raviepoo
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If you want to know more about Almost Paradise, look at this website:
www.scubaparadise.com
Back in September I discussed the impending change with Jay Velaquez, who has run Almost Paradise for the last 10 years. He has run the facility with several silent partners. He has been actively looking for investors to help him buy the property. He has not been able to put a deal together. An investor is buying the property and intends to develop it. Neither Jay nor anyone else in the New York dive community knows the identity of the investor or his/her/their plans for use of the site.
Almost Paradise is a waterfront restaurant with restrooms, benches and showers that divers can use to set up and rinse their gear. The streets around the shore line do not have any legal parking places, so divers pay Almost Paradise 17$ per day to park on the lot.
As of today, the Almost Paradise facility is closed. I have heard that it is still possible to get on to the parking lot, however, as the closing has not occurred yet and the property has not changed hands.
After the closing (Oct 15 by some accounts, Oct 31 by others) divers will not be able to use the parking lot. To dive the area we will have to park in the street and take our chances on 150$ parking tickets. (Thank you Mayor Bloomberg!) NYC traffic cops are entitled to issue 1 ticket every hour. If the cops start enforcing parking regulations aggressively, it could mean a nice little windfall for the City of NY.
LIDA (the Long Island Divers Association) is urging the NY dive community to write letters to the local papers requesting that some kind of provisions be made to maintain ocean access at the site for divers. At my dive club last night someone suggested that we also write to the NY Parks Department and ask to have some soft of access carved out of the park that is immediately adjacent to the property.
If you want to help, please write a letter. If you have been diving at Beach 9th Street since you were a teenager, please include details about how your experiences at the site have enriched your life.
www.scubaparadise.com
Back in September I discussed the impending change with Jay Velaquez, who has run Almost Paradise for the last 10 years. He has run the facility with several silent partners. He has been actively looking for investors to help him buy the property. He has not been able to put a deal together. An investor is buying the property and intends to develop it. Neither Jay nor anyone else in the New York dive community knows the identity of the investor or his/her/their plans for use of the site.
Almost Paradise is a waterfront restaurant with restrooms, benches and showers that divers can use to set up and rinse their gear. The streets around the shore line do not have any legal parking places, so divers pay Almost Paradise 17$ per day to park on the lot.
As of today, the Almost Paradise facility is closed. I have heard that it is still possible to get on to the parking lot, however, as the closing has not occurred yet and the property has not changed hands.
After the closing (Oct 15 by some accounts, Oct 31 by others) divers will not be able to use the parking lot. To dive the area we will have to park in the street and take our chances on 150$ parking tickets. (Thank you Mayor Bloomberg!) NYC traffic cops are entitled to issue 1 ticket every hour. If the cops start enforcing parking regulations aggressively, it could mean a nice little windfall for the City of NY.
LIDA (the Long Island Divers Association) is urging the NY dive community to write letters to the local papers requesting that some kind of provisions be made to maintain ocean access at the site for divers. At my dive club last night someone suggested that we also write to the NY Parks Department and ask to have some soft of access carved out of the park that is immediately adjacent to the property.
If you want to help, please write a letter. If you have been diving at Beach 9th Street since you were a teenager, please include details about how your experiences at the site have enriched your life.
