unless the residents were willing to pay taxes for a boardwalk extension to their communities. By early 1923, the city had passed resolutions to acquire title to the shore between Beach 59th and 75th Streets in Arverne, and between Beach 126th and 149th Streets in Neponsit and Belle Harbor. It was also in the process of acquiring title between Beach 25th and 59th Streets in Edgemere and Far Rockaway, and between Beach 75th and 109th Streets in Hammels, Hollands, and Seaside. The New York City Board of Estimate appropriated $8 million for a beach improvement project on the Rockaway peninsula in June 1925. The Queens borough president's office started soliciting bids to build "bulkheads, groynes, jetties and breakwaters" and to add sand to the southern shore of the Rockaway peninsula between Beach 59th and 109th Streets. The Gahagen Realty Company submitted a low bid and received a $1.26 million contract for the work. The boardwalk was slated to be completed within three years, in anticipation of an increase in Rockaway-bound traffic created by the completion of Cross Bay Boulevard. The expanded beach would be city property once the project was completed. Actual work on the boardwalk would occur after the shore-improvement projects were finished. However, work was delayed for a year because of a lack of money. By June 1926, the city had approved $1 million for the project and was speeding up plans to construct the section of boardwalk between Beach 59th and 109th Streets. Connections between sections The Board of Estimate appropriated $500,000 for the first connecting section of the boardwalk between Beach 91st and 109th Streets in mid-1927. That August, contractor Muccini & Decker reported that between 30 and 40 buildings in the boardwalk's path would have to be condemned and demolished. The contractor subsequently stated that work would progress even as the buildings were to be razed. The existing boardwalk at Hollands and Seaside, between Beach 90th and 100th Street, would be removed and replaced. Work began in September 1927, although the first pile was driven that November. By then, some $4 million had already been spent for shore protection and beach widening. The first section was dedicated in June 1928, although the portion east of Beach 102nd Street was opened to the public first, while the section west of that street opened in July 1928, except for a small gap at Beach 109th Street. With