{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/ft8df6m452/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["John Cori Oral History"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/010/original/Aviary_QPLlogo_192x192.png?1578574261","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSummary of Full Interview\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eRockaway Beach native John Cori is a community activist, member and former president of Community Board 14, member of the Rockaway Beach Civic Association, and founder of Friends of Rockaway. In this interview Cori recounts growing up in Rockaway Beach and what it was like in the 1970’s and 80’s; Rockaway was a small community with many beach bungalows that would fill up in the summer and empty out after Labor Day. He talks about playing baseball, the old amusement park Rockaways' Playland, visiting the local Queens Public Library; and, he discusses what he loves about Rockaway Beach, and how the neighborhood has grown and changed.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eCori also discusses his beginnings in public advocacy and how he became involved in local government through his efforts to protect the beach from erosion and neglect, promote small businesses, and community stability in Rockaway. He also touches on Hurricane Sandy and the damage it caused to the area, the work that still needs to be done, and how the community came together during that time.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCC BY-NC-SA Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source Metadata URI"]},"value":{"en":["http://digitalarchives.queenslibrary.org/search/browse/38942"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2022-06-06 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Type"]},"value":{"en":["Audio"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["John Cori (Interviewee)","Matt Allison (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source"]},"value":{"en":["Interview conducted as part of the Peninsula Library Ambassadors Project."]}},{"label":{"en":["Coverage"]},"value":{"en":["1960s-2022 (temporal)","Rockaway Beach, Queens, NY (spatial)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSummary of Full Interview\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eRockaway Beach native John Cori is a community activist, member and former president of Community Board 14, member of the Rockaway Beach Civic Association, and founder of Friends of Rockaway. In this interview Cori recounts growing up in Rockaway Beach and what it was like in the 1970\u0026rsquo;s and 80\u0026rsquo;s; Rockaway was a small community with many beach bungalows that would fill up in the summer and empty out after Labor Day. He talks about playing baseball, the old amusement park Rockaways' Playland, visiting the local Queens Public Library; and, he discusses what he loves about Rockaway Beach, and how the neighborhood has grown and changed.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eCori also discusses his beginnings in public advocacy and how he became involved in local government through his efforts to protect the beach from erosion and neglect, promote small businesses, and community stability in Rockaway. He also touches on Hurricane Sandy and the damage it caused to the area, the work that still needs to be done, and how the community came together during that time.\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCC BY-NC-SA Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Queens Public Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Queens Public Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/010/original/Aviary_QPLlogo_192x192.png?1578574261","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - John_Cori_Audio-muted.mp3"]},"duration":2721.35831,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-queenslibrary.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/166/439/original/John_Cori_Audio-muted.mp3?1662061468","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":2721.35831,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Full Transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=0.0,3.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Okay. Today is June 6th, 20,022. We are at the Peninsula Library. I'm Matt Allison. I'm interviewing John Cori. John, can you spell out your first and last name?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=3.0,13.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Sure. John Cori, J O H N C O R I.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=13.0,16.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: The first question is what was it like growing up in Rockaway Beach?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=16.0,21.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Well, it was amazing. It was very much quieter. Yeah, there was a lot of, a lot of summertime rentals and, you know, a lot of bungalows that were not winterized, you know, for, for winter use. So you had a big influx of, kids would come in the summertime, like Memorial Day, you'd have, probably on my block, 92nd street, right over here. We had at least probably 45 to 60 kids each summer, you know, suddenly show up and then they disappear after labor day, you know, and then we'd have just this core group of local families that were, you know, that were living here and year round. And, you, it was really great. The beach obviously was the best part of it, but, just a simple thing, like, like where the property around the corner from the library here, there was an old schoolyard, but there used to be a public school that, you know, sat right on this spot right here, where we are.\nAnd we're obviously, I don't know if \u003claugh\u003e, he'll be explaining that we're on the library right now. And it was, I think it was PS 44, but they, for whatever reason, the city left the schoolyard and we played softball there and we had, so we had a really great, you know, place to play. We'd play, you know, 90 kids from 91st street and you know, we'd play against from 93rd street and then we'd, you know, there's always core groups of kids. There were so many kids they'd like, wait to play next. So we'd play like, shorter innings. And we had great, I, we developed a nice core group of, kids that wound up becoming great softball players and all the bar leagues in Rockaway. So it was, it was definitely a great developmental, aspect. And, and also growing up here, before the library, I mean, watched the library get built, you know, and used to go where the library used to be across the street at Mar's ice cream shop. You know, I dunno if you know about that, right? Yeah. I saw","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=21.0,123.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: That there, they did switch, switch","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=123.0,124.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Places. Yeah. But it was, was a storefront cuz it was got a lot less people living in the neighborhood. Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=124.0,130.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Yeah. So on the summer people like kids would come down and lived on your","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=130.0,133.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Yeah, sure. They'd come just the summer. Yeah. And I mean, I think there's still people doing it now more, you know, I guess Airbnb, you know, people, but, but yeah, there were just basically places that were like behind a lot of the houses. You could you looking like 91st street, the summer of bungalows on 90, on a hundred eighth street in this immediate area, you go down to 25th street, you have all those bungalows that weren't winter. Right. They were just summer use. Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=133.0,156.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Um, okay. So you've, I believe you you've lived in Rockaway your whole life.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=156.0,160.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Well, I was, I was born in Brooklyn into Brooklyn. Yeah. And lived in, by Prospect Park. So I do remember being within a block of the park that was till about two, two and a half to three years old. Mm-hmm \u003caffirmative\u003e then my family. Uh, but my mom had lived in the house. We grew up in right here on 92nd street. Mm-hmm \u003caffirmative\u003e, which I supplement, lived, lived here now, you know? And and yeah, I was always in Rockaway, you know, by my whole life basically, you know, now I'm 59, so basically it's a long time and it's been great. You know, I did live away for a while. I lived in Limerick, long island, so I got to understand and see how, you know, things are different. So I got to appreciate Rockaway even more mm-hmm \u003caffirmative\u003e with the diversity and the, uyou know, and the beach life, you know, it's, there's something special about it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=160.0,200.