Schumer secures $730 million for Rockaways coastline
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to expedite coastal resilience projects in the Rockaways a year earlier than the initial 2020 timeline after U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) secured $730 million in federal funds with the help of Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The funds for the Sandy Supplemental Appropriation of 2013 will help to finish the long-delayed Rockaway Reformulation Study that dates back to 2003, which was research meant to come up with long-term erosion control ideas for the coastal protection projects along the Atlantic Shorefront consisting of the East Rockaway Inlet, the Rockaway Inlet and Jamaica Bay, according to Schumer’s office.
The funds will also be put towards securing the shorelines of Staten Island, Long Island and Southern Brooklyn.
“The residents of the Rockaways and Southern Brooklyn need better protections ASAP, and they are justifiably scared and tired of waiting,” said Schumer. “In addition to the hundreds of millions we secured by reprogramming hundreds of millions in vital construction funds for this project, this agreement will mean that we can greatly accelerate the actual building of vital protections like a sea wall on the bay side, jetties and groins and more to protect every resident of the Rockaways from future storms and flooding.”
Read more: https://www.timesledger.com/stories/2018/12/schumerrockaway_2018_03_23_q.html