'John Cori Warned You'

'John Cori Warned You'

"John Cori Warned You" is the title of a documentary named for a longtime resident of the Rockaways.

Cori's warning was the fact that the beaches were so severely eroded that he believed that would really cause major damage during a big storm -- and it did.

He wasn't the only one sounding the alarm. Eddy Pastore was putting up fliers all summer warning Rockaway residents that they were danger of flooding.

It was a premonition that came very true right before these two men's eyes and in fact, right in their own basements.

When Hurricane Sandy struck the co-founders of the advocacy group Friends of the Rockaways saw their neighborhood in ruins. They decided it was time to amplify their message.

That's where filmmaker Dan Brown comes in. He initially approached Cori and Pastore to put together a short video on their cause, but soon the project became much bigger than that.

"We're still in a very vulnerable state and this movie is hoping to get the word out so people can see the state the Rockaways is in," Brown said.

In addition to highlighting the ongoing rebuilding process here in the Rockaways the group hopes this documentary does bring change in the long run, among the solutions they're calling for, more rock jetties and beach reconstruction.

On the rock jetties, the group points to a strip along Shore Front Parkway where part of the beach has rock jetties and the other does not.

"The proof is in the pudding, you see the ones out here you see the sand is still between, each jetty there's like over 150 to 200 feet of sand, where there's no rock jetties down on this end towards the west, there's no sand, there's no boardwalk, there's no homes in some areas," Cori said.

The Army Corps of Engineers has been studying the area for years to determine the best form of beach protection. But these men say time is running out.

"The city state and federal government haven't been able to do something and make us feel like, ok we're going to do something so this doesn't happen again, and that's what a lot of the fear has been about," Brown said.

That is what the movie about, Brown said. He plans to screen it next month here in the rockaways, but then throughout the city and beyond.