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: And so you played baseball a lot. You,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=200.0,202.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: You said, well, we played, we played baseball right in the right here. We played sometimes three on three, four on four. But it's interesting when I was a kid, before I entered Rockaway little league, we would play that, first base cuz cuz it was, it was, it was a long, a long third base porch. So we basically, we wound up using third base for first base. It was a short offense for us. So, so we, I always played, so when I first hit the ball in Rockaway little league, you know, and when the tryouts, I ran to third base. So, but but we were kids, you know, I always compare it to, to like the, the, the little Rascals, you know, we would kind of like had a lot of time to ourselves and we, you know, and behind the library, there was, there was a lot of vacant land that we'd built forts there and play army, you know, cuz you know, Vietnam was raging at the time when we were kids and you know, coming out of that whole thing and war movies were, you know, at the World War II was still pretty popular.\nSo, so we'd play, you know, we, they would think we were army soldiers and stuff and Cowboys and Indians and all those things and we had a great time, but yeah, the, but softball and obviously paddleball out here was very popular cause we had all the paddleball course along the show from Parkway. So we played handball paddleball it was very big for me anyway. Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=202.0,274.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Good.  I guess, sorry, are you a Mets fan or Yankee,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=274.0,277.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Sir? I am a Met fan all the way. And I do, I love to see the Yankee succeed. I, you know, as far I have friends at work that are going nuts right now for the, for the Rangers and I don't follow hockey too much, but I'm a big New York fan, whatever how we can make it happen. You know, I followed a lot of tennis when I was a little younger. Uh, my, in my, I guess twenties and thirties, I really enjoyed that. Used to go to the us open a lot. But, you know, and that we'd take the 53, you know, and back then the 53 was a rocket ship that went to middle of Queens, you know? So you got, you were able to get the flushing in 45 minutes, you know, a lot different now, you know, cause it stopped so much, but it used to make almost, it was almost expressed through broad channel to, it was after broad channel it's expressed Togo park. It was amazing. It was a really great, so the 53, it was by queen surface transit. So it wasn't MTA yet. So MTA screwed it up. \u003claugh\u003e yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=277.0,330.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Um, I guess do you have a, a, any decade you nostalgic about any,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=330.0,335.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Anything? Um, I wouldn't say, you know, maybe I'd say when I, in, in the eighties, when I started working with the parks department, mm-hmm \u003caffirmative\u003e I met a bunch of really great guys that, you know, local guys I'm still very friendly with today. A lot of guys live here, you know, to this day in, in Rockaway. And, one of my best friends was my supervisor and I'm still friends with him. He was about 10 years older than me, but we maintain a friendship to this day. You know, his name is Paul Pius and, just a real good guy, you know, and, and of local guys like Willie Hurley will Hurley. He's he's still in Rockaway and Mickey Pontieri wound up moving out to, to California and, just, like, Peter Murphy. Unfortunately he passed away, but to a lot of great guys, you know, and made a lot of good friendships through the parks. And then, that's, that's where I gained my appreciation for the parks and understanding that what it needs and what it doesn't need, you know, so, and I, and of course, you know, going to beach channel high school, I learned a lot about oceanography and we learned about, you know, the damages of the SEAHO and the need for rock jetties \u003claugh\u003e.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=335.0,397.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Yeah. Um, I guess with the Rockaway Playland, that would, that was, that went our business in the","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=397.0,402.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Eighties. It was like 1980. I think it stopped working in 84 or 85, but they tore down to 85, I believe. And, and that was really, you know, obviously they, they say it was insurance reasons or whatever, but it was, it was getting a little bit, it was, it was how do you put it? You know, it was like, somewhat dangerous at times it was a little bit too much, too much, I guess, too much rowdy behavior, you know, I'm sure the owners were like done, you know, because they weren't getting the people coming to pay. You know, there was a, they had converted to the pay one price thing and that was successful for a while, but that was more just a hangout, you know, so they really couldn't succeed so well,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=402.0,440.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: It's not wasn't as big as Coney island,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=440.0,441.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Wasn't nearly as big as Coney island. It was really just, well really one block, one city block from, you know, basically 98, 97, 98. And then, but across from 98 was Martin's corner, which was a really cool, they had like a little, my first, my first little pitch and put thing they, you know, like a miniature golf, but it was concrete \u003claugh\u003e it was interesting, but they had, that was pretty cool. And then they, Martin corner also had a place on that was on the Boulevard in 98 street. Then they had another little spot on the, by show from Parkway, and within Playland itself, it was nice, you know, and I remember that said, I think I had my first cracker jacks or CA caramel corn they used to make was very smelly in the midway. It was a very, a wonderful smell. It was good. Really good. Playland was amazing. Yeah. Make sure you're recording. Huh? \u003claugh\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=441.0,489.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Yes, it is.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=489.0,491.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Okay.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=491.0,491.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Okay. So I guess, do you have any stories of the libraries growing up?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=491.0,495.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Absolutely. The library was, it was amazing. I mean, we, my mom would, my mom was an avid reader and, unfortunately I wasn't, but I like all the picture books, but when this library is near and dear to my heart, because, you know, obviously we used to go when it was over by the ice cream store, Mars ice cream. And, we used to have reading time. I remember I remember the, the, the mats and I couldn't have been more than geez if this was built in 71, this building. Um, so I was nine years old, eight I'm, so eight years old then. And, so, so I had to be 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7 years old. I do remember putting out they had the big stack of mats and you sit, sat in the mats and on the reading time on the floor. And, it was, I remember it was, it wasn't carpeted \u003claugh\u003e, you know, so you sat in the mat and we had reading time, and then they gave you a nap time and, you know, the parents would get just drop the kids off and you stay with the librarian, they she'd read to you.