Community Corner

City Reopening Section of Boardwalk Saturday

A section of the Long Beach boardwalk will open to the public Saturday morning, officials announced at a press conference on the new structure Friday morning.

City Manager Jack Schnirman read from a letter he received from Jim LaCarrubba, the city’s commissioner of public works, which stated that a four-block section of the rebuilt boardwalk was inspected and ready to be used: “I am advising your office that the boardwalk from Long Beach Boulevard to Magnolia Boulevard can be opened to the  public on Saturday morning, July 27, 2013.”

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City Council President Scott Mandel, who also addressed the crowd that included several residents who were permitted to attend the press conference on the boardwalk outside the Allegria Hotel at National Boulevard, said the boardwalk at all four sections would open at 8:45 a.m. Saturday.

“We invited you all to be here,” Mandel said. “We’re going to be here simultaneously ... from Long Beach to Magnolia [Boulevard], cutting the ribbon and inviting people to come back and enjoy Long Beach.”

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Schnirman recalled the last time city officials and the community were on the boardwalk together: Oct. 29, the day Hurricane Sandy barreled through and wreaked substantial destruction in Long Beach.

“In the moments before the storm, it was my unpleasant job to tell everybody to get out, to evacuate and to leave,” he said. “... And so I’m so happy to be able to be back here today to read a letter from the commissioner of public works saying the exact opposite: come on back.”

Stephen Lampa, a resident in attendance who regularly biked on the boardwalk, told Patch that the 2.2-mile structure that was demolished after it was damaged in the storm was “a tremendous loss to this community.” About the new Brazilian hardwood decking, he said: “It is nice, they did a good job. I thought they could have done it a little faster. But guess what? Good things come to those who wait.”

Sen. Charles Schumer, who called the boardwalk “the beating heart” of Long Beach, announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to reimburse the City of Long Beach “almost” the entire cost for the $44.2 million rebuilding project.

“But because we have wisely put in the FEMA package bill money for remediation, which means building things back better, I am fully confident that I will win my fight with FEMA and get every penny that this boardwalk costs reimbursed by the federal government--100 percent,” Schumer vowed.

LaCarrubba’s letter noted that Grace Industries, the firm hired to rebuild the walkway, would use the one-block section of boardwalk between Magnolia and Laurelton Boulevard, while complete, for staging purposes. A security fence will close it off as workers continue to rebuild the structure further west.

The city had originally announced that the first five-block section of boardwalk reconstruction would be opened by July 23, but later said that this 100-day milestone for “substantial completion” of this section is technically July 25.

Schnirman announced that the more than 700 memorial benches that lined the former boardwalk are being thoroughly refurbished and will be returned “in relative short order,” and he noted that Wi-Fi would be made available along the boardwalk and beach.

Echoing Schumer, Nasser Samman, the general manager of the Allegria, called the boardwalk the heartbeat of the city. “I can tell you that we are very excited about seeing the activity on the boardwalk,” he told Patch, “and we’ll be opening our doors to the hotel and say: come back.”

The entire boardwalk is scheduled to be completed in November. 


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