Rockaway Waterfront Alliance (RWA) was founded in 2003 by a group of concerned local residents who came together to address the out of scale development that threatened the Rockaway waterfront community. In 2004, RWA presented the Queens Dept of City Planning with a proposal to protect the integrity and character of Rockaway neighborhoods. RWA partnered with other civic organizations to encourage the city to rezone 12 designated communities in the Rockaways. These efforts led to the rezoning of the entire Rockaway Peninsula by the NYC Dept of City Planning in 2008.
As the longest stretch of public waterfront in the State of New York, the Rockaway Peninsula has Jamaica Bay on one side and the Atlantic Ocean; making Rockaway one of the most valuable natural resources in the US. Yet Rockaway’s shoreline has been abandoned for decades and left as a wasteland of neglected open waterfront. As a result the Rockaways have environmental health and social justice issues that have left this community with some of the highest rates of childhood diabetes, asthma and obesity in the State of New York.
Rockaway Waterfront Alliance has worked to raise appreciation of these natural resources through educational programs and activities that utilize this spectacular waterfront for public events, performances and large-scale coastal cleanups. Organizing hundreds of community members to utilize this land has put pressure on government agencies to support the revitalization of this public waterfront to improve the environmental health and quality of life for the local community.
In 2005, Rockaway Waterfront Alliance established an improved waterfront management plan which has laid the groundwork for a future conservancy to oversee, plan and manage the public waterfront along the entire 11 miles of the Rockaway Peninsula.
RWA has quickly become a thriving resource in an area that had long been overlooked and under served. In 2006, after leading design charrettes with community members and local youth, RWA established the Rockaway Waterfront Park Proposal to create a 26 acre waterfront park. In 2007, Mayor Michael Bloomberg designated $40 million dollars in capital funds to establish this public park as part of his PLANYC 2030 initiative. NYC Dept of Parks & Recreation is now underway with the design and development of the Rockaway Waterfront Park which will be completed in May 2012.
In 2009, the City of New York awarded RWA the historical Rockaway Firehouse to redevelop as a center for community based planning, environmental programs, green collar job training and administrative offices for RWA. Rockaway Institute for Sustainable Environment (RISE) will be open to the public in January 2012.