\nAnd it was really nice, nice stories and stuff. Um, and mostly local kids in the neighborhood, you know, you made some friends, but then when they were building the library here, that was really an amazing thing because it was like the first big structure being built for kids my age. And they were building it on, on the areas that we were, we, we used to play as kids, you know, again, play army or whatever, you know, and just, you know, run around the neighborhood. And, again, we used to build a lot of tree houses right on this spot. There was some trees, I remember some kids and neighborhood, real tree houses and stuff, and we had a lot of fun, but then when they came with the crane and it wasn't as, they didn't put big construction fencing up. So after the guys would go home, we'd walk in here, we'd walk here before it was built.\nYou know, they'd just steel and concrete. And, you know, it was really cool to see and watch that. And then of course, once the building was was built, I delivered newspapers at, at nine years old, my brother, Chris and Brian had, they had a paper route and then it kind of was always, you know, handed down to the, the younger kids and we delivered to the newspapers here. So I would come in every single day to the library, not just because I looking to read, but we'd come here and I'd stop by. And it was, there were two very nice girls named Dorothy and Joanne and I was friendly with them and for a long time, and I'm actually friendly with Joanne on Facebook to this day, you know, and I was just a, you know, nine year old kid, but my friends, Packy, Lyons, and will Hurley. We used to come here all the time and read. There was a section that had in the kids section, they had, they had like books on world war II and we'd, you know, buy the army books and look at them and, you know, we'd read a little bit, you know, and stuff about that stuff and talk about it. It was fun. Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=495.0,649.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Good. Um, I guess this is kind of a, not a serious question. What's your, your favorite season in Rockaway? Do you like the summer? You like the off season or","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=649.0,657.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: well, you know what, I, I, I, I like them all, but I have to say, I really enjoy September, October the most. Okay. It becomes more Rockaway. I think the people, the novelty of the summer and people going to the beach is worn off and you can get those Rockaway days where it's still cool in the morning, and then people aren't coming in droves, and it's more localized. You go on the boardwalk, you see more famili, you know, you don't have to, you know, weed them out of the crowd and you see more familiar faces. Not that we don't welcome, obviously, you know, the, the people, you know, we want the people to come of course. But yeah, I, I, I I'd say late summer into fall. Yeah. It's my, some of my favorite times. Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=657.0,693.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: And, how did you become a public advocate cause you, you really active with everything?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=693.0,697.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Well, I, I, I became, it, it actually started when I lived in Limerick. I did, I, well, I shouldn't say that before, before I, I moved to Limerick, I got married and moved to Limerick. I, I, I did attend a couple of rock beat civic association meetings, cuz they were fighting against like a mentally ill, like how do you put it nicely? You know, it was, it was just, it was just another, you know, social, you know, another, another social welfare program that, that, that, that brought people with mental health issues to the neighborhood. And, and the civic association was trying to, you know, figure out the best way forward with it. And, I was, I attended a lot of the meetings and just to see, and I learned a little bit about that, but then I wound up moving to Limerick and I got very active when they chopped down a whole bunch of trees to put in a six foot gas main in front of my house and Limerick.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=697.0,748.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: So I was like not gonna happen. And, I rallied the troops and I noticed the effectiveness of getting people together and going to meetings. And I learned a lot about that, that coupled with, you know, how it works, you know, but basically getting people, you know, unifying people and getting people to stand up and fight for themselves. But I learned about a lot about oceanography in beach channel high school, you know, they had a great problem. They had, they had Marine biology. Uh, that was more, I guess a little more advanced, but basically every kid in Rockaway took oceanography. So I learned a lot about why the erosion was occurring. Cuz I did notice, I mean it was pretty obvious and I did notice where they had the groins that didn't have the groins, you know, it's like you see the difference.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=748.0,788.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: See, see, you knew what worked. It was very simple. So, the way I got active in Rockaway was, one day I'm going down and there was a, and I tell the story a lot in the movie, John Cori Warned You. It was basically, I see them boarding up the stairways to go down to the beach and I'm like, what are you doing? They were like, well, the, the steps are broken from the, from the waves hitting the I'm like, well, why don't you just fix the steps? You know? And then I, you know, instead of just closing it off, you know, and, and fix the beach, you know, and of course it was, it was just, you know, basically, you know, like, more, just wishful thinking. And, and I spoke to the, the park manager there and he told me that, you know, obviously this is a study that's going on to get, you know, the permanent solution. And that's when I said, I'm gonna start getting active on getting that study done. So we had a few rallies and I met a few people and we got together and we had, we got active and we started the group friends of Rockaway beach. And that was, which is really technically a beach activist group technically, you know. And,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=788.0,846.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Do you remember the year that was?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=846.0,847.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: that was 2011. We started friends in Rockaway beach and then, the summer of 2012, we had the first rally and, and basically that was, of course that was August. And then by, you know, right by October, it was the boardwalk was being flank, flung into our homes, you know, so,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=847.0,866.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: And, when you went to the rock civic at first, what year?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=866.0,871.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: The rock beach, civic rock. Oh, the first time I was ever at a rock beach civic meeting was probably the, you know, mid eighties. Okay. Early eighties. Um, and then, you know, once it wasn't, it wasn't active for many years, they weren't holding meetings. So I, you know, in the, in the, I'd say just, after Sandy, they weren't having meetings and, you know, I'm sorry, just before Sandy, they weren't having many meetings. So we were able to, you know, to ask the leadership there tostart having meetings again. And,then we had elections and obviously, and then I, you know, basically, I ran and one to become president and I ran to be president. And I was, I always said, I would only do two terms. I believe in term limits, even though the civic rock would be civic, doesn't have term limits, but I term limit it myself by not running again.\nAnd, and which, which I believe is very important. Cause I believe that, you know, like, you know, long term leadership, definitely leads to, to other people not getting engaged, you know, and I think a better turnover is, is better. And, and if, and if also, if the people stay involved is very important. So, you know, my activism on the, you know, in the community is all more based more now out of the community board, you know? And, that, that's probably the most, you know, of course I'm still very active at the friends of Rockaway beach, even though it's a very large Facebook page. People who are mostly on, on friends of Rockaway beach, don't even know that it's actually a right. It's the Facebook page for the, for the beach activist group, friends of Rockaway beach. And, when I tell people that they, no, it's not, I'm like, I would know \u003claugh\u003e, it's like, but it's more often to much more than theirs, which is fine, you know, if we can promote businesses and, which I'm happy about. Cause I'm also the, the chair of economic development on the community board, so that, that committee, so, and I'm why I promote business so much and I really fight for the businesses. And that's why I always mention that as one of the biggest concerns when you have, you know, beach closures, you know, so, yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=871.0,990.