Edgemere, Long Island
 Edgemere is a neighborhood located in the borough of Queens on the Rockaway Peninsula, Long Island, New York. It is part of Queens Community Board 14.
The neighborhood is lined up to become a pleasant, safe and hygienic area with modern facilities to match the best international standards. It will surpass the best days it has seen so far, when it was first developed. Available space will be used sensibly without exceeding capacity and road and street lay-out will provide for smooth flow of traffic. Detailed operational plans have been drawn up to ensure sufficient coordination. Public utilities will be inclusive so that residents can find all routine and emergency services within the boundaries of the locality.
In 1892, the area was founded by Frederick J. Lancaster who originally named it New Venice. As a head of the group of investors, they purchased a wind-whipped, barren stretch along the Rockaway peninsula just west of Far Rockaway. In the early 20th century, Edgemere was established as a resort thriving with inexpensive summer hotels and bungalows, amusements, and boardwalk concessions. The neighborhood is now the focus of an integrated development plan which undergone a decades of negligence and waste. The massive urban renewal projects may be considered a major step in reclaiming the neighborhood. It has ensured high public participation in the planning effort. The new town that will emerge soon will incorporate the key improvements and features that the community would like to have.
Planners have decided to reduce the number of residents and dwelling units by offering relocation benefits. This will reduce congestion in the area and release space for public services. Edgemere should be an amusement area, a playground, a mecca for sea, sun and sand. If Atlantic Beach and Long Beach, which are near from here, can be summer fun spots, so can Edgemere. It has subway service that can feasibly be converted to a super-express from Manhattan or Brooklyn. Unlikely NYC neighborhoods have made comebacks, like the meatpacking area and Williamsburgh. Edgemere Park has tennis courts which consider one of the few public facilities that function to a reasonable standard in the current scene. The Rockaway Care Center on 48th Street offers basic medical services and has over 200 beds. Several New Yorkers would still come here every summer. It is not clear why the entire area has been ignored for so long, but it appears that things are on the mend. In fact, there are few structures along Edgemere Avenue and Rockaway Beach Boulevard that small, freestanding billboards attempt to catch motorist’s attention with ads for products or charities to help revitalize the town.
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