Story by Joseph KellardThe
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.
Follow Long Beach Patch on Facebook. 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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