Breezy Point, Queens

Breezy Point is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, located on the western end of the Rockaway peninsula, between Rockaway Inlet and Jamaica Bay on the landward side, and the Atlantic Ocean. The neighborhood is governed by Queens Community Board 14. The community is run by the Breezy Point Cooperative, in which all residents pay the maintenance, security, and community-oriented costs involved with keeping the community private. The cooperative owns the entire 500 acre community; residents own their homes and hold shares in the cooperative.

Breezy Point Tip, to the west of the community, is part of Gateway National Recreation Area, which is run by the National Park Service. This isolated, 200 acre area includes an ocean-facing beach, a shoreline on Jamaica Bay, sand dunes, and marshland. It is a breeding spot for the piping plover, least tern, black skimmer, American oystercatcher and common tern.

Demographics
According to the United States Census Bureau, the community's ZIP code (11697) has the nation's highest concentration of Irish-Americans, at 60.3% as of the United States Census, 2000. It functions mainly as a summer get-away for many residents of New York. Estimates put summer residency at 12,000, while year-round residency was 4337 in the most recent Census.

Due to its large concentration of Irish-Americans, Breezy Point has been called the "Irish Riviera." Others within the community refer to it as Cois Farraige, Gaelic for "By The Sea."

History
Breezy Point was sold to the Atlantic Improvement State Corporation for $17 million dollars in 1960. The residents of the community purchased half of the land for approximately $11 million and formed the Breezy Point Cooperative. Today, it consists of about 3,500 homes.

Breezy Point is patrolled by its own private security force that restricts access to owners, renters and their guests. It also features three of New York City's ten remaining volunteer fire departments.

Ecology
According the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, beaches on the Breezy Point peninsula are home to one of the most diverse breeding shorebird areas in the Metropolitan area. Shorebirds that breed here include:


 * The federally threatened Piping Plover
 * The New York State threatened Common Tern
 * The New York State threatened Least Tern
 * The NY State Species of Special Concern Black Skimmer
 * The Migratory Bird Treaty Act-protected American Oystercatcher

The Beaches are owned by the cooperative and are federally and state-protected areas in which development is extremely limited.

Education
Breezy Point residents are zoned for schools in the New York City Department of Education. The school is P.S. 114 Belle Harbor for grades Kindergarten through 8.

Shopping
Breezy Point Shopping Center has a grocery store called Deirdre Maeve's, a Ridgewood Savings Bank, a hardware store, Henley's Hanger, an independent gift shop, "Blarney's," a pub, a liquor store, and a coffee shop. The main office of the Cooperative is also located here. Elsewhere in the community are a travel agency, a surf shop, a beauty salon, a beach bar, and two restaurants. The Dug Out, a walk-up bar-style candy shop, also provides ice cream, pizza and occasionally hot dogs. It only operates during the summer and is a popular hangout among the teenaged community.

Notable residents
Notable current and former residents of Breezy Point include:
 * Charles J. Hynes. Kings County District Attorney.
 * Brian McNamee, former strength and conditioning coach for the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays.
 * Frank McCourt, author; Angela's Ashes. Mr. McCourt mentions in his memoir Tis that his mother Angela McCourt spent time with him at a house in Breezy Point.