Feb
16th

Yankee Stadium still stands: 2010

Joyce Hogi and Karen Argenti wrote a note to the State to get them to act in the public interest and demolish Yankee Stadium:  State_OPRHP_02162010 a

Here is the link to the Federal Court Decision from November 2006:  061115_Buchwald_Decision

Here is a note from the Parks Commissioner Benepe in August 2009: BenepeLetter082809

Last year, the Norwood News in the 2/5/2009 Editorial:  Tear Down the Stadium – Now! started a clock: http://www.norwoodnews.org/story/?id=1344&story=tear+down+the+stadium++now


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Filed under Bronx Media, Community Activism, Court related, Yankee Stadium Park Replacement

Jan
30th

Harris Park costs rising to $14 million

Interesting how the NY Post can get this exclusive, but the community can not get any answers.

Below is the article.  Here is the PDF for the article: Harris Park $14 M Jan 2010

————————

New York Post – Updated: Thu., Jan. 28, 2010, 1:16 PM


Bronx field now city’s $14M

blunder land

By RICH CALDER, Posted: 2:31 AM, January 19, 2010

A city plan to rebuild one of The Bronx’s biggest sports fields has morphed into a money pit for taxpayers.

Workers renovating Harris Field in Bedford Park recently uncovered contaminated soil under the playing surfaces, helping push the anticipated cost to nearly $14 million, city officials told The Post.

The price tag for the renovation had already gone from the $6.6 million announced in 2007 to $8.7 million, records show.

Now the Parks Department is confirming that it has to add another $5.2 million for cleanup because of the high levels of lead unearthed while workers were preparing to install drainage-system tanks needed to restore the popular park’s six playing fields.

Harris Field used to be part of a reservoir before the city acquired the 15-acre site in 1917.

Department spokeswoman Vickie Karp said it is believed that the park was created with “the use of incinerator ash as fill, which would explain the presence of lead.”

The original playing fields at the park were grass, but the city plans to cover two with synthetic turf.

A Parks Department official wishing to remain anonymous said that contamination wouldn’t be an issue if all the fields were going to be grass but that replacing two with turf requires digging deeper to install the drainage tanks. Karp says this is untrue.

A fiscal 2008 mayoral report showed the Parks Department topped city agencies in cost overruns with projects costing an average of 50 percent more than the original contract price. The city average was 17 percent.

Harris Field is in line to rise by more than 110 percent.

“The project shows just how poorly the city does its due diligence on parks projects,” said Geoffrey Croft, of the nonprofit group New York City Park Advocates, when told of the costs.

The project’s long delays are crippling a popular Little League that plays there.

“The Parks Department only cares about construction, not children,” said Don Bluestone, executive director of the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center.

Bluestone said the nonprofit group’s youth baseball league has gone from 1,000 players to 500 since construction began. He ripped the department for closing the entire park and relocating the league miles away to parks filled with drug dealers and plagued by flooding.

The city’s Web site says construction will be complete by the spring, but Bluestone was preparing to have his league play elsewhere this season.

rich.calder@nypost.com

NEW YORK POST is a registered trademark of NYP Holdings, Inc. (nypost.com , nypostonline.com , and newyorkpost.com are trademarks of NYP Holdings, Inc.), Copyright 2009 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy | Terms of Use


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Filed under Community Activism, NYC Media, Parkland

Nov
9th

Pedestrial Bridge connecting Van Cortlandt Park East to West

This was discussed at the last FMC meeting on Nov 5, 2009.  It seemed to catch many by surprise.  The history of the bridge is repeated here for information:

In 1999, the New York City Council passed the ULURP resolution approving the site selection to build a filter plant in Van Cortlandt Park.  The resolution promising certain things, including the Facility Monitoring Committee.

The pedestrian bridge is mentioned in the resolution and on the list of projects.    If the project is feasible, and for some reason, too expensive, then we should be given the opportunity to raise the money elsewhere.  Parks should do the report, then it has to go to the CITY COUNCIL.

