; it’s ENOUGH. There is already too much noise pollution.

We in the Rockaways already have evacuation issues—too many cars and people. Ferry and other public transportation have insufficient capacity for the present population. It was estimated that it would take 2,000 buses or more to evacuate all Rockaway residents in an emergency!

The danger of flooding is already present. There is NO bedrock on which any building is being constructed! We have an aquifer under our beloved peninsula that adds to our drinking water, but that is being polluted with the dust particles in the air and from the never-ending construction.

Historically, Rockaway, Far Rockaway, Broad Channel and Howard Beach have been filled-in for building purposes. These areas were meant to be the environmental sponges to protect from flooding and other disasters.

Alma Realty is on a path to destroy our protection completely.

Denise Brown