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Um, you mentioned that the documentary, John Cori warned you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=990.0,993.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: John Cori warned you, it was done by Dan Brown. Okay. Yeah. And, you wanna talk about that some, well, it, it was just a really, it, it was just a good way to make some money to really pay back. Uh, quite a few people. We raised some money for the Knight of Columbus, I'd say over $5,000. And, and we raised back actually to pay back, I mean, to really help others out, you know, we, and we showed it a few times. We raised money for team Rubicon that was very active here in, in, in Rockaway, after Sandy rebuilding. And then, we did a fundraiser at the, for that, but the movie was basically, it was a documentary. It was just about, it was based on our, one of our rallies at city hall or, you know, you know, just kind of press conference at city hall to shake the mayor up.\nAnd, we, I think we did a good job with that. We always got a lot of attention, you know, towards the most important, aspects of, you know, you know, the rebuilding cuz they, a lot of people don't know that they, they made the announcement, they were not gonna rebuild the boardwalk, you know, they were, you know, they said what's, there is there and they were gonna wait. I mean, I'm sure what eventually, but, but our activism and voice is what really pushed people, the, the parks and the, and the, center of the Schumer to really fight for, and obviously Congressman Meeks to fight for the massive amounts of money. They got, they got us a lot of great money, you know, so, yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=993.0,1070.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: So that was, that was like after storm Sandy. So","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1070.0,1073.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: That was after, after hurricane Sandy. Yeah. So","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1073.0,1075.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: 2013 or","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1075.0,1076.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: 14, that was like two into 2013. 14. Yeah, we did that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1076.0,1080.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Um, and Jet's and groins, can you say, explain a little,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1080.0,1084.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Yeah, sure. A jet is at the, usually at the end of a peninsula mm-hmm \u003caffirmative\u003e or a, or a, it formulates, it helps form an inlet. Mm-hmm \u003caffirmative\u003e a, a groin is perpendicular to the beach, so they're usually in succession. So they, they, they, they capture the sand going, you know, along the shore mm-hmm \u003caffirmative\u003e so that the sand stays in place and, and the sand's always moving. So cuz it is just sand, you even wave action. So it catches the sand, it helps prevent the sand from leaving. So you have to have sand replacement a lot less frequently. So that's why you want to have a lot of the groins in place. Okay. And where you see them they're successful, you know, I mean, especially, especially on the long island seashore and Rockaway is part of the long island seashore, corn Island's part of long island seashore. You tell someone in Brooklyn that they're part of long island. They don't, they get a little upset, but technically, I mean, geographically, you know, we're all part of long island,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1084.0,1135.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: So that's the construction they're doing now. Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1135.0,1138.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Jets and the groins. Those are groins. Yeah. And, and then, and then when they work on that giant. So, so if you, if you Google earth that you would see a jetty at the end of the Rockaway peninsula in breezy point, that's a jetty cuz that helps form the, helps protect the inlet Rockaway inlet. Yeah. So,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1138.0,1156.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Um, so you you've been advocating for both of those for","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1156.0,1159.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Yeah. Well mostly obviously groins we've been advocating for that because, it's, it's pretty, obviously they work very well, you know, and especially after hurricane Sandy, you know, you were able to just basically see the boardwalk was still in place where they had groins, you know, I mean they got damaged. Yeah. But there was a lot less, wave inundation, you know, there was flooding, but you know, when, when you don't have, you know, giant projectiles of boardwalk crushing your home or even take bell Harbor, the waves crashing into people's homes, you know, if they had groins and they had larger beach, the waves would've dissipated on the beach before they would've crushed the homes where they had no beach because there were no groins, they crush the homes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1159.0,1202.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Um, I guess, uh, do, do you wanna talk more about the Rockaway beach civic association?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1202.0,1212.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Yeah, it's fantastic. I, I, I, I'm a huge supporter of civic association. I think they're the most important, they're the first line of, the first line of the voice. I wouldn't say defense, but the first, the first voice, you know, because they're basically the people living, living in living it every day and they see the issues and they're the people who are most active, you know, the Rockaway beat civic is I presume one of the, the longest and most active on the peninsula. Um, and you know, there's homeowners associations and there's, it might have been around longer or just as active, but as far as civic associations, which, and then civic association and, you know, we've done some amendments that we amendments that are bylaws in rock, beat civic to make a little more inclusive to, to, to let more people like a husband and wife be members as well, instead of just one person in a household, because you might have different opinions and you might have different, different ways of seeing a, it, then you might have different, you know, voices.\nSo, it's a little more inclusive than it ever was. And it also, it also has reached a lot of, newcomers and is so does, you know, there just, sometimes you have groups that, that are looking at Rockaway looking backwards and there's also looking at Rockaway looking forward. I think the rock beat civic has a, that great mix of old timers and newcomers. I, I say newcomers. I just mean people who have chosen to make rock their home. And we have a lot of people who've are here by default. You know, I mean, you know, like me, I was brought here as a baby. I mean, I'm here, but again, I, I think I chose to be back here and, you know, and that's why I appreciate it even more. Cause I know what it's like. And I think the people who knew of people, they appreciate it even more, you know, just, from not to take away that the people who live here longer, but I think it's a great mix of having both where you used to just have the one people looking at it, looking backwards, you know, so lot of foresight it's very important, but the, again, they're the first people that come to the community boards and have the voice.