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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Great Kills Park Marina Saved from Closure After Sandy

By Nicholas Rizzi | January 24, 2013 1:32pm

BAY TERRACE — The storm-damaged Great Kills Park Marina has been saved from closure after residents and officials united to demand it survive.

The National Park Service has extended the lease of the marine operator by three years, the Staten Island Advance reported. It had originally refused to extend the lease because it considered damage caused by Superstorm Sandy was too great to repair.

The Parks Service extended the lease to Mariners of the Future by the maximum amount allowed by law, the Advance said.

Boat owners at the marina banded together when they heard the news of the pending closure and started the Save Great Kills Park Marina group to keep it going.

“We weren’t going to stand for it,” Alice Ludwig, 55, who grew up spending time on the dock, told DNAinfo.com New York. “That’s why we all got together and started this ruckus.”

Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Michael Grimm joined the fight to help keep the marina open.

“[National Parks Service] needs to maintain this area,” Schumer said at a rally earlier this month. “One way or another, they better make sure that this marina stays open, plain and simple.”

Many of the dock’s 350 boats were damaged during the storm, and Mariners of the Future suffered an estimated $2 million of damage.

Robert Bernstein, Marinas of the Future's president, told the Advance he will rebuild as much as possible for the summer, and has gotten about $1.3 million in insurance money for repairs. The Parks Service would put up the rest of the money if needed, Schumer told the Advance.