Gotta Go at the Beach

When Patricia Tullo, a Lafayette Boulevard resident, when to the beach in Long Beach she used the restroom on the boardwalk at the end of her street.

But Hurricane Sandy in October destroyed all the restrooms that lined the beach, compelling the City of Long Beach to contract with Direct Drainage, a Patchogue-based company, to rent six restrooms trailers for the beach this summer as the city rebuilds its storm-battered 2.2-mile boardwalk.

While four restroom trailers are stationed relatively near each other in the eastern half of the beach, at Neptune, Lincoln, Long Beach and Edwards boulevards, the next available trailer is at New York Avenue, at the western end of the boardwalk are, more than a mile from Edwards.

“The one day I was on the beach there were males urinating by the pillars where the boardwalk used to be,” Tullo told Patch in an e-mail about her concerns. “This is a health issue that needs to be addressed ASAP.”

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Tullo believes the trek between bathrooms trailers on the beach, from New York to Edwards, is unacceptable to people of all age groups, and that another trailer should be installed between them at or near Laurelton beach.

“I don't think I am requesting too much,” she said. “We had a permanent one on Lafayette Boulevard until Sandy hit. They could put something at Laurelton and Washington.”

Tullo said she called the city’s beach maintenance department during the first week of June about the issue and was told she would get a call back. But the city never called her back, she said.

Asked about Tullo’s requests, the city said that a restroom trailer would be installed along the street at Laurelton Boulevard sometime this week.

“Due to the damage incurred by Hurricane Sandy, there will be bathrooms on the street at Laurelton in the next week,” said city spokesman Gordon Tepper last Friday.

On Tuesday afternoon, Patch noticed a bathroom trailer near the southwest corner of Laurelton Boulevard and East Broadway.

The city contracted to rent the trailers from Direct Drainage, from May 1 to Sept. 30, for a total cost of $142,500. The city said it would request public assistance grant funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover the expense. 

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