Video: First Video Reports Of Plumb Beach Erosion, Pollution From 1977

This old news clip is full of vintage goodness, but it also highlights the longstanding serious issue of destruction at Plumb Beach.

Andy Novick, founder of the Plumb Beach Surf Club, 30-year Plumb Beach advocate, and Sheepshead Bay’s first unofficial vlogger, submitted the video above.

He writes:

I have been screaming about Plumb Beach for over 30 years… Mother nature wants to connect the Bay to Gerritsen Creek, like it used to be over a 100 years ago. The only reason sand was put in at Plumb Beach was to build the Belt Parkway, the Robert Moses plan. Let the next hurricane connect Gerritsen Creek to Plumb Beach, flood the Belt and give back to Mother Nature what she wants anyway.

Novick may have been the first to sound the alarm about erosion and garbage at Plumb Beach, having sent this video around to all the local news broadcasters. He said the stations had never even heard of the beach at the time, but, in response to his video, sent news crews down to cover the issue, and, of course, wherever there are news cameras there are local pols.

Here’s one of the resulting news reports, featuring some very familiar faces:

I don’t know where to start, the hand-held rat? Markowitz as a young state senator? The awesomely 70’s hair? Kingsborough Community College giving academic credit for windsurfing?

Regardless, little has changed in more than 30 years. The pollution and dumping at the beach is better monitored, and there has been at least one major sand restoration in that time. But here we are today, facing similar challenges as the Army Corps continues to ponder long-term solutions against erosion – just as they were 30 years ago.