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By Ryan Schwach | on June 03, 2022

The new park was opened early for Memorial day weekend

Shorefront Parkway has a new dog run on Beach 92nd Street with amenities for pups and their owners, but the price has some locals…barking mad. 

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The new dog run, which opened last week, ran up a $1.8 Million dollar bill for the city according to the Parks Department. 

“The Shorefront Parkway Dog Run, opened last Thursday just in time for memorial day to the delight of pups and owners across Rockaway, is a massive new amenity for the peninsula – it is more than two times the size of typical Parks run, with numerous dog-friendly amenities for big and small canines alike,” said Parks Department Spokesman Dan Kastanis. 

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The park, which opened without some planned amenities, like a puppy obstacle course, in order to be open for Memorial Day Weekend, is 10,500 square foot space, with a water fountain, steel shade structures with USB charging stations. 

The puppy obstacle course is described by parks as “twelve pieces of dog agility equipment.” 

 “This new dog run was requested by the community, and was designed with extensive community engagement and discussion of all of the Shore Front Parkway amenities,” said Dan Kastanis. 

However, despite the new amenities, the new dog park has made some local’s ears perk up due to its near $2 million dollar price tag. 

“What you get for the money isn’t what you’d expect,” said Colleen West, a Shorefront resident who was visiting the park Wednesday night with her 6-year old pup, Buddy. “You could have fences off a part of the beach and it would have been no different,” she said, pointing out the sand covered park. 

Colleen West’s dog “Buddy” enjoys the park

“They could have extended it longer,” said Alice Moszczynski, who was also there with her dogs, Kona and Brady.  

The park maintains a theme of expensive city projects that don’t stack up to their cost. 

This is not a good use of taxpayer dollars,” Councilmember Joann Ariola told The New York Post, “We need more oversight on capital construction.”

According to the Parks’ Department website, the project pulled from the Mayoral, Federal, and Queens Borough President’s budgets.  

Parks officials say the cost is justified for a park of its size, which included sidewalks and a berm beside the boardwalk. 

“The Shorefront Parkway Dog Run is over 10,500 square feet, with an overall project area of 34,000 square feet which is considerably larger than our typical dog run project (compared to 4,100 square feet, at Devoe Park and 4,800 square feet, at St. James Park, both located in developed parks).” said Parks’ Dan Dan Kastanis. 

The St. James Park in The Bronx cost the city just over half a million. 

Despite the price tag, locals and their dogs aren’t going to turn down a new amenity available in Rockaway.

“Everybody appreciates everything here,” said Colleen West.  

Alice Moszczynski added that is still quite a bit better than Rockaway’s other dog run in Rockaway on Beach Channel Drive. 

Despite the price, pups enjoy the new park

“There’s no mud pits, no ticks, and a lot less mosquitos,” she told The Wave, then looking at her two dogs who were play-fighting in the sand. “They enjoy it.”

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