 From 1902 to 1903, the City of New York initially attempted to create a seaside beach park in Staten Island.In 1904, the city planned to build an oceanside park in the western Rockaways near Rockaway Point (Breezy Point), supported by Jacob Riis' Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor.The Association, as well as New York City Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. and Bellevue and Allied Hospitals president John W. Brannon, also lobbied for a hospital and "convalescent home" to be established.