HERE ARE THE DOCUMENTS:

Among the many other items included is this one:

9.) DPR shall undertake a study and impact analysis (the study) to determine whether or not a pedestrian footbridge, crossing the Major Deegan Expressway linking the heretofore and connected east and west portions of Van Cortlandt Park is technically, legally and financially feasible. Said study shall be completed by September 2002 and the results of such study shall be filed with the Speaker of the City Council and the Director of the Land Use Division of the City Council within the ten (10) days of completion. In the event that said study determines that the construction of such a pedestrian footbridge is technically, legally and financially feasible, a Budget Modification, transferring from DEP to DPR funds sufficient to design and build it shall be introduced in the Council by the Mayor within sixty (60) days of the completion of the study;

VanCortlandtMap-2007-11x17


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Filed under Community Activism, Court related, Friends of Jerome Park Reservoir, History, Jerome Park Reservoir, NYC Water, Parkland, Van Cortlandt Park

Nov
3rd

Getting ready for the DEP meeting 11/5/09 same time and place

The next Croton Facilities Monitoring Committee (CFMC) meeting will be held on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 7 PM in the DEP’s Contractor’s community office on 3660 Jerome Avenue, Bronx NY 10467 (across from the CWTP between 213th and Bainbridge)

  1. Welcome, Call Meeting to Order
  2. Consider, Adopt Minutes of    CFMC 4-30 (as revised) and 6-18 Meetings
  3. DEP Report on Jobs & Hiring
  4. Parks Dept Report on Jobs & Hiring
  5. Status Report – Jerome Park Reservoir Public  Access Study
  6. Croton Construction Update
  7. Discussion, Set Next Meeting CFMC Principals

Topics should include questions concerning the below listed documents:

1.  Comptroller’s Audits

• DEP’s Oversight of Costs to Construct the CWTP, FR09-110A, 9/1/2009 – http://bit.ly/AI5Pr
• DEP’s Progress in Constructing the CWTP, FR08-121A, 9/1/2009 – http://bit.ly/1a4a3E

Community response  WaterBlogged.org » From Guest Pens: Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz – Croton is one of the Mayor’s worst failures http://bit.ly/3Xawfi

2.  Public comments in June and DEP response in September

June Public written:  Why_to_the_DEP_June_2009 (verbal comments in minutes we have not seen yet)

CRO-313-312OS Minor Mod RTC 07-24-09 v2

CRO_Design Commission Response_090728_FINAL

PDC Response 2 – Friend of VCP

3. Community’s response to the Design Commission

Deisgn_Comm_re_Parking_MGH_101309


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Filed under Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, Bronx Media, Community Activism, Notices/Alerts, OUEL, Parkland, Reservoir, Storms and Runoff

Oct
23rd

Thurs. 10/29/09, 6:30 pm Community Members of the Croton FMC meet at Vladeck Hall

On Thursday, October 29, 2009 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Community Members of the Croton Facilities Monitoring Committee (CFMC) – Bronx Community Boards 7, 8 &12, Borough President Ruben Diaz and Council Member Oliver Koppell, will hold an informational meeting on the audits prepared in response to the December 2007 CFMC motion concerning the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

The public is invited to attend this presentation. A representative of the New York City Comptroller’s office will present the September 1, 2009 Audit Reports listed below:

The audits can be found at the following links:
• DEP’s Oversight of Costs to Construct the CWTP, FR09-110A, 9/1/2009 – http://bit.ly/AI5Pr
• DEP’s Progress in Constructing the CWTP, FR08-121A, 9/1/2009 – http://bit.ly/1a4a3E

VLADECK HALL, Amalgamated Housing Co-op, 74 Van Cortlandt Park South, enter off of Hillman Avenue, Bronx, NY 10463.

Parking is limited, please use public transportation.

