A report on city beaches released last week has gotten quite a bit of attention, but no one has really discussed Orchard Beach (no one talks about second place). But from where Orchard Beach's shoreline used to be, to where it is now (the best in the city), it just shows what the parks department can do when it really puts everything else on the back burner and focuses on something (yes, that was a very backhanded compliment. Just pick up the Riverdale Review to see the saga of Memorial Grove.)
Anyways, for your consideration, here is a story from this week's Bronx Press.
By Brendan McHugh
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| Orchard Beach during the July 4 celebration. |
The titanic improvements to Orchard Beach’s shoreline earlier this year vaulted the Bronx Riviera to the second best beach in the city, a new report claims.
A 27-page report, completed by the century-old organization New Yorkers for Parks (NY4P), shows sweeping improvements for all of the city’s municipal beaches. The report measured the quality of shoreline, drinking fountains, bathrooms and pathways.
“The news is overwhelmingly good,” the report said. “The city’s beaches have shown extraordinary progress since the first Report Card on Beaches in 2007.”
In 2007 and 2009, Orchard Beach received grades of “Challenged.” But in 2011, mainly due to vast improvements to the shoreline, received the second best grade overall, including a perfect 100/100 on the quality of the shoreline and a 98/100 on the pathways.
“While every feature showed improvement, shorelines improved most dramatically, rising from a grade of F in 2009 to a perfect score of 100 in 2011,” the report said.
Earlier this year, the Army Corps of Engineers and the city’s parks department put $13 million dollars into the beach, re-grading the land with 268,000 cubic yards of new white sand. As part of the Orchard Beach Shoreline Protection Project, the Bronx Riviera nearly doubled in size during the five-month project.
Prior to the reconstruction, the 1.1-mile-long shoreline was so bad that beachgoers had to take a literal step down to enter the water.
A 27-page report, completed by the century-old organization New Yorkers for Parks (NY4P), shows sweeping improvements for all of the city’s municipal beaches. The report measured the quality of shoreline, drinking fountains, bathrooms and pathways.
“The news is overwhelmingly good,” the report said. “The city’s beaches have shown extraordinary progress since the first Report Card on Beaches in 2007.”
In 2007 and 2009, Orchard Beach received grades of “Challenged.” But in 2011, mainly due to vast improvements to the shoreline, received the second best grade overall, including a perfect 100/100 on the quality of the shoreline and a 98/100 on the pathways.
“While every feature showed improvement, shorelines improved most dramatically, rising from a grade of F in 2009 to a perfect score of 100 in 2011,” the report said.
Earlier this year, the Army Corps of Engineers and the city’s parks department put $13 million dollars into the beach, re-grading the land with 268,000 cubic yards of new white sand. As part of the Orchard Beach Shoreline Protection Project, the Bronx Riviera nearly doubled in size during the five-month project.
Prior to the reconstruction, the 1.1-mile-long shoreline was so bad that beachgoers had to take a literal step down to enter the water.
Jump below for the rest of the story.
