‘Greatest view’ of Baldwin Harbor turned into the greatest nightmare

Somehow the blue stone became expensive, and the engineers of the project decided to cut the bulkhead in half.”

Bonnie Weinstein Baldwin Harbor resident

Peering out her window each day, Bonnie Weinstein says she has watched the “living shoreline” project slowly destroy the ecosystem at Baldwin Harbor.

The Baldwin Harbor Park Shoreline Stabilization Project is a $4 million effort funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered by the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery to protect the harbor against future storm surges.

Weinstein, a Baldwin Harbor resident for almost 50 years, and her neighbors said they expected to see blue stone cover the shore of the harbor, which would have helped decrease storm surge, but instead they see wheatgrass, trash and debris. Weinstein said she has seen very little progress with the project since she spoke against it at a Town of Hempstead meeting about a year ago.

“The pictures that the town sent us about how the project will look like with these blue stones would have looked gorgeous, and it would have held back all the dirt and sand,” Weinstein said. “But somehow the blue stone became expensive, and the engineers of the project decided to cut the bulkhead in half.”

Removing the bulkhead and creating a “living shoreline,” the New York State Department of Environmental Conservatio said, “will result in more wave attenuation and less energy traveling up the canal. Instead of bouncing off of the vertical bulkhead walls, storm waves will wash ashore into the living shoreline/park area where they will dissipate and lose energy before returning more slowly to the bay.” 

Now, months after the bulkhead was cut in half, Weinstein said she received a message from project engineer Brian Kuniz, who said he is waiting for the DEC to approve the permits to replace 800 feet of the bulkhead.

Kuniz told her that the stones would be too expensive so wheatgrass was planted to hold back all of the dirt and sand. However, Weinstein said she has gradually seen all of the wheatgrass get washed away.

“The long and short of it is every high tide, every flood tide it gets worse and worse,” Weinstein said.

She said that everyone used to tell her that she has the “greatest view” from her home, as the harbor used to be filled with nature and greenery. Now, she said, it’s a “garbage dump.”

She said that since the project began in 2020, the debris from the hundreds of trees that were cut down has not been cleaned up.

“We used to have a wildlife preserve,” Weinstein said. “It was magnificent. They tore down over a 100 trees to make this so called ‘kayak ramp,’” Weinstein said.

She called the kayak ramp a “sham” because the path to the ramp is a mile and a half away from the parking lot. She added that carrying a kayak that far is laborious and difficult. Also, the path, according to Weinstein, is covered with garbage that has accumulated over the years.

“We had a hawk and in the middle of this construction, they must have taken down the tree that it used to live in,” she said. “I have pictures of the hawk on top of the crane because it had nowhere to go.”

Last week, Weinstein saw firsthand how the wheatgrass isn’t a good enough conduit to lower the energy of storm surge in the harbor.

She added that a “flood tide” occurred because a full moon and high tide took place at the same time. Weinstein said she saw more sand and dirt fall back into the harbor.

“So eventually, if something isn’t done ASAP, it’s going to be a swamp canal,” she added.

Weinstein said that she has spoken to every agency that she can think of to help the situation at the harbor, but she hasn’t had any luck yet.

Every other day, she said, she is in contact with Kuniz, who said he understands the situation and will send specialists to measure the depth of the canal.