Bring a friend
Refreshments


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Filed under Community Activism, Friends of Jerome Park Reservoir, Jerome Park Reservoir, NYC Water, Parkland, Reservoir, Thought you might be interested in this, Van Cortlandt Park

Oct
17th

Design at the Mosholu Golf Course

Below please find a letter from concerned activists to the Design Commission on the Mosholu Golf Course.

As you may remember from last October 2008, the DEP took more land then they were supposed to take.  That is, more than the 43 acres already alienated.  Instead of giving it back as they were supposed to do, they extended into more land.

Now they are saying that the Parks Department needs to take more land from the public parkland.

In the words often heard stated by Dart Westphal, “you can not tell just by looking, you have to figure it out,” here is a letter from some interested persons.

Deisgn_Comm_re_Parking_MGH_101309

http://www.waterblogged.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/cwtp_above_ground_facilities_mgc_jpr-112008.pdf


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Filed under Community Activism, Parkland, Van Cortlandt Park

Sep
26th

What’s going on at the Jerome Park Reservoir?

Well, here we are at the end of September 2009 and the Demo Plant is finally, finally going down.

Temporary Building to Model Filtration Methods
Temporary Building to Model Filtration Methods on Goulden Avenue looking south, Bronx, NY — Potentially the site of the Outdoor Urban Ecology Lab (OUEL)
NYC DEP Off Site work for the CWTP at the Jerome Park Reservoir, Bronx, NY, September 2009
NYC DEP Off Site work for the CWTP at the Jerome Park Reservoir, Bronx, NY, September 2009
NYC DEP JPR work on the CWTP, Goulden and 205 St. Sound Barrier half painted white.
NYC DEP JPR work on the CWTP, Goulden and 205 St. Sound Barrier half painted white.


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Filed under Community Activism, Friends of Jerome Park Reservoir, Jerome Park Reservoir, OUEL, Parkland, Reservoir

Sep
21st

Riverdale Press, 9/17/19 Keep Investigating Filter Plant Project

—————-

Point of view: More investigation

needed at filtration plant

By Karen Argenti

City Comptroller William Thompson provided many of us with a fresh drink of water with his audits of the Croton Water Filtration Plant, which is one of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s biggest boondoggles and now confirmed as one of the biggest frauds in the city’s history.

Many following this scandal closely were not the least bit surprised at Mr. Thompson’s finding that the timing and planning have been bungled, nor did we blink an eye at unjustifiable cost overruns into the billions. We’ve known this and have said it repeatedly all along.

But there’s a missing piece in the comptroller’s report and that is to answer the fundamental questions of why? Why were the Department of Environmental Protection’s calculations so far off? Though DEP incompetence is legendary, former Commissioner Chris Ward’s misguided insistence that the plant should be put in the Bronx because it was the cheapest place to build by hundreds of millions of dollars cannot be ignored.

There was a fascinating — and largely overlooked — revelation in the report. That is the creation of a new Cost Estimating Division of the Bureau of Engineering and Construction that has one function: conduct regular meetings between the DEP, other city agencies and the project engineers and contractors.

The comptroller needs to go the next step and fully investigate the relationship between Mr. Bloomberg’s DEP and those who gained most from the experimental underground design in Van Cortlandt Park — the diggers and dirt haulers and the contractors, consultants and engineers who would not have been needed had the plant been built on top of the ground in Westchester.

Those of us who have been in this fight for years will recall that former General Contractors Association (GCA) Executive Director Frank McArdle made it clear that he participated in regular meetings with DEP leadership to offer guidance on the bids for this project. Well, now it’s time for the public to get full details on the nature of those meetings. What was discussed, what was the DEP advised and who had influence in the decision-making that landed the hideous plant in a Bronx park?

Further, what did former DEP Commissioner Emily Lloyd mean when she stated at a meeting in Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz’s office in the summer of 2007 that “there’s a natural affinity between the DEP and its contractors?”

