Community Corner

Demolition Begins on Long Beach Boardwalk

Story by Joseph Kellard

The demolition of the Long Beach boardwalk started on Thursday morning at New York Avenue, the western end of the structure that was originally built in 1908.

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Work crews started to disassemble the guardrails and the more than 700 benches that line the 2.2-mile boardwalk.

Sections of the boardwalk were destroyed during Hurricane Sandy in October, and in December the City Council awarded a bid to Thomas Novelli Contracting, a Farmingdale firm, to do the job for $1.435 million.

Lifelong Long Beach resident and Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg was on hand Thursday to watch the demolition begin.

“It’s a real pain in the heart,” Weisenberg said as he watched the demolition begin. “It brings tears to your eyes to see it go. It’s a symbol of our beautiful city.”

Weisenberg said that the demolition should take about 30 days and will cost $1.5 million. He said the benches, all of which feature memorial plaques, will be stored for safekeeping and restored when the city builds a new boardwalk.

Weisenberg said that the hope is to rebuild a new boardwalk by June, but he said that the City of Long Beach must still work out that issue.  

“We definitely want a new boardwalk built by the summer,” Weisenberg said.

Meanwhile, the annual Long Beach Polar Bear Splash that is held at Riverside Boulevard beach each Super Bowl Sunday will be relocated when it is held on Feb. 3, the assemblyman said. The alternate location is Grand Boulevard beach, where by that time the boardwalk will be demolished as demolition crews work their way eastward.

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