Stone Harbor Dedicates 95th Street Deck Crossover, Pergola

STONE HARBOR – With gentle surf lapping at restored beaches in the background, Mayor Suzanne Walters, and Public Works Committee Chair Joan Kramar spoke at the dedication of the new 95th Street Deck Crossover and Pergola May 25.
Replacing an old structure that had been damaged by winter storms, the new deck was constructed by Stone Harbor’s own Public Works Department. The new pergola, fitted out with electricity unlike the old structure, is seen as a potential location for beachfront weddings, concerts and social gatherings. For neighbors who call that stretch of beach their own, it also offers a peaceful place to sit, perhaps read, and admire the ocean without going out onto the sand.
The dedication ceremony, just days before the official opening of the summer season, also provided the borough with an opportunity to showcase the restored beaches. Public Works personnel have labored long and hard to move as much sand as possible in order to restore some semblance of the beaches that had been washed away during a bad season for winter storms.
The borough is in line for a federal beach replenishment project beginning this fall, but efforts to move up the effort after the damage this winter failed. The borough was left to its own efforts to provide residents and visitors with beaches for the economically critical summer season. As in the neighboring borough of Avalon, the Public Works personnel rose to the challenge. The dedication took place against a backdrop of sand beaches, admittedly narrower than in the past, but equal to the task “of getting us through this summer,” said Walters.
The ceremony was also used to present proclamations of gratitude to two Public Works employees, John Gift and Ian McCarraher, both of whom were singled out for recognition by the Joint Insurance Fund Safety Committee “for efforts to promote employee safety and risk management” in the borough.
The dedication ceremony was followed by a lunch at the Public Works complex.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.