Also, it was hard not to notice DEP’s Mark Lanaghan’s discomfort at being asked about the relationship between his agency, their contractors and the bid process during an Croton Filtration Plant Monitoring Committee meeting earlier this year. His face got red and he said in no uncertain terms can the public know more about the DEP’s deliberations and relationships with contractors and engineers and how they negotiated the bids on the Croton filtration project.

There are many eye-opening discrepancies to find. For example, how is it that Schiavone Construction Company won the bid on the first contract even before the site was approved by the City Council?

Mr. Thompson’s report says construction delays were caused in part by the first contractor who left the project. What he failed to mention is that this contractor, Perini Construction, was under federal investigation into suspected fraud in the granting of contracts for minority-owned businesses. How was Perini able to qualify and why were there only two bids? Was there open bidding as required by law, or was this simply handed off as, you know, kind of an agreement between friends?

It’s obvious that these secret relationships between a city agency and contractors do not promote the public good. They open the door for processes that are not transparent and, as we now know, are not economical. In this case, the cost to the public is $2 billion and counting, not to mention the environmental devastation this project has caused.

With what is now confirmed, that the DEP based their decision on where to site the plant on false numbers, that former DEP Commissioner Ward bolted the DEP for a plum job with the GCA, that there have been extensive backroom relationships between the DEP and contractors, there is no doubt that Thompson needs to find the missing piece in his otherwise stellar reports.

Karen Argenti is a longtime activist on environmental issues.

Riverdale Press, September 17, 2009 – http://bit.ly/12LGKg



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Filed under Community Activism, Friends of Jerome Park Reservoir, Jerome Park Reservoir, Reservoir

Sep
13th

Comptroller William Thompson Audit, September 1, 2009

The City of New York Office of the Comptroller, Bureau of Financial Audit, Audit on the Department of Environmental Protection’s

Progress in Constructing the Croton Water Treatment Plant, FR08-121A
September 1, 2009 - Download the Complete Audit Report (pdf 356kb)

OVERSIGHT OF COSTS TO CONSTRUCT THE CROTON WATER TREATMENT PLANT, FR09-110A, SEPTEMBER 1, 2009  Download the Complete Audit Report (pdf 317kb)

Thank you Comptroller Thompson.  Keep up the good work.


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Filed under Community Activism, Friends of Jerome Park Reservoir, Reservoir

Aug
15th

Filming a movie at old Yankee Stadium – spring to fall 2009: Is this responsible for the broken promises for the people’s parks replacement?

_________________________________________________
Foiks, check it out.  They were using the stadium to shoot a film, even though many people in Parks told us at Speakup, BCEQ Water Conference, and then the Council Foster meeting the demo contract was awarded, and then not awarded and then awarded through EDC.
  • Did anyone tell CB4 as required on the Film permit?  Or is YS so big, it does not require notice?
  • Did anyone tell the film company that a 40 day shoot is holding back work required to let the neighborhood people get parkland back?  Will that be part of their story?
Ugh!  Is the clock still ticking on the Norwood News?
___________________________________________________________________________

Here are some Youtube films of the whole thing

  • December 09, 2008 -Yes Network’s Yankees Magazine is the official weekly magazine of America’s greatest sports franchise. Hosted by Nancy Newman, this episode features the upcoming NY Yankee movie “Keeper of the Pins… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nqFD7gsn4A

  • Yes Network’s Yankees Magazine is the official weekly magazine of America’s greatest sports franchise. Hosted by Nancy Newman, this episode features the upcoming NY Yankee movie “Keeper of the Pinstripes”. It features a profile of actor Josh Lucas. The original air date 2/20/09.  (For more information, please visit www.samarianproductions.com. ). . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTQusypWZyI

What to know what the stadium looks like now?  Well here it is courtesy of CBS http://www.wcbs880.com/pages/4926850.php?imageGalleryXRefId=1266515


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Filed under Community Activism, Parkland, Sustainable Communities, Thought you might be interested in this, Yankee Stadium Park Replacement

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