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My experience with Breezy Point is as follows:
About 20 years ago we spent the afternoon at Riis Park and decided to drive a rather newish Chevvy the length of the Island to check out the scenery.
We are both lily white except for nice beach tans. One of us was Jewish.
We were stopped at a gatehouse with one of those up and down crossing gates you see at border checkpoints. We were told unless we could show ID cards identifying us as residents we could not enter Breezy Point. Up until that point I did not think that kind of exclusion was legal in New York...I still don't.
I was furious and as I turned around and drove away I cursed the whole community under my breath. In all the time since, every time I heard any mention of Breezy Point, the fury returned.
Since they guard their privacy to such an extent I DO hope they are privately taking care of all their expenses because I certainly do not want a single penny of my tax money spent on them. They declare themselves separate from NYC, so NYC should respond in kind.
I agree with you 100%.
I could care less how many homes got destroyed over there, I'm not donating or assisting any of them in anyway. I would help out any area in Rockaway except Breezy Point.
I'm as white as you can get Irish, Scottish & Welsh. I got stopped at the checkpoint visiting relatives there, both as a kid and as an adult driving. It's a co-op, which is sort of like a condo, except you own shares and lease the property vs. owning the property outright. It's basically like visiting a gated community/condo The relatives would have to mail us parking passes, we would have to give them our car license plate/make/model and state who we were visiting/give a phone number for the person.
I think it's probably best not to build there or to at least make sure things are up to modern codes. For those who aren't familiar, it's a bunch of narrow lanes you can't drive down (you park in a parking lot and cart your stuff to the homes).
I don't think anyone started a fire there deliberately or traveled there to do so. As Seventh Floor has mentioned, it's rather inconvenient to get to. From what I heard, just from the flooding, refrigerators were being tossed around and probably stove ranges and dryers too. My guess is that's what happened, a gas line ruptured and the fire resulted. The houses are within feet of each other and the fire probably spread easily. There are also lots of wooden decks in the front/back of homes. Which probably helped spread the flames.
From what I understand from friends/family in Florida, gas ranges/dryers are discouraged because of that specific danger (gas lines being ruptured from flooding as gas fueled appliances are tossed around). I really think that's what happened.
I'll miss it though, one of my favorite Christmases was spent there. When I was a kid, got the doll Mimi with a purple beret who sang songs in different languages and brought her over there to visit a relative's aunt. Here's the doll:
My relative's aunt gave us chocolate Santas. My relative's aunt told us Santa had left them for us himself and it was getting to the last few years where I still believed. My dad took the family on the beach for a walk. It was so beautiful in winter time and we had it just to ourselves.
Spent a lot of summer days there. You could leave your door unlocked and walk around, people would greet each other even if they didn't know each other. And the Sugar Bowl
As bad as it was, I'm just thankful it didn't happen in the summer, when the population is much higher and the likelihood of someone getting hurt or killed would have been greater. And i do feel badly for people in the Rockaways too. Saw the news tonight. Heartbreaking how some are staying and have no heat, power, etc. Wish i was closer so I could help get people places. The shelters are far away from where people live.
Last edited by exscapegoat; 11-07-2012 at 10:40 PM..
Somebody was using a kerosene lamp and the fierce wind probably blew out a window or a roof and knocked it over spreading the burning fuel.
It's an Occam's Razor type reasoning.
Somebody was using a kerosene lamp and the fierce wind probably blew out a window or a roof and knocked it over spreading the burning fuel.
It's an Occam's Razor type reasoning.
Mrs. O'Leary's cow is off the hook for this one then
Somebody was using a kerosene lamp and the fierce wind probably blew out a window or a roof and knocked it over spreading the burning fuel.
It's an Occam's Razor type reasoning.
What happened in Breezy Point is sad, and is even sadder if it was purposeful. That being said, I would never lift a finger to help the residents there, nor should any self-respecting human being. That community has worked very hard at excluding a certain segment of the population (guess who!), and made no illusions of it either. Now that they require help however, they welcome everyone equally..funny how that works huh? I could never buy in such a community because I would never be allowed in, regardless of the vast amount of wealth I had (hypothetically) because I am the "wrong" color/ethnicity.
So while it is sad that this occured in that community, I would not lift a finger to help. I could spend 3 years assisting the community rebuild, and would be denied the ability to buy in it. Think about that. Same applies to the communities in the Bronx called Silver Beach and Edgewater Park...they make no illusion of who cannot purchase in the community and work hard to keep them out.
The destruction of Breezy Point, IMO, is no loss for NYC, although it is a loss for the small minded 1950s era Archie Bunkers who live there. Good riddance.
That community has worked very hard at excluding a certain segment of the population (guess who!), and made no illusions of it either. Now that they require help however, they welcome everyone equally..funny how that works huh? I could never buy in such a community because I would never be allowed in, regardless of the vast amount of wealth I had (hypothetically) because I am the "wrong" color/ethnicity.
/thread
__________________
"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
Breezy Point and Roxbury (which no one mentions) are a private co-op. Years ago, they had guarded gates and only allowed residents in. Visitors of residents were allowed past the gates as long as the resident gave nofication of the guest's arrival. There is also a beach club which allows membership to people who do not live in Breezy and of course, members with ID are permitted within the co-op, as well. I think Sea Gate in Brooklyn is similar. Breezy no longer has the gates or requires ID for admittance. When they did have the gates, I was in Breezy Point exactly one time, only because a little boy mistakenly got on my school bus and the bus driver drove him home to BP. Since the inception of the co-op, there has been an unspoken rule that no Blacks or Jews can buy in. This has slipped slightly, and I mean very slightly, where some have gotten inside because the private Breezy Point Surf Club is open to non-residents and cannot discriminate in membership selection. While Broad Channel is not a co-op, basically, the same rules, apply - no Blacks or Jews.
As for the flooding. there have always been pockets along the peninsula, where the streets and basements would flood after a heavy rain. There's a bad one in the vicinity near where Seventh Floor lives, another on Seguirt and a few others. Lots of places, everywhere, have these types of pockets. But it is extremely rare, even during hurricane conditions like Hurricane Gloria and a bunch of others that I lved through, to have such extensive flooding throughout the entire peninsula. The last time would be in 1960 when Hurricane Donna hit the area. I remember my aunt and many neighbors talking about when the "bay met the ocean." My aunt and other family members also talked about the previous time when "the bay met the ocean" during the hurricane of 1938. During my lifetime, until Irene, there was never a mandatory evacuation order, even during Hurricane Gloria.
With the exception of the people and the cars, the buildings in this footage of 116th Street in 1960 are basically the same today.
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Irish, Scottish & Welsh. I got stopped at the checkpoint visiting relatives there, both as a kid and as an adult driving. It's a co-op, which is sort of like a condo, except you own shares and lease the property vs. owning the property outright. It's basically like visiting a gated community/condo The relatives would have to mail us parking passes, we would have to give them our car license plate/make/model and state who we were visiting/give a phone number for the person.