\nAnd, I hear mostly from, let's say, Bridget, Kalinski from the rock civic association. She'll give me an earful. I mean, I, I don't attend as much as I should, but I'm, you know, I'm busy with other meetings, but, in the perfect world I can make every meeting, but you know, she fills me in and you know, she gives me, tells me what's going on. And then being on part of a lot of the committees, it's, it's helpful too. Um, especially cuz one of the big, the biggest issue in our neighborhood is obviously parks based. So I'm on the parks committee. So that helps, it really helps getting, kinda getting our voice heard, you know, and cuz we do cover our very large area. We overlap with, with a couple other civic associations, which really is good. I think, you know, because I know there's a, there's a harder Rockaway that goes to like 79th street and we go to 73rd street, so there's an overlap and then the Rockaway civic.\nSo there's a Rockaway beach civic in the Rockaway civic, the Rockaway civic says to go, it, it, it, it just, you know, it, it allows its membership to go from 70, I think, uh, down to as far as 98th street up to, I believe one 29th street. But I think anybody should be allowed to join any civic they want, but it's good to have a focus area. And that's, what's great about Rockaway and there's, and there's another great civic that started M civic and it's very good because they have a voice and that's, you know, elected officials to know that know that there's people paying attention.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1212.0,1406.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Yeah. It's, it's a unique area cuz people live here year around, but they also, you know, people come down here for the summer. So, so it's a different than other parts of Queens","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1406.0,1415.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Or yeah. And like a lot of people say like, like, like you ask, I mean, I don't know some of your questions like, but what's, what's good now. I mean like I know that you have the one question there about the, about the businesses I think.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1415.0,1426.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/52","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Yeah. It's","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1426.0,1427.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/53","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: I dunno if you wanna jump ahead of it, it's like, whatever, but it's just, it's just like, you know, like, like what's going on, you know, there's people benefiting from the people who do all the work, you know, I mean, and like, and, and sometimes you also have a project let's say 108 street who decided to do that, you know? Well, it's all part of, it was part of a large community engagement, you know, and people don't remember, cause it was so long. It was like six years, seven years ago, you know? And they really, I think we had, we had a Shere in this room right here, you know? I mean we had, it was, it was called New York rising. It was funding by the governor. It was federal money that was given to New York state. And, and, but people put the work in. So like even when they see the boardwalk, like someone comes from, from, let's say Williamsburg or comes from the Bronx or even comes from Germany. Right. And comes to Rockey, boardwalk, think go, this is nice. And that's because people busted their asses, excuse me, you know, busted their butts, you know, fighting for what we have. They, they wouldn't have give us anything. We fought everything you see here. We fought for everything. Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1427.0,1487.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/54","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: The, the question I have about the small business know are just, so it seems like here there's more, there's not as many chain rush, but","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1487.0,1494.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/55","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Which is great. Yeah. Yeah. You don't want that. I mean all that stuff. I mean, I'm not against, I mean, and some I people see me go to McDonald's right? Like you go to McDonald's I love McDonald. I've been gonna to McDonald's my whole life. My, my biggest thing was nine years old, 10 years when I was able to cross beach shuttle drive, I would go for my big Mac and I would go for my, so I'd deliver a Sunday morning, paper edition to the long island press. And I'd go for my, my egg McMuffin when they first started. But it's like, I have no problem gonna change, but it's an amazing thing. When you have the ramen place, you have Mar's ice cream, you have, you know, you have Rockaway roasters, you know, you have, and it's all. And when this, this immediate area, it's like, you know, they call it restaurant row, but this restaurants popping up everywhere, which is fantastic.\nIt's the best thing in the world. But when I was a kid, this, this neighborhood had like 60% vacancy, it was a ghost town. You know, it was this, it was just, it was this it's never been better ever. I don't think, I mean, maybe even the 1930s when, you know, when maybe the economy was a fantastic, but you know, I mean, you know, coming out of the depression, but you know, it's like, well maybe early forties, but you know, it's like now, I mean, Connie might not be that great, but people know the importance of, you know, basically helping change, helping stores survive.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1494.0,1568.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/56","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Um, I guess we already talked about the, the friends of Rockaway beach. Anything else about the Facebook group? Cause","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1568.0,1574.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/57","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: I had well, yeah. Thousand people. Yeah. It's over 35 now. You know? So it's like, it's interesting. It's morphed into something that I didn't really expect that it was gonna be, I'm happy that it is what it is. Um, I have a very important, rule and people, a lot of people disagree that you cannot bash a business. I don't care if you see, you know, mice in the corner, it's like, it's, it's what you've seen. It's just you, because the issue with something like that, it's like, you know, like imagine someone says, oh, I, I was in. I was in [hypothetical restaurant name muted to avoid confusion] and I saw, you know, rat droppings, you know, the problem is you don't wanna use that maybe in there, but in the interview. But, but like, you know, well, like, like it was dirty. It's very easy to say when you might, your cousin might own Bobby's pizza, you know, and you looking, I hurt everybody else's so I just have a rule that you just can't there's other places you can let people know not to go.\nThat's an important thing. When it's, it's morphed into the business aspect, a lot of local people starting startups. I, I think, I think it was, last dragon pizza. I think it was, I, I forget the name of the place. Maybe you can look it up before you write this, but, it was a woman in a Auburn and she came over to me one day. I was at a, I was at a ladies of business, meeting. They asked me to come speak and she come up to me. She thanked me for helping get her business started. And I'm like, what do you mean? She says, well, I was been advertising on friends of Rockaway beach for years and you know, it's like, I've gotten made many customers, you know, I appreciated that. It was nice, but I, again, it didn't start out as it was really about started as beach boardwalk and play areas, you know?\nAnd that was always my, my biggest concentration of, of activism. And, but as people started to post things more and more, and just, you know, from, you know, let's say the bridge is closed, you know, or now I get direct emails from D O T to say, okay, the cross bay bridge is gonna be closed or MTA, you know, it's like, you know, train a, train's gonna be shut down. So it's great getting that information and people share it. We did have a policy, we were able, people were able to post on their own. Um, but we had to cha take that back. Cuz there was a lot of racism. There was a lot of, bullying, you know, so we had to pull that back and now we approve each post. So how","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1574.0,1709.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/58","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Many admins do you have?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1709.0,1711.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/59","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Or we have three, two, I I, myself and two others.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1711.0,1714.