2 teens drown at Jacob Riis beach, where signs warn erosion causing dangerous conditions

The “People’s Beach,” which has been run by the federal government since 1974, has dwindled for years. Last summer, the Army Corps of Engineers spent $12 million to dump 360,000 cubic yards of sand in an effort to replenish the area. But much of it washed away in the winter and spring, exposing unsafe “deteriorating wooden groins, rockwork, and other structures,” the National Park Service wrote in a news release last month.