Community Corner
Boardwalk Talk Kicks Off at Senior Center
Sustainable Long Island facilities first meeting of focus groups.
Long Beach residents gathered Wednesday evening to answer questions and discuss ideas about the reconstruction of the Hurricane Sandy-battered boardwalk at the Magnolia Senior Center.
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Amy Engel, executive director of Sustainable Long Island, conducted the first in a series of community focus groups tol discuss redesign of the seaside walkway.
The inaugural meeting involved about 100 residents who live between the east side of Grand Boulevard and the west side of Long Beach Boulevard to give their input. They were broken up into groups who sat around separate tables and answered prepared questions. Each individual resident was asked to take a few minutes to answer the following questions:
- “Ten years from now, the boardwalk will ___ to/for Long Beach (word or phrase).”
- “What is the most important issue facing the future of the boardwalk.”
The second exercise included three questions that the residents were asked to answer as a group:
- “Last summer I used to __ on/at the boardwalk.”
- “Three things you appreciated about the boardwalk.”
- “Three things you wish were better about the boardwalk.”
“It wouldn’t be good policy making,” Engel said of any decision to not solicit community input.
Engel said that the city was moving quickly on this project “because the boardwalk is an economic driver. … It’s so critical to everybody.”
The other two focus group meetings will be held at Magnolia Senior Center, at 650 Magnolia Blvd., from 6 to 8 p.m. on the following dates:
- Feb. 11 (focusing on residents living between Nevada Boulevard and the west side of Grand Boulevard)
- Feb. 13 (focusing on residents living between Maple Boulevard and the east side of Long Beach Boulevard)
The city will hold a citywide meeting at City Hall from 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 20, when officials will present the findings from the focus groups and online surveys.
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