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/60","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Well, that's still like there's posts. Like there's probably so many posts every day.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1714.0,1717.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/61","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Yeah. Every day. Um, we have one person's retired and you know, if you wanna use their names, bill know, bill go house at all and Randy, Randy sovereign. And and they, that they have been the, you know, like I started, I was doing it all my own and then they, you know, I, I asked him to help me out, but, but it's it it's great. And bill, bill has really helped because he, Randy answers a lot of questions and, you know, stuff from people cuz we get a lot of, a lot of personal messages about why this, why that, you know, and she's a lot of time refers 'em to me, but then you have, you know, you have a lot of, let me just, is that the right time? Lets check it it's four","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1717.0,1758.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/62","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: 16, so four 18. Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1758.0,1760.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/63","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: So, you know, but then, so Bill's been good with, you know, adding the names and you know, people, new members and stuff. So he's been good with that and you know, we just gotta be careful, you know, it's, it's, it's very difficult because you know, you still wanna keep it concentrated on like, like, like I've been talking with the other admins about, I don't like is there's a lot of people, you know, posting personal stuff, you know, it's, it's wonderful, but it's like your house, your front yard. I, we don't need to see that. I don't want to reboot that a little bit, you know, because it's, that's for your personal page, you know, it's like, you know, it's nice, but you know, unless it's really Rockaway related, you know, that benefits the whole community, you know, it's just not right. You","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1760.0,1800.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/64","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Know, I wanted to talk about storm Sandy, I guess maybe one place to start would be with the, the Facebook group was that a lot of information was shared.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1800.0,1808.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/65","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Oh yeah. That I think the majority of the rebuild and the activism, you know, getting people aware of where to go and what to do was, was, was, was very big. Um, you know, cause there was no there's no, there's no, local news in Rockaway. So we can almost act like local. I try not to be a local news. I try not to, you know, do too much, you know, like reporting, you know right. Uh, which we could, but we don't, you know, cause there's newspapers, you know, I'm somewhat active with the Rockaway times I used to write for them. But yeah, we would definitely, I mean, it, it grew much heavily as to why we have so many people because people needed to like build it back, you know, our phone numbers to call, you know, places to go, from food to, you know, even thanking people, you know, it's like, it's, it's, it just was a really big, big way to do things.\nBut, but as far as the activism and trying to a lot of the, the, the idea of the group was to when we did have rallies and stuff. And when you had phone banks and we wanted people to call, we had, you know, people calling, you know, shutting down, you know, like over, over issues of, of, of, of the boardwalk not being done. We wanted to, so we had calling Scott Stringer's office when he was the, the, the budget guy, whatever the name is again, what's, what's the name for the, the main banker for New York? He was the, no, no, the, what was it, what was his title? Well, Scott stringer, but he was the, he was the, not public advocate, but, but even that, you know, to try to contact, you know, the public advocate to contact the mayor","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1808.0,1902.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/66","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: C commissioner,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1902.0,1903.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/67","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: So something, yeah. It's like a commissioner, but it's, it's the, but you could look control. Yeah. So, so, but it's a, it's just, it's just that, you know, he's like the main guy, but you know, you also learn a lot when you do this stuff that he doesn't have the power, you would think, you know, it's like, don't you sign the checks? No, I have to get him approved. I'm like, okay. So who's in charge of everything. You know, it's like, well, it's a difficult thing. The mayor's got so much control, New York city charter gives the mayor more power that any mayor and in the country, I believe I, or of a major city. So that's why the New York city mayor is so powerful, you know? And, they kind of, they can do whatever they want, you know? So yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1903.0,1939.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/68","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Still say, did you evacuate","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1939.0,1941.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/69","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: During this tour? No, I, I stayed. I stayed like a knucklehead only because I thought it was gonna be, I wanted to document it one photography wise. I, after the first couple waves hit the boardwalk in Irene, I got those great shots and I thought it would be similar. Um, and then when I was, when I watched the boardwalk go down my block, I said, we are screwed. I, I was, I was scared, but I was like, you know, I was like, I mean, if I was gonna die, what a better way to die than in a hurricane. \u003claugh\u003e you? I mean, but, yeah, I, I, I, I totally ignored the, and I wanted to be here for the aftermath to help people cause I know people were staying. Um, and, and the evacuation idea was, for me was, I mean, I really wanted to try to protect my house and you know, when I saw water coming in, I thought I could do some things. And I was trying to wrap my boiler and it was, it was a stupid thing, but you know, you don't know, you live and learn, you know, so yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1941.0,1996.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/70","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Um, yeah, part of the Queens Memory project is, is kind of to try to get historical, like, mm-hmm, \u003caffirmative\u003e like records of the area. So that's why I'm asking so much like questions.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=1996.0,2009.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/71","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: That's fine. No, it's great.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2009.0,2010.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/72","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: It's fine. Anything else about storm Sandy or","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2010.0,2012.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/73","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Anything? Uh, no. Well, yeah. I mean, obviously it, it was, you know, look out of, you know, it's like, there's always silver linings. I mean, you know, we got, you know, so I was advocating to get the boardwalk rebuilt before Sandy and I was told by the Queen's commission at the time and name of Dorothy Little and Baki, he says, everybody wants their boardwalk. Everybody wants their park rebuilt. What, you know, what it would cost to be. I, and I was like, it was, it was really disheartening, the attitude. And she said, it would take a master plan. You have to get your city Councilman to do a master plan. So I was working with Eric Elridge at the time to do a master plan, you know, and that would've cost him, whatever, a lot of money, you know, probably $7 million. So, just to get that, so before you could do anything massive like that you had to have mass, so it was like almost a catch 22.