Public Employee Press

Work’s a beach

DC 37 members in seven locals keep city beaches clean and safe for New Yorkers

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

Surf’s up at Rockaway Beach as DC 37 members from Architects to Seasonal Aides prep the seven-mile long oceanfront park for summer fun.

The city has 14 miles of public beaches, and Rockaway, with its five-and-a-half mile boardwalk, is the largest. It boasts the city’s first public skateboard park — designed by a Landscape Architect in Civil Technical Guild Local 375 — and because it sits directly on the Atlantic Ocean, the three-block stretch from Beach 88th to Beach 91st Streets is devoted exclusively to surfing.

In the early dawn, hours before the beach-blanket crowds arrive to escape the city’s sweltering summer heat, DC 37 members in Locals 375 461, 508, 983, 1505, 1507 and 1508 are hard at work getting the coastline in shape. Maintenance crews grade the beach torepair winter erosion, paint benches and lifeguard chairs, and sweep sand from the boardwalk.

They distribute lifesaving equipment used by Lifeguards and their Supervisors. Watchful Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP) Officers ticket swimmers who stray into the rough area zoned for surfers only.

With a Parks Dept. staff that includes 37 civil servants, seasonal employees and a corps of Job Training Participants — almost twice the number of permanent employees — theseDC 37 members take pride in their work.

Parks Supervisor Kenny Clark and Principal Parks Supervisor Tony Licata, of Local 1508, dispatch crews on foot and in trucks to clean the beach and boardwalk. They hook trash cans and plough through the sand with raking machines that sift out the bottles, shells and debris the sand swallowed the previous day. Each week between late May and Labor Day, the crew collects an average of three huge containers of debris left by beachgoers or washed ashore. Licata said, “It’s a laborious job, but we work hard to keep the beach in top condition.”

Gardeners Louanne Gallagher and Lou Cappella of Local 1507 clean and beautify area tennis courts and Greenstreet gardens. “I feel like the head Gardener of the Rockaways,” joked Cappella, who hopes the juniper, yucca, beach plum rosebushes and pine trees planted to create colorful landscapes among the sand dunes will survive the harsh ocean winds.

Under the boardwalk
The elevated A train thunders overhead, shuttling straphangers surfside along the flat and narrow Rockaway peninsula. The once desolate neighborhood is seeing a slow gentrification as developers transform parched lots into oceanfront townhouse communities reminiscent of California’s Venice Beach.

“West Coast surfing culture migrated east and is gaining momentum,” said city Landscape Architect Jon Jadrosich, who designed the skateboard arena nestled next to the boardwalk. “Two years ago we were ahead of the curve when we built this modular skate park with pipes, wedges and grind bars that range in difficulty from beginners to advanced levels. The real challenge was to provide diversity and safety.” Today skateboarders and bikers take turns practicing gravity-defying tricks. By designing with modular units, Jadrosich minimized construction costs and by contracting in, the city saved about $400,000.

As the Atlantic crests over jetties, DC 37 members at Rockaway prepare for crowds as large as 100,000 people on any summer weekend. Council Rep Bob Gervasi said, “At the end of the day, this job still comes down to muscle and skill to do it right.”