"Perception Counts."

Via NY Daily News:Face-lift on tap for storm-torn Beach 116th St. in Rockaway

The city plans to pump $500,000 into a vital shopping strip in Rockaway in an effort to overhaul blighted and storm-torn storefronts.

NYC Small Business Services Commissioner Robert Walsh said various city agencies are pitching in with planters, benches and better lighting to freshen up the strip. 

“Perception counts,” said Walsh, who has worked with local merchants to push for additional sanitation clean-up crews and police presence in the area.

Walsh said his agency is also providing the fledgling local merchants association with a $75,000 grant to keep the momentum going.