\nIf you didn't have that in place, you had never gotten the funding from the city council. So I want, I learned that we wanted to have that, but, but of course then my yapping out of the community boards, bringing pieces of the board walk in that we need a master plan. And unfortunately people at the community board were like, huh. And it turned out when I went there, first time community board, they told me they hadn't had a parks meeting in seven years. It's like, I like, can we have one, maybe, you know, it was nuts, you know, but, but I think, I, I think, and when I used to go there used to be maybe two or three people at community board, you know? And then, when, when I used to go there as a, as a, as just a public, you know, just being in the audience, it was a shock.\nWhat was going on? Like, like, does anybody care here? They cared about their own little personal stuff, but it was like, there was wasn't enough about a grander picture again, looking forward. So that was my agenda was to really get people start looking forward and, you know, doing the master plan for the boardwalk. But again, didn't need it because Sandy brought a lot of money. So it was a, there were positives in it too. I mean, it, it fixed things. It also taught us a lot of things. We were definitely more prepared when it groins in the beach, which, you know, again, it's not gonna prevent more different coming into our neighborhood, the next Sandy, but at least if we have waves breaking on the beach and slowly coming into our, not instead of so much inundation and movement, you know, it's almost like a river flood, you know, where, you know, like if, if you live on the Bayside, the water came in, but it wasn't like, it wasn't like a gushing thing. You know, it was like slowly trickle down the block, you know, but here they had waves coming. You could have rode a wave down 92nd street. You could have rode a wave down to the library, you know, so that's how crazy it was, you know? So,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2012.0,2146.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/74","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Um, I guess, there's still a lot of construction going on in the boardwalk.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2146.0,2150.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/75","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Yeah. Well, that's finally happening and that's also disappointing because again, I blame, I, I, I just don't understand, like, so a lot of the boardwalk construction, a lot of the park, it is also parts of resiliency. So everything you see, there's like a concrete wall in the back. There's, there's a, Doune, that's been being replanted and worked into it, but being kept. And again, again, for me, like where's a sense of urgency. It's like, you know, this has been 10 years. This should be. And the reason why I say that because they, they started rebuilding the, the, in, the levies in new Orleans within six months, they were working on them because they saw the urgency because if you didn't fix them, you know, the water would just kept coming in. But here, you don't know, you had, you had 200 year stones with, within 11 months of each other, you know, I mean, you know, it was crazy.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2150.0,2198.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/76","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Is there any, parks that are gonna be built that you're looking forward to,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2198.0,2204.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/77","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Uh, the completion? Uh, yeah, I like, I'm very happy about the adventure park. I'm glad there's another, another children's park at the 98th street to a hundredth street is current would be great. The, the, the, the sand volleyball courts they're building in by, by 80th street are gonna be fantastic. They're doing two beach volleyball courts there and a play field too. So you can, you know, you can throw a football a little bit, you know, simple, any tennis course or no tennis course, but they just build the first pickle ball court, which, I'm proud to have advocated for, I mean, many people advocated, but, I definitely put my voice behind that. That was very important. Of course, skate park was completed a couple years ago, which, you know, very active in that, you know, helping, you know, Jimmy dad was very, if you remember Jimmy dad. Yeah. You know, he, he was very active in making sure that happened a couple other people, and I forget the kid's name, but a lot of people very active and, you know, and getting it from all points is, is important. And when I put my voice behind it, it's more of a, I'm known. So it helps a little bit, I like to believe I, I have had an effect, you know, so yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2204.0,2270.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/78","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Yeah. I enjoy the skate park. I go","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2270.0,2272.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/79","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: There. Yeah. It's like, you know, it's nice to look, you know, cause a lot of times, you know, kids are looking at you, I'm like, if you only knew what it took to get this, you know, and like, you know, it's like, I'm glad they're happy, but like, you know, a lot of times you, you might get like, you know, you know, just looking, looking at who's this old guy looking, you know, you don't realize that I used to skate too. You know, it's like, it's just that, there's no understanding. We used to skate all around here on steel wheels. You know, it was great. We made our own skateboards, you know, at old skates, you know, it was great, you know, I'm sure you saw, you saw Lords of dog town. Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2272.0,2305.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/80","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: I remember Urothane (wheels,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2305.0,2307.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/81","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: We got them. They came and, you know, we, you know, I'm sure, you know, right across the street was actually, I think where Mars was as well or next to it was the first, rock beat surf shop was right there too. There's another guy you want me to interview? Uh, I think his name's, last name's the guy who owns rock beat surf shop. He's really cool. OB obviously, you know, the borders too, right?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2307.0,2330.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/82","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: I did interview Jimmy Dowd for","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2330.0,2332.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/83","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: The oh, he did. Okay. Yeah. Great. Yeah, Jimmy's great. And, he's just more of a newcomer as well, but you got, but he's, he'd be great to interview too for the surf culture because he started it here. Um, another guy, Fernando, you know, Fernando Pariss. Okay. So if you ever at the skate park, he, he has a big tricycle with all the boards on it. He's a Brazilian guy he's been out here most of his life, adult life mm-hmm \u003caffirmative\u003e. And, he used to have a place called secret spot surf shop, but he was very big with surfing out here forever, really good guy. And he's seen a lot of changes. He's raised his family out here and stuff, you know, so if I can give you all the name, I could text him to you, whatever, you know.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2332.0,2369.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/84","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Yeah. Um, I guess, any thoughts on the pandemic? Like, is it how it's affected your work and your","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2369.0,2377.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/85","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: \u003cinaudible\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2377.0,2378.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/86","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Here or","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2378.0,2379.