December 2012 - Parks & Recreation - 13

This boat was stranded aground over
100 yards inland from the water in the
marsh at Delaware Seashore State Park.

assessment has found at least 30 park
properties in need of serious tree debris removal work.
Tree crews had worked for several days prior to the storm's scheduled
arrival in Boston on Monday, October
29. Precarious-looking trees and limbs
were cut to prevent them from falling
onto utility wires, streets, or homes.
During the course of the severe
weather, the mayor's 24-hour hotline
received approximately 800 calls from
citizens regarding tree emergencies.
The Boston Parks and Recreation Department's senior managers manned
the emergency operations center and
stayed in constant contact with officials
from utility companies and with managers of other departments in order to
coordinate the response to reports of
fallen trees on live electrical wires and
onto streets.
The Boston Parks Department has
received praise for its handling of the
storm. One citizen in an email wrote,
" I've never seen government more efficient as the speed with which they are
clearing huge downed trees in Boston. "
-Jacquelyn Goddard,
Communications Director,
Boston Parks

PATRICK J. COOPER

Morris County, New Jersey
Much of our area is still without power, and gas (where you can ﬁnd it) is a
long wait. Our ice arena facility is a Red
Cross shelter. At the moment, we have
about 60 guests. Since we have three

ice surfaces, we are also still open for
business on two surfaces for those who
want to get out of the house. Our parks
are a mess, but we are offering some locations as staging areas for the power
company. We are certainly not as devastated as the Jersey shore and we offer
our prayers to our friends there.
-Denise Lanza, Morris County
Park Commission, New Jersey

Old Greenwich was severely damaged
with the walls of the structure blown
out by Sandy's unrelenting surf.
" I drove into the park and I saw a
stove...then I saw the ice machine in
the parking lot. I was thinking, what
happened? " Siciliano says.
Crews at Byram Park have cleaned up
most of the ﬂotsam that blew into the
park, including a boathouse that formerly stood at the end of a jetty across
the inlet from the park. However, major sections of the seawall were broken
and the cinderblock walls of the bathhouse were destroyed.
Siciliano says it is too early to calculate a cost estimate to the damage.
However, he hopes that the repair costs
will be covered by insurance or reimbursed through the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA).

Greenwich, Connecticut
For Greenwich, Connecticut, Parks
and Recreation Director Joseph Siciliano, it will be months before some
of the town's recreational facilities will
be up and running. The dock at Island
Beach was destroyed by the tidal surges and 80-mile-per-hour winds that
pummeled the coastline on October
29 and 30.
" The dock is gone. It's just the pilings
looking like a bunch of sticks, " Siciliano says. A sun shelter on the threeacre park off Greenwich's coast was
also lost. The town's other island, Great
Captain's Island, suffered land erosion
and some damage to the metal landing at the dock, Siciliano says. The Island Beach dock was replaced in 1992
after it was destroyed by a nor'easter.
The town's other two beaches-Greenwich Point and Byram Park-were extensively damaged by Sandy.
Greenwich Point will remain closed
to the public indeﬁnitely, Siciliano says.
The north concession stand with the
lifeguard station in the 147-acre park in

Waterford, Connecticut
Hurricane Sandy continues to impact
our area. We've been without power
going on day four, and extensive damage to our natural resources and infrastructure are still being evaluated and
dealt with, but on a positive note, our
community has pulled together with
the help of many assets, including recreation and park services. During our
daily statewide conference call this afternoon, President Obama pledged assistance and offered encouragement
and a promise to " cut through the red
tape. " In summary, I ﬁrmly believe I can
establish a convincing story of how our
profession once again is in the forefront
of an essential service.
Sandy's massive storm surge
breached the sand dunes at Waterford
Beach in three separate areas, sending
sand all the way to Alewife Cove and
destroying the dunes in those areas.
What could it mean? The worst-case
scenario would be a breach so large it
would create another outlet for Alewife

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December 2012 - Parks & Recreation

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