"Its like a bad dream that I can't wake up from."

"Where the beach ends and city begins is no longer clear. The boardwalk, which runs nearly the entire length of the nation’s largest urban beach is gone — the concrete pillars that held up the wood structure are all that’s left of the icon of the Rockaways. Sections of the boardwalk, with lampposts and benches still attached, now sit along sand-covered Shore Front Parkway and lodged on side streets, as far as Rockaway Beach Boulevard in some places." (x)

"t’s hard to overstate the contrast between the destruction in Rockaway and the post-storm scene in other parts of the city. While just a few miles inland, stores were open and bustling, and people were going about their business as though nothing had happened, residents of Rockaway were gathering on the beach, where waves had ripped the boardwalk from its concrete mooring and smashed it into the beachfront homes. " (x)

"After Sandy, relief funds served the more affluent sections of the peninsula, leaving many poor residents unable to rebuild or remain. A study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice comparing Rockaway’s post-storm recovery to that of low-income communities in Manhattan’s Lower East Side found that the latter neighborhood was better able to advocate for funds, thanks to established network of anti-gentrification activism. Isolated and segregated, the Rockaways experienced more of a shock.
Today, the most rapidly changing section—the blocks with the board shops, wine bars, and $120 hand-stitched swimsuits—is smack in the middle of the peninsula. In spite of the persistent hurricane threat, home prices have gone up and up since Sandy. While plenty of year-rounders welcome the amenities and economic boost, it’s an uneasy balance for others. In 2014, a young rapper named Sean Blaise released a music video lambasting the 'Nazi pizzerias' and 'white bro' taco stands that were supplanting the businesses he knew from his youth. 'It all centers around this idealized vision of a beach community. They turned it into some behemoth fake paradise of surf culture and fish tacos,' he told Gothamist at the time." (x)