Beachcomber (The WAVE)

Far Rockaway is having its own business boom. Check out Miriam Rosenberg’s Wave feature “They’re Open!”

Duane Reade on Beach 116th Street very recently became a Walgreen’s. One man asked if the change had occurred while he was in the store.

The Gulf gas station on Beach Channel Drive is closed. But the repair shop is still open. Support local businesses. It’s good for our economy.Tides were so high in Broad Channel this week and early morning/late night street flooding so prominent, that half the town appeared to be parked along the high ground on the Cross Bay Boulevard median strip.

The Rockaway Point Volunteer Fire Department is celebrating its 100th anniversary, a century of dedicated men and women serving the community they love.

Fun Fact: 54 percent of America’s wealth is now held by 3 percent of the population.

A portion of Beach 221st Street along Rockaway Point Boulevard in Breezy Point has been co-named for U.S.Army Sergeant Gerard J. Dunne. Dunne, who was from Breezy, was killed in action in Vietnam in 1968. Found in Rockaway, the world’s most self evident graffiti “I was here.”

Police officer and Point Breeze volunteer firefighter Sebastian Danese has just publishedThe Battle For Breezy, a “non-fiction account of the night Hurricane Sandy ravaged (this)…seaside community and the incredible recovery which followed.”www.battleforbreezypoint.com

Miss direction? Woman on Beach 85th Street on Friday night: “I love being in Broad Channel.”

Busy weekend: The Rockaway Theatre Company opens Godspell on Friday night, September 12. The NYC Honeyfest will be on the boardwalk at Beach 97th Street, the Rockaway Bike Parade will run from Beach 59th Street to Beach 17th, and the Whether Again gallery is opening a new exhibition - all on Saturday.Also, the Indian Summer Food & Drink Festival Rockaway Beach, NYC is on its second weekend. St. John’s Episcopal Hospital is having a Back-to- School Community Health Fair and the Rockaway Artists Alliance is hosting the opening reception for their newest exhibition, ARTSplash, both on Sunday. And that’s just a sampler of September in Rockaway!

The road to Hell…is paved, just like every other street in Rockaway.

According to the Daily News: “New Yorkers who dial 311 to complain about quality-of-life violations can expect a call back (a follow up call) from police asking if they’re satisfied with how the problem was handled.” For people who complain that nobody listens, here are some pointers. If you get that call, be concise, be matter of fact, don’t yell and always be polite.

Know someone who enjoyed Rockaway this summer? Tell them to come back and see us now. It’s just as much fun, and a lot less crowded.

The Manhattan Connection: In a letter to lower NYC’s Downtown Express, ferry advocate Paul Deckelman turns the boat around and points out what the loss of the Rockaway route will mean to Manhattan and Brooklyn residents.

It’s a little early for the colors of fall. But Fort Tilden was awash this past weekend with dozens of different colorful jerseys as hundreds of young soccer players took to the fields. Goal!

Look for two major street festivals in October from the Rockaway Beach Merchants Association and the Beach 116th Street Partnership.

“Were you at the party in Rockaway on Friday?” “Which one?”

Rockaway’s S. Bernstein, no fan of the city making bigger money off speeding and parking tickets, commented on the obvious conflict of interest by borrowing a popular commercial catchphrase. “Whose hands in Your wallet?”

“My cousin came down to an event in Rockaway. There was music, people dancing and having a ball together. She said, ‘It’s a different way of life here, like a different world!’ She’s from out of town…Ozone Park.”

A sign left over from a certain recent large scale art exhibition stands on the road median near Fort Tilden. “Rockaway!” it exclaims and points eastward, inviting the viewers to explore and enjoy the rest of the peninsula. Adventure is out there!

Kosher Dill, perhaps? Last week’s Wave photo of a whale breaking the waves, prompted some to note it looked much like a giant pickle emerging off the Rockaway coast. Quipped Wave artist Mark Hogan, “It might be the Great North Atlantic Gherkin.”

Beautify Rockaway, the non-profit project responsible for quite a few wall sized paintings in Rockaway Beach, say they will be “painting two new murals along Rockaway Beach Boulevard at the 99 cent store on Beach 91st and RBB and the corner deli at Beach 86th and RBB later this September.”

Rockaway Wildfire hosted a great end of season party on the boardwalk last week Friday. Guests included the Poets of Peace and local rap artists.

Camp Rockaway, the proposed venture to set up a complete rental camp site, held an open tent afternoon on Saturday, September 6, against the backdrop of the community garden at Beach 91st Street and Holland Avenue.

New gas meters have gone in on the beach block at Beach 109th Street. The concern for residents is that they have been installed right in front of the house, right off the sidewalk. Whether they’re eyesores or safety is the issue, it’s a problem.

NYC Parks reports that more than 18 million visited city beaches this year. 4,166,455 people visited Rockaway, an increase of 25 percent over last year, despite an unusually cool summer.We’re not sure if this visitor count includes Riis Park and FortTilden, which is part of the federal park system.

If New York is a world-class city, ‘capital of the world’ as some have said, why do we have two of the dumbest daily newspapers on Earth?

This just in: no new Rockaway newspapers have emerged this week. So far
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