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/87","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: The pandemic? Um, yeah, I really believe the New York city is steam rolling over us as far as it comes with with, with, with civic stuff, as far as, we don't have, our voice is not as strongly within parks. Um, they're doing whatever they want because we're not seeing them face to face. I think there's a lot to be said about meeting people face to face, whether it's an intimidation factor. And I mean that very honestly, not to purposely intimidate somebody, but I think they feel your ire better when you are, you know, to know how mad you are. Mm-hmm \u003caffirmative\u003e applause is not heard when you are on zoom calls. Right. You know, and applause to know that people are backing you in the same room. I think it's very important. I think that has been, all over. I mean, I think the state legislature, I think it' New York city council.\nI think, this pandemic has, has been horrible for the civic, civic engagement and, and I think stateless state, local and, legislators have, and even just, you know, borrow commissioners have, have kind of done whatever they wanted and heard less, listened less to the, to the local community. That's very important to point out. And I think that's, what's been the negative effect of the, pandemic. Um, you know, obviously being in a beautiful ocean from community, I, we, we were able to take our mass off a lot earlier than most, you know, boardwalk and having, you know, that that freedom has been great. You know, the wind, the breeze, you know, it's been helpful, you know,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2379.0,2471.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/88","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: I guess as a, a library page. And what would you like to see the library do now and in the future?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2471.0,2477.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/89","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Um, you know, I think, I think the library's been, I mean, it's great. \u003claugh\u003e, I mean, for what you guys have done, you know, it's like, uh it's you know, I, I, I, I think I'd like to see more sitting area outside for, for, people to cuz it's such a big front, this one, you know, because it's such a large Plaza, you know, maybe like, you know, I mean a lot of people don't wanna see it cuz they may have homeless sitting there or whatever. I mean, I don't care, you know, but, but just maybe some shade structures and you know, and like places people read outside and just plus","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2477.0,2509.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/90","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Be in the works, but it takes a long time","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2509.0,2511.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/91","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: I know. And maybe more coordinate off more and you can, you know, kind of close it off in the, you know, it's, it's a great front Plaza, but even internally again, I've been here since I'm I'm, you know, since I'm, you know, 10 years old, you know, so nine years old, it's obviously it's become a different thing. They're just going to read books. You got, you know, they got the computers, you got people it's a great safe Haven for kids too. What's happened here. I see it in my whole, you know, every day I see it. I know sometimes it's hard, I'm sure for you to play babysitter a lot, but you know, it's just, it's a nice thing that, you know, kids are in here more, the whole idea of shush is gone I guess. Right. \u003claugh\u003e you get a lot, lot of that, less, you know, cuz I remember the first, librarian that was Mr. Ennis, I don't know if I ever told you he was a, he was a great guy now that I'm older, but I, I used to think he was a, you know, a little, little maniac, but you know, he really tried to run a tight ship and again, it's how different it is from when we were kids to it is now with all the, you know, the programming you have is just amazing, you know? Um, yeah, but, but it, maybe it might be nice for people to have that quiet area to just sit and read, you know, I don't know how much you have of it, but you know, just, maybe not shush, but you know yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2511.0,2583.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/92","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: This really, it's a great room. We're hoping to, you know, people come back to use it like this so they can stuff","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2583.0,2588.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/93","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Like that. This is great. Yeah. This has always been great. Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2588.0,2591.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/94","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: It's we were just slow to reopen,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2591.0,2593.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/95","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: But I remember the first movie I saw in here was called the red balloon \u003claugh\u003e I was probably about, 54, 12 years old. They showed movie showed movies in Saturdays here. It was great.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2593.0,2603.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/96","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: The last place I've written down, anything you wanna see for the future of Rockaway? Like","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2603.0,2608.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/97","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Uh, geez. I mean maybe a couple parking garages \u003claugh\u003e, you know, obviously parking's a massive issue. Uh I'd I'd, I'd say better, bus transportation directly to shore from Parkway. Um, maybe, a better, you know, definitely, you know, parking garages, wherever we can, you know, bringing the people is important to me and you know, having them have a, might easier time than riding around for four hours, right. They can be in a restaurant for four hours, you know, so that that's important. Transportation is key, you know, more direct lines to Rockaway on the weekends. A train should absolutely run here. You on both. It should be no shuttle. Um, and but as far as, I mean I'd like to see more shade for Rockaway. It's it's a big problem with, with, with like, it sounds crazy, but there's no shade.\nYou go to Coney island and you go to go to state island, boardwalk there's shade everywhere. I want shade. \u003claugh\u003e, you know, it's nice to sit, to sit in a breeze in a nice, cool. It might be hot, but you feel cool breeze, but those little things, you know, just, but basically the way things are going. But but for the future Rockaway, I just, I the future, again, the future is the people and the young people and I like to see them get involved. So that one thing for the future. I just more people getting more involved and engaged and understanding that, you know, if you don't make the decisions are gonna make decisions are gonna be made for you. So, you know, it's better to, you know, to make that, make that an important part of your day, you know, to, to advocate for your own neighborhood, you know?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2608.0,2696.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/98","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Sure. Um, anything else you'd like to add?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2696.0,2698.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/99","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: That's really it, Matt, you had great questions. I really appreciate it. It was, you know, but, you know, I mean, we talked about the Facebook group, obviously it's, it's something that's morphed into itself, but you know, I think I said it all, you know, but I'd be repeating myself, so I think we're good.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2698.0,2716.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/100","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Matt Allison: Oh, thank you so much for, for being interviewed.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2716.0,2717.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439/transcript/39647/annotation/101","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"John Cori: Of course, my pleasure. Okay.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/21/collection_resources/78736/file/166439#t=2717.0,2721.35831"}]}]}]}