Town Says Efforts Being Made to Beautify WI Beach

On Tuesday, West Islip Patch published an editorial, "Town Needs to Beautify West Islip Beach." The editorial indicated that the Town of Islip should make efforts to improve the beach, which is located at the end of Beach Drive. A Town of Islip spokesperson tells West Islip Patch that the town and a task force comprised of community members are making efforts to improve the beach.

The Town of Islip issued the following information regarding the beach:

The Town of Islip has taken a number of steps to improve West Islip Beach. Last year, Suffolk County Legislator Tom Barraga worked with Islip Town Supervisor Phil Nolan to establish a task force charged with gathering community input and making suggestions to improve and beautify the beach. The task force has met several times this year, and recently submitted a "wish list" to the town with various suggested improvements. The town must now review the list to see what is financially feasible.

Last year, members of the community joined together with Keep Islip Clean to repaint the pavilion at the beach, and the town is making a concerted effort to clean up the beach for its opening on July 3.

It should be noted that attendance at the beach is minimal; the town invested thousands of dollars at the beach several years ago by installing a new playground, picnic tables and grills, but attendance at the beach did not approve. Additionally, for the last three years the town had the YMCA run a sailing campout out of the beach in an effort to boost attendance, and had lifeguards on duty seven days a week, but the area was still underutilized.

This year, the town is running a summer playground camp, and Town Councilman Gene Parrington has been in discussions with Keep Islip Clean in an effort to coordinate another beach cleanup.