22 THE QUEENS COURIER • MAY 28, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
editorial
Learning the lessons of Jones Beach
It won’t be enough to restore what the economy
THE QUEENS
PUBLISHER & EDITOR
CO-PUBLISHER
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ART DIRECTOR
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
STAFF REPORTERS
CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS
PRODUCTION MANAGER
INSIDE SALES MANAGER
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
PRESIDENT & CEO
VICE PRESIDENT
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
BOB BRENNAN
ZACHARY GEWELB
NIRMAL SINGH
JACOB KAYE
ANGELICA ACEVEDO, JENNA BAGCAL, KATRINA MEDOFF,
CARLOTTA MOHAMED, MAX PARROTT, BILL PARRY
CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI
DEBORAH CUSICK
CELESTE ALAMIN
MARIA VALENCIA
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
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Photo via Getty Images
Story: Your LIC stakeholders look to develop up
to 15 buildings in Anable Basin
Summary: A team of developers revealed their
plans to develop 10 to 12 million square feet of
the 28-acre land around Anable Basin, with up
to 15 buildings that range from 400 to 700 feet
in height, or 37 to 64 stories.
Reach: 5,367 (as of 5/26/20)
lost during the coronavirus pandemic,
Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday.
New York’s post-pandemic economy must be
stronger and more equitable for the people.
Part of creating that scenario, Cuomo
noted, would be large-scale public works
projects — which the state and country
have conducted during previous economic
crises to help get people back to work.
Cuomo made his remarks at Long
Island’s Jones Beach, one of the fi nest public
works ever built by New York state. He
pointed to Jones Beach as a sterling example
of the great feats New Yorkers could
accomplish if they put their confi dence in
government and supported public works.
What was left out, however, was the
original sin of Jones Beach: It wasn’t built
with every New Yorker in mind.
Master builder Robert Moses led the
creation of Jones Beach out of seven miles
of marshland on a barrier island. To get
visitors there, he helped design and build
a system of parkways connecting the
beach with New York City — a massive
undertaking unto itself.
The parkways were lined with
stone-covered overpasses that were perfectly
fi ne for single-family cars — but
not tall enough to allow a city bus to pass
under. Th is was not a design fl aw.
As noted in Robert A. Caro’s renowned
biography of Moses, “Th e Power Broker,”
the master builder instructed that the
bridges be made too low for buses to pass.
People of color who wanted to charter
buses to Jones Beach had diffi culty securing
them, at Moses’ order.
Jones Beach itself was segregated in an
underhanded way. Caro wrote that people
of color “were discouraged from using
‘white’ beach areas” through an employee
“fl agging” system. Only a handful of nonwhite
lifeguards were employed.
Th ankfully, Moses’ discriminatory policies
at Jones Beach are gone. Yet there’s a lesson to
be learned from the experience as we move
forward with rebuilding New York state.
New public works must prioritize the
elimination of institutionalized discrimination
in New York. Th at means ending
transportation deserts, building new
hospitals in low-income communities,
expanding and modernizing schools,
opening up new parkland and creating
more aff ordable housing.
Our lawmakers have talked of this in
recent years, and have accomplished little.
Th e rubber must meet the road now as we
strive for a stronger New York, with greater
justice and opportunity for all.
The boardwalk at Jones Beach
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