Results tagged “rockawaybeach”

A day after a Bronx teenager drowned after getting caught in a Rockaway riptide, the Parks Department is suspending a lifeguard who was photographed wearing his iPod headphones while working at a nearby beach. Mayor Bloomberg was quick to lash out at the unnamed city employee, telling reporters, "He certainly wasn't doing what he was supposed to be doing." The mayor also urged anyone on the beaches who spots something similar to call 311. Beachgoers in Rockaway told the Post headphones on the lifeguards who start out making $13.50 an hour are just the tip of the iceberg—one resident said, "Half the time, they're chatting with people. They're listening to music. They're on their cellphones. They're texting with people." The lifeguard in the photo could be fired if he has been on the job for less than a year; it'll at least be a consideration after a hearing if he's been around longer. A Parks Department spokesman said, "This is an unacceptable violation of our regulations, which is not representative of the dedication and diligence displayed by the vast majority of our over 1,300 lifeguards."

A 19-year-old man from The Bronx drowned in Far Rockaway yesterday where he and his girlfriend had been enjoying a day at the beach. 19-year-old Daniel O'Neil swam outside the designated area near the East Rockaway Inlet near Beach 25th Street around 3 p.m. Lifeguards eventually pulled O'Neil out and and FDNY EMTs took him to St. John's Episcopal Hospital, where he was pronounced dead an hour later. O'Neil had just graduated from Mount St. Michael High School and volunteered in the rectory of Sacred Heart Church in Mount Vernon. He was set to attend John Jay College in the fall and hoped to one day be a lawyer. His aunt told the News, "He was a young kid who wanted to prove to himself that he was a young man. He was full of life, full of youth." Lifeguards say that there has been a strong riptide over the last two weekends, forcing an unusually high number of swimmers to be pulled out of the water. The National Weather Service has tips here on what to do if you are caught in rip currents.

A former 78-year-old firehouse in Rockaway is getting an environmentally-friendly makeover (greenincarnation?). The Real Deal reports that "the New York City Economic Development Corporation has selected the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance to redevelop the former Rockaway Beach Boulevard Firehouse at 58-03 Rockaway Beach Boulevard in Queens," which will permanently house the Rockaway Institute for Sustainable Environment. The environmental advocacy organization also serves as an educational outlet, and has been working out of local schools and community spaces. They're aiming for LEED certification, and around $2 million is expected to go into the project, which will ultimately be a 7,200-square-foot hall housing green-collar job training courses, classrooms, events, catering facilities, an organic cafe and more. [via Queens Crap]

Hey surfers and swimmers, this just in from the newswire: POSSIBLE SHARK SIGHTING*| ROCKAWAY BEACH| CLOSING SWIM AREAS AFTER REPORT FROM FISHERMAN FOR A SHARK SIGHTING. You've been warned, Queens. Though most sharks in the area turn out to be tiny, in 2005 Rockaway got a slightly larger creature. For those keeping track, the unofficial start to shark season this year was in July, when a 5-footer was spotted at Jones Beach. If this new shark has any run-ins with a banana boat, we'll update.

After searching for hours, emergency crews were unable to find a 16-year-old missing in the waters off Rockaway Beach. Witnesses say a "big wave" knocked down two teens in the water around 3:30 p.m.; rescuers were able to rescue 16-year-old Carla Armaza, but could not find 16-year-old Tiara Coaxum. The search was suspended around 6:45 p.m., because police and Coast Guard dive teams, per the Post, "were losing light, but planned to resume the search this morning." Rockaway Park residents spoke of the dangers in the waters, "There are drop offs. The undertow is extremely severe. The rip tides are extremely severe."

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a train derailment at 86th St. and 20th Ave. in Brooklyn, an overturned crane at 100th St. and Rockaway Beach Blvd. in Queens, and an amputation on Hylan Blvd. on Staten Island.
• A guy who jumps off buildings for fun says that security guards caused him "severe emotional distress" when they prevented him from leaping off the Empire State Building, so he's suing the ESB's owners for $30 million.
• When an unknown food critic stupidly leaves notes at a restaurant, a gossip column is sure to notice it, except for the fact that the notes might be from the food critic of the same newspaper.

