The future of this land is in our hands

Turn Riis into a historical landmark so we can protect the legacy of NYC’s TLGBQIA+BI-POC community.

Riis Beach has been a long standing famous location in NYC where the community gathers in the hot summer days to cool off, get a tan, or hang out with friends and meet new people. The beach has been a safe spot for the community for years and has developed in a way that has not been imaginable before, we are stepping forward and try to reuse the space that the old hospital and turn that into a space where it extends Riis beach’s culture and its diversity out of the sands and more inland.

Not known by many in the community is that the hospital is still being maintained by the NYC Health department and with money to spend on a location where its abandoned and breaking apart. It is not known what the future plans are how the land will be used, we should not let politicians or developers get ahead of the community and turning into something that doesn’t represent the beach or the culture that has been saturated there.

The visitors of the beach takes pride in being nude and being comfortable with showing skin, although if we let the city and developers have their way making a park or what else they may have planned. If there is a park made parents will have an outcry with the community which may lead to more police presence there making the community unsafe.

We at Glitsinc aim to have the old hospital site taken down and build a park in our own image, that would not only benefit the community but also bring out the artistic side. By making this area turn to a park where we design we can expand the beach’s culture and diversity more inland, this in turn will strengthen the communities bond with each other. This state of limbo cannot go on forever, we as a community needs to stand together and take charge of the future and cement our history.