[Mims]

Remember that firehouse that was going for a dollar?
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2008/11/18/2008-11-18_a_dollar__a_dream_in_arverne-1.html

Well, it's over. It was awarded to Rockaway Waterfront Alliance.

AN UP-AND-COMING Queens environmental group whose current address is just a post office box is slated to get real digs in a former firehouse.
The Rockaway Waterfront Alliance has been tapped by the city Economic Development Corp. to take over the abandoned building on Beach 59th St., city officials announced last week.
Under the deal, the group will invest $2 million into the building and turn it into an environmental learning and conference center.
The nonprofit group currently holds meetings around the Rockaway peninsula, and hosts programs in schools, libraries and community centers.
"People will now be able to find us," said Jeanne DuPont, executive director of the four-year-old alliance. "We have children, parents and seniors calling all the time to help us with community service. Now, we have a place to call home."
DuPont said the 78-year-old firehouse, which needs extensive renovations, will feature an organic café, classrooms and a rooftop garden. The building will also host "green-collar" job-training seminars and farmers' markets.
"We desperately need an environmental education center in this community," said Don Riepe, head of the American Littoral Society's Northeast chapter, based in nearby Broad Channel.
"We're not teaching the subject as well as we could in the schools," said Riepe, who also sits on the board of the alliance.
The firehouse, which was closed in 2005, had been coveted by a number of local nonprofits, including dance, theater and arts groups.
The EDC's decision, however, was particularly stinging for City Councilman James Sanders Jr. (D-Far Rockaway), who had been eying the firehouse for a new vocational school.
When Sanders was first elected in 2001, he promised constituents a school that would teach construction trades. The councilman secured $500,000 in discretionary funding for the school in 2007, but his plans appear to have been scuttled.
Sanders declined comment on the matter.
DuPont said it will be hard to raise funds for upgrading the building in the tough economy, but she said she is optimistic about the alliance's new home.
"It's ideal because it's so close to the water," DuPont said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2009/03/31/2009-03-31_green_facelift_for_former_firehouse_.html

http://www.globest.com/news/1375_1375/newyork/177709-1.html

http://www.rockawave.com/news/2009/0320/front_page/071.html

[frroK]

rockaway artists alliance?

[Mims]

Nope. Apparently it's a diff't org.

Rockaway Artist Alliance
http://www.rockawayartistsalliance.org/aboutus.html

Rockaway Artists Alliance, Inc. (RAA) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) arts organization comprised of individuals who view the arts as vital to the health of our community. Formed in 1994, it is our mission to encourage and engage residents of Rockaway, particularly our youth, in the arts and cultural activities.

Rockaway Waterfront Alliance
http://www.rwalliance.org/docs/frameholder.html

Rockaway Waterfront Alliance has been leading the way in the revitalization of the Rockaway Waterfront, to strengthen the connection between the community and the waterfront. We are a community-based non-profit organization that works to empower local youth in Far Rockaway to play a role in the determination of their neighborhoods, and foster an understanding of the principals of environmental justice and urban sustainability.

[frroK]

weird.

[malibu casey]

I don't know much about them but they seem like a good org.  They do alot of environmental educational afterschool stuff with kids in Edgemere and Far Rock.  On a more selfish note, did you see the part about an organic cafe?  

[Mims]

I don't know much about them but they seem like a good org.  They do alot of environmental educational afterschool stuff with kids in Edgemere and Far Rock.  On a more selfish note, did you see the part about an organic cafe? 

yeah, i did. it'd be great.

[Wave Dancer]

Very Cool

[Dorado]