This summer, when Jeremy Blake walked into the Rockaway Beach surf, he left many with a lot of questions...and he left his life's work behind. His films, C-prints, drawings and paintings are now hanging in homage at his memorial exhibit at Kinz, Tillou, & Feigen. Opening last week and running through January 5th, the show will even include the incomplete piece he was still working on at the time of his death:His sixth solo exhibition...

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a child was found at 115th St. and Nicholas Ave. in Manhattan, an unusual incident at Columbus Circle in Manhattan with a man atop the globe in front of the Trump International, and a double shooting on Hegeman Ave. in Brooklyn.
• A worker fired from her job at the substance-abuse outreach organization Odyssey House said that her former supervisor would talk of his sexual exploits constantly. One of the weirder boasts: he would have sex in front of his cats, which would really turn the pets on.
• The New York Post looks at the most international pick-up spot in town: the Delegates Lounge at the U.N. The view is great, the drinks are strong, and many are looking to practice their international language skills.
• The second thresher shark in a week washed up on Rockaway Beach yesterday. A park manager and police gently pushed the three- to six-foot shark back into the water and it swam away.
• Alain Mariduena, or the graffiti artist known as Ket, pleaded guilty last Monday to painting a subway train in Brooklyn. He received probation, but his deal stipulated that he owes the city one mural to be commissioned by the DA's office, as long as it does not "condemn graffiti as an art form."
• The Gowanus Lounge helpfully points out why it's never a good idea to loan your shoes to the random guy who's already had his shoes, phone, and watch stolen, or let him crash on your couch because he has no idea where he lives. You probably won't get your shoes back.
• World leaders will be descending on midtown Manhattan this week as the 62nd U.N. General Assembly begins Tuesday, and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be a featured speaker. Prepare for heightened security measures and nightmarish traffic situations.
• 21-year-old New Yorker and Mets fan Matt Murphy auctioned off the record-setting 756th home run ball, hit by Barry Bonds and that Murphy caught, for more than $750,000.

Cue up John Williams famous two-note motif! Following Saturday's shark sighting in Rockaway, another shark reached the shores of New York in Coney Island. The summer went out with a bite, not a bang, as city lifeguard Marius Mironescu rescued a 2-foot sand shark from frenzied beach-goers yesterday. And as he swam the shark out to safety...the little guy gave him a bite.

"They were holding on to it and some people were actually hitting him, smacking his face. Well, I wasn't going to let them hurt the poor thing," he said.

Continue reading "New York's Shark Week"

What a wild weekend for area beaches! On Saturday, a shark washed up at Rockaway Beach. Yesterday, a bunch of medical waste and trash was swept in onto the Jersey shore, causing beach closures.

WCBS reports that, according to an Animal Department Supervisor at the New York Aquarium, the shark was a thresher shark, not known for attacking humans. Its attempts to swim onto shore are considered abnormal so the shark could have been sick. In fact, a 10-year-old witness said, "It was like freaking out. Its tail was flopping everywhere...Maybe it got separated from its family. It looked sick."

Late last month, after the death of his girlfriend Theresa Duncan, witnesses saw Jeremy Blake walk in to the water around Beach 102nd Street. The 35-year old East Village artist left a suicide note (along with clothes and a wallet) under the boardwalk at Rockaway Beach. His body was found on July 22nd off of Sea Girt, NJ, five days after he was last seen. Yesterday the body was identified as Blake's.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water rescue at 23rd St. and the East River off Manhattan, a stabbing at 23rd St. and 4th Ave. in Brooklyn, and a shooting on Springfield Blvd. in Queens.
• The drunk off-duty cop, who plowed into an aspiring photographer taking pictures in a closed lane of the 59th St. Bridge, was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
• Authorities believe they may have found the body of artist Jeremy Blake, who was witnessed walking into the ocean off Rockaway Beach following the suicide of his girlfriend.
• Developer Bruce Ratner is closer to getting his tax-break subsidies, after negotiating with Mayor Bloomberg and the state legislature.
• Now that the "Mad Hatter" bank robber has been apprehended, NJ law enforcement can concentrate on capturing a new pair of bank robbers who fondle female tellers while in the course of their robberies.
• The cop who killed himself after murdering his 19-year-old girlfriend is being eyed in the murder of a man who was dating one of the cop's prior girlfriends.
• While undergoing an overhaul in Staten Island, the aircraft carrier Intrepid is being outfitted as a backup emergency command center in the event of another terrorist attack.
• Is it wrong to dress your cats as Hello Kitty? Gizmodo thinks so!

