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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. To finish up today, here's a question for the beginning of August, who should be able to access a public beach? In theory, everyone, of course. If a public beach is hard to get to, except for a select group of people who live nearby, then that public beach begins to seem a lot more like a private one. In that case, should everyone's taxpayer dollars go toward maintaining it? These are the sorts of questions at the heart of opposition toward a new federal resiliency project to extend the boardwalk at Rockaway Beach from where it ends now at 126th to 149th Street through the wealthier communities of Neponsit and Belle Harbor.

The city says the new project will protect the area from storm surges and make the beach more accessible to people using strollers or wheelchairs by adding ADA-approved ramps, but residents living in the affected neighborhoods are organizing to oppose the project, citing concerns about boardwalk culture and loss of privacy. They're threatening to sue to keep their portion of the Rockaways in effect private. With me now is Julianne Cuba, reporter for Streetsblog, her piece on this is called Residents of Rockaways Enclave Oppose Better Access To Their Semi-Private Public Beach. Julianne, welcome to WNYC.

Julianne Cuba: Hi, Brian, thanks for having me.

Brian Lehrer: Can you describe in a little more detail what the city and the Army Corps of Engineers plan to build and why now?

Julianne Cuba: Sure. It's a $250 million project to extend the boardwalk, as you said, from 126th to 149th. It actually wouldn't be the width of the current boardwalk that exists now, it would be 5 feet wide, which is what some residents are citing as their concerns. It would also include zigzagging ramps that would take beachgoers from the street down to the actual beach.

Brian Lehrer: Why does the boardwalk currently stop where it does if there's a public beach beyond it?

Julianne Cuba: That portion of the beach was actually privately owned, not part of the city jurisdiction up until the mid-1900s. It was acquired in parcels through early 1900s to the mid-1900s. According to an article dating back to that time, the residents did not want to pay for it. They allegedly wanted the boardwalk, but they didn't want to have to pay for it, they wanted the city to pay for it themselves. Then after Sandy, when it was acquired by the city, the Parks Department said that there was some local opposition to extend the boardwalk through 149th, then where Jacob Riis starts.

Brian Lehrer: We have time for a couple of phone calls. Anybody listening from Neponsit or Belle Harbor, what do you think about this proposed resiliency project? If you oppose the boardwalk extension through this section of the beach, why do you oppose it? Do you think it'll bring a rowdy culture? Do you think the project itself is flawed, that the construction is too narrow like some residents have complained, or, basically, how do you defend opposing a public boardwalk project through portions of a public beach? 646-435-7280, or anybody from the rest of the Rockaway. 646-435-7280, for Julianne Cuba from Streetsblog.

The neighborhoods of Belle Harbor and Neponsit have an average median household income, I see, of over $100,000, more than twice the rest of the communities that line the boardwalk. How much has the relative wealth played a role politically, their power, in keeping them from having a boardwalk up until now?

Julianne Cuba: What we see in the rest of the city, it's people who are showing up to community boards who have the ear of our elected officials and have the time to organize and oppose projects, whether that's hiring an attorney to suss out their options or just being able to oppose it and have the power of being able to stop a project.

Brian Lehrer: According to the Rockaway Wave, 84% of more than 1,000 Belle Harbor residents surveyed said they were completely opposed to the construction of the walkway. It sounds like fierce and widespread opposition there. Some of the residents you talked to who oppose the project say they didn't want the boardwalk because they didn't want "boardwalk culture" coming into their neighborhoods. Can you translate boardwalk culture? Are you taking that as a racial thing or just a rowdiness thing? How do you understand that?

Julianne Cuba: I think that's definitely a dog whistle for racial undertones. I think, as you said, the residents of those communities are wealthier, mostly white communities as compared to the rest of the boardwalk, which is more diverse. The rest of the boardwalk has music, people walking, eating. There's a lot of concessions dance. Whereas now in Belle Harbor, Neponsit, there is none of that. It's, in essence, private. I was out there last week and it's definitely quieter. I do think that it is a dog whistle more.

Brian Lehrer: Here's a caller who used to live in the Rockaways. Ron in Manhattan. Ron, you're on WNYC. Thank you for calling in.

Ron: Hi. I couldn't agree more with the whole dog-whistle racism thing. The other thing I think that should be pointed out is the snob parking regulations that say you cannot park on the streets in Belle Harbor and Neponsit from May until September, which clearly is, again, a way of keeping the riffraff out because we don't want to have brown people or other people on our beaches. It's just so obvious. That's one of the reasons I moved away.

Brian Lehrer: From May to September, it's alternate side of the street private beach parking. You write about the difficulty in getting to that part of the Rockaways public beach even if you have a car in your article, right, Julianne?

Julianne Cuba: Yes. There is bus accessibility and the ferry to take people there, but there is no street parking during summer of the weekends, which is I think something that dates back to the 1950s and the origins of which are not exactly clear.

Brian Lehrer: More on the parking policy I think from Adam in Brooklyn. You're on WNYC. Hi, Adam.

Adam: Hi. I think I wanted to make the same point that your last caller made. I was talking to your screener at the time, but it's about the parking policy, which seems to be ridiculous. Again, there is that no summer weekend parking, and also all the roads to the beach are technically fire-linked at all times. Again, I think that is a questionable public safety policy. It's more of, again, keeping certain people out. It's been that way as long as I can remember it. The boardwalk aside, there's other more obvious long-standing policies in the city that are in place there that do just this.

Brian Lehrer: Adam, thank you very much. Julianne, despite not being accessible to the rest of New York City, what does the city pay for in terms of maintaining this area of what is technically public beach?

Julianne Cuba: Once the walkway is constructed, the Parks Department will be in charge of providing maintenance to it. It does provide the lifeguards that are there now, and I think just general parks cleanup and the Mobi-Mats. The federal government will pay for the actual construction.

Brian Lehrer: In our last minute, what happens next? I see the Belle Harbor Homeowners Association along with other members of the community may sue to stop the project. Is that where the next round plays out, in court?

Julianne Cuba: I don't know if there is any precedent for a project such as this being stopped by a community. The former president that I spoke to did say that they were considering doing that. I guess we'll see.

Brian Lehrer: We will have to leave it there with Julianne Cuba, reporter for Streetsblog. Her piece on this is called Residents of Rockaways Enclave Oppose Better Access To Their Semi-Private Public Beach. Julianne, thanks so much for coming on.

Julianne Cuba: Thanks, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: The Brian Lehrer Show is produced by Lisa Allison, Mary Croke, Zoe Azulay, Amina Srna, and Carl Boisrond. Zach Gottehrer-Cohen works on our daily podcast. That was Milton Ruiz Morero -- no, Milton Morero Ruiz -- at the audio controls today. I'm Brian Lehrer.

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