Rockaway Beach, Now in Brooklyn
My father always thought that Riis Park on the Rockaway peninsula should be a part of Brooklyn: I mean, it’s right there at the end of Flatbush Avenue, and, heck, geologically speaking, it looks like it once was part of Brooklyn, at least back in Pangea times. Even writers at this magazine have had to be reminded during the summer Rockaway news-crush that the beach-riddled landmass is not technically a part of Kings County. I say technically: we may let Queens claim it, collect its taxes, but we all know in our Brooklyn hearts that it belongs to us, that Rockaway is Brooklyn.
So imagine how it felt to wake up this morning and discover that Queens had moved into Brooklyn and annexed one of our beaches—that Brooklyn had become Rockaway and not vice versa. Plumb Beach, the easternmost part of Sheepshead Bay, known for dumping and cruising—and technically closed as long as the government is shut down, as it’s federally operated—recently got a new sign, one that in addition to identifying the beach as Plumb Beach also identifies it as Rockaway Beach, DNAinfo reports. “Plumb Beach is part of the new Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy… The signage, which was put in place after Hurricane Sandy, is part of a consistent layout, and ‘Rockaway Beach’ reflects the partnership.”
But Brooklynites, don’t be fooled! This is a blatant act of aggression! Let it stand and next thing you know Manhattan Beach is part of Rockaway, too, and within a few years Coney Island is Queens’ hottest attraction. We should respond immediately and forcefully, capturing everything from Riis Park to Breezy Point and declaring it part of Brooklyn, as it rightfully and spiritually always was. Marty Markowitz, do not go down in history like Neville Chamberlain—don’t let the Plumb Beach Seizure be your Munich!
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