It's the longest day of the year, so you should be able to fit Shepard Fairey's exhibit and at least one of the following events in.

THEATER: Gertrude Stein is regarded as an avant-garde intellectual whose adventurous prose has long overshadowed her plays – despite her Broadway hit Four Saints in Three Acts. (Who could forget?) A crack team of downtown experimental theater types are now hoisting six of Stein’s one-acts out of obscurity with a production in the East Village. The evening, irresistibly dubbed Steinese Takeout, boldly embraces Stein’s radicalism and runs with it. How radical are these plays? “How about no plot, no setting, and no pre-defined characters. Cryptic? Definitely. Absurd? Perhaps. Balderdash? Not at all.” – John Del Signore

THEATER: A revival of Patrick Hamilton’s thriller Gaslight has just begun at Irish Rep; some may remember the award-winning 1944 film version starring Ingrid Bergman and Angela Lansbury. The chilling study in domestic domination to the max concerns a diabolical husband who, not satisfied in exploiting his wife’s savings to buy their house, plots her murder. But while he’s out the police inspector comes in to warn the poor bride that her husband is suspected of another “black-hearted murder” committed fifteen years ago... in the very same house! - John Del Signore

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: falling debris this afternoon on West 46th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan, an unstable building on Troutman St. in Brooklyn, and a dead body in the water off Manhattan's Battery.
• Reasoning it's not far and not hard to reach by water, Mayor Bloomberg thinks commuters will be happy to hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach on a ferry service from downtown Manhattan.
• A report from the Times Square Alliance claims that the area around the "crossroads of the world" contributes $55 billion annually to the city's economy and points out that this is more than the entire national economies of Panama and Bolivia combined.
• Not to be outdone by bored kids stuck in the suburbs with nothing better to do, more and more overstimulated city kids are reporting that what they like to do on the weekend is get "very drunk."
• Streetsblog went on a bike tour of the proposed Brooklyn Greenway and there's a link to video footage of the ride.
• A coalition of parents, bat manufacturers, and national high school sports associations are filing a class action suit to prevent the City Council's metal bat ban from going into effect this September.
• Advice to aspiring tv reporters, or current ones for that matter: when Busta Rhymes is being ushered into a courthouse for a hearing, do not whack him in the face with your microphone (with video).
• The New Yorker talks to the graffiti artist known as Banksy, who reveals that it's difficult to remain anonymous when Brad Pitt name drops you to the press.

Dusk, by Paulo C.

A lot of yellow cabbies are driving around blind with rage. The stresses of driving in the city and dealing with New Yorkers are clearly too much to handle. Occasionally, I find myself slipping down into that vortex of sin and degradation. So I go to my happy place.

Well, Gateway National Recreation Area is right in our neck of the woods, extending in three New York City boroughs and into northern New Jersey. It is a good place to start your quest for the perfect patch of sand and cooling waters.

With all this global climate chaos, it almost seemed weird that summer arrived perfectly on schedule this year. The first truly hot, sticky, muggy days of the year came over Memorial Day weekend the way the lord intended when He created barbeques, day games, and ice cream trucks. And while summer means boiling apartments and gushing fire hydrants in the more densely populated parts of New York, it means sun tan lotion, body surfing, and the 101 Deli in the best corner of Queens.

New York City as Ohio? The NY Times says it's so, as film productions take advantage of the city's new tax breaks to encourage production money come to the Big Apple. Freelance location scout Mark Bodnar ran down how the city can be transformed into almost anywhere:

For the rural South? "I'd head to Rockaway Beach and all those great abandoned Army barracks there."

Continue reading "NYC As Everywhere"

Check out Gothamist Food in beta. Plus the week in full.

">city on the Rockaways and more Rockaway news from Rockawave. And of course, lyrics to the Ramones song, Rockaway Beach.