By Michael V. Cusenza
As part of his “Borough Hall on Your Block: Rockaway Peninsula” initiative, Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. last week leisurely strolled the unique nooks and crannies of Broad Channel—the interminably flooded, resilient, tight-knit South Queens enclave that has endured more than its fair share of biblical catastrophes going back generations.
Richards was joined by City officials and community leaders on a walkthrough examining a $56 million infrastructure improvement project. Spearheaded by the City Department of Design and Construction, the initiative will help alleviate chronic flooding issues in that community upon completion in the next few months.
“It might be called Borough Hall on Your Block: Rockaway, but we aren’t leaving Broad Channel behind. $56 million in infrastructure improvements are being made here to reduce flooding in this storm-prone community. Good to see we’re on track to finish up in the next few months,” Richards posted to Twitter last Wednesday.
Back in March, Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Howard Beach) noted that she hosts monthly meetings with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Broad Channel Civic to discuss street-raising projects, which, at the time included West 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th roads, alleviating most of the flooding for residents of those neighborhoods.
Last Tuesday, Richards began his day at the Beach Channel Educational Campus in Rockaway Park for a tour of the facility, as well as a ceremony celebrating approximately $3 million in funding he allocated during his tenure in the City Council toward the four schools that share the campus. At the ceremony, the Borough President and the School Construction Authority also unveiled a rendering of the campus’ new, state-of-the-art weight room facility, which will be reconstructed through a $500,000 allocation by then-Councilman Richards.
“Amazing things are happening at Beach Channel Educational Campus, despite decades of disinvestment,” Richards said. “The brilliant students, teachers and staff at the schools that make up this campus deserve nothing but the best education and best school experience possible. That’s what I’m determined to help provide for them, because well-equipped schools enable limitless futures.”
Later that morning, the Borough President made his way to Beach 116th Street in Rockaway Park to meet with small business owners along the corridor and hear directly from them about what tools they need to succeed.
Richards first announced the Borough Hall on Your Block initiative during his June 2022 State of the Borough address. Since then, he has brought the series to Southeast Queens in August 2022, Western Queens in February 2023, Northwest Queens in August 2023, Central Queens in February-March 2024 and now the Rockaway Peninsula in September 2024.
Richards characterized the Peninsula week as “fruitful.”
“As Queens Borough President and as a former Rockaway resident who deeply loves this community, I couldn’t be prouder of this Borough Hall on Your Block initiative and the relationships my office formed and bolstered through it,” Richards said. “To everyone who came to one or our events and to all who made their voices heard over the last week, thank you for being a part of the peninsula’s renaissance. I look forward to taking Borough Hall back on the road in the near future.”
