‘Rising’ report goes to the top

Post-Sandy proposal for Bay Park, East Rockaway ready for HUD approval

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Protecting the coastline, storm water management, the ability to respond quickly and efficiently in an emergency, stimulating the local economy and preserving quality of life are some of the issues that are addressed in the final version of the local New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program proposal that will soon be submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for approval.

The proposal was presented to the public when NY Rising held its fourth and final public meeting with residents of East Rockaway and Bay Park on April 30 at the Hewlett Point meeting room on the beach in Bay Park. These are just two of the 31 communities in Nassau County that are participating in the program.

“The two communities chose to work together with the money allocated,” said Laura Munafo, the Nassau County lead for the state’s storm recovery program. “Since they share so many services and facilities, it just made sense. There were two separate allocations, [but] the committee thought it would be better working as one rather than separately.”

The Village of East Rockaway and Bay Park were awarded a combined total of $6.6 million by HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program. Bay Park was awarded $3.65 million, and East Rockaway, $3 million.

The NY Rising Community Reconstruction Program was announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in April 2013, and was created to assist communities severely damaged by Tropical Storms Irene and Lee and Hurricane Sandy. The East Rockaway and Bay Park planning committee is chaired by Ed Zangrillo and includes Gary Aue, Steve Fried, Genevieve Keddy, Kristen Ochtera, Brendon W. Perini, Anthony Proto, Antonia Rosello and Rachael Sumerson. The municipal liaisons are Ken Arnold and Sean Sallie, of the Nassau County Department of Public Works, and Kevin Conklin and Tom Smith, of the Village of East Rockaway.

“We need the proposal to go to HUD,” said Zangrillo, “and once that happens, we will try to implement two main projects that we’ve discussed.” He thanked the engineering company Perkins Eastman for doing what he described as a “marvelous job” of gathering information and formatting it.

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