after walking through the pavilion area, beach goers will walk down a boardwalk and onto the beautiful beach." The Town of Stratford owned 45 cottages on the Long Beach portion of the peninsula. For a decade, the town considered ending the leases of the seasonal homes, in part because of difficulties in protecting them. The town ended renewal of leases, and in May 2007, the remaining occupants agreed to give up their claims and moved their possessions away by barge. The cottages have since been demolished. Recent Timeline As of July 2008, three of the 45 cottages had suffered arson attacks and burned completely, and every building located on Pleasure Beach has suffered vandalism. Four vehicles have been removed, and the area is littered with trash from squatters and party-goers. The mayor of Stratford is working to clean the land and possible transactions exist to sell the Long Beach land to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. On July 25, 2008, then-governor of Connecticut, M. Jodi Rell, endorsed spending $150,000.00 to study the feasibility of restoring access to Pleasure Beach, possibly by rebuilding the bridge. As of March 15, 2009, five more of the cottages have fallen victim to arson. A report on July 2, 2009 on Fox News Channel revealed that there were no longer any residents on Pleasure Beach. As of September 3, 2009, the Connecticut Post reported that an unauthorized demolition took place on Pleasure Beach. The carousel, bumper car area, and a bandstand were all demolished without permission or permit. The remains of these areas remain on the beach. The mayors of Stratford and Bridgeport are investigating. As of March 3, 2010, a temporary road has been built down the stretch of beach to the cottages. Workers will remove as much debris as possible before March 15, when they must halt the process due to piping plovers returning to their habitat. The work will resume September 15, 2010 and continue until all cottages and debris have been removed. As of May 2011, all of the cottages have been demolished, leaving only beach behind. The park infrastructure remains, such as the theater and other formerly public buildings. On June 28, 2014, Pleasure Beach reopened to the public. The peninsula is accessible seven days a week via free water taxi located at the fishing pier on Seaview Ave. near Central Ave. in Bridgeport. The beach includes a pavilion