MINDS IN THE GUTTER call for submissions seeks designs for stormwater management in the public right-of-way for juried exhibition and resource guide.

Minds in the Gutter, a project of the Stormwater Infrastructure Matters (SWIM) Coalition, is currently accepting submissions for innovative design solutions that manage runoff from roadways within the public right of way (that’s public space, streets and sidewalks). Submissions must be received before 5pm on February 15, 2010. Details for submitting your project can be found online at  www.mindsinthegutter.org.

Kate Zidar of SWIM asks, “How can we utilize the existing 6K miles of roadway and accompanying 12K miles of sidewalk as an opportunity for stormwater management in NYC?”

Submissions will be reviewed by an esteemed panel of judges from city and state agencies as well as academia and the private sector. The results will be exhibited in April 2010 and will be included in a resource guide for print and online distribution. Above all, through this process we hope to create a collaborative of bright minds in the gutter.

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(Editor’s note:  We started the category of Guest Pens.  Just send the info in on any one of our comment section (it is always monitored), and I will post.  Some people do not want to use their name, but I have to verify that they are credible. )

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz

3107 Kingsbridge Avenue, Bronx, New York 10463 ● (718) 796-5345

November 1, 2009

The meeting that the five community members of the Croton Facilities Monitoring Committee (CFMC) held in the Amalgamated House’s Vladeck Hall on Thursday, October 29 illustrated conclusively that the water filtration plant boondoggle that is costing taxpayers unnecessary billions and is being grossly mismanaged by a secretive NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is one of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s worst failures.

At the meeting, Deputy Comptroller John Graham explained that the recently released audits by Comptroller Bill Thompson found that the DEP could not account for the astronomical rise in costs as compared with their original budgeting for the project.  Many who attended spoke emphatically that the comptroller’s findings definitively support their long-held claim that the DEP cooked the books in order to see to it that the plant was built in Van Cortlandt Park and to create a lucrative bonanza for contractors and engineers while sticking everyday New Yorkers with an outrageous bill.

Specifically, the comptroller reported that the DEP failed to account for a cost escalation rate above those substantiated by industry indexes such as the Engineering News-Record Construction index of 5.04%, or the Handy-Whitman Index of Public Utility Construction of 5.73%, or the Prevailing Wage Rates of 4.7%.

I agree with the Comptroller:  “(The DEP’s) Underlying estimate was unreliable and lacked sufficient documentation to substantiate its accuracy and completeness.”  The still unanswered question of why they did it and who benefited from it was also raised at the meeting, but not surprisingly, though DEP and contractor representatives were present, they did not participate in the discussion.  What is clear is that we all need to continue our due diligence until the truth is definitively known.

Though not an official CFMC meeting, the gathering was a clear statement to Mayor Bloomberg’s DEP that a majority of the seven-member committee is fed up over the unexplained costs, debilitating and expensive construction delays, and ongoing DEP stonewalling and lack of transparency as indicated in the comptroller’s audit.   It was made clear that at the next CFMC meeting, scheduled for Thursday, November 5 at 7:00 p.m. at the DEP office at 3660 Jerome Avenue, the comptroller’s report is going to be on the agenda and Mayor Bloomberg’s DEP is going to have to attempt to justify their actions and also change the opaque processes which contribute to the scandal on a daily basis.

Since its establishment by the City Council in 2004, the committee charged with monitoring this project was manipulated by the DEP, thereby hampering its work.  However, in 2007 after my office reported that the DEP’s explanation rate for the cost escalation was not correct and that DEP’s stated justifications were invalid smoke screens, the committee finally stood up to then-Commissioner Emily Lloyd, and voted to ask for the audit.  In a pathetic and obvious attempt to avoid inquiry, though the report was issued almost two months ago, the DEP has balked at scheduling meetings of the CFMC until after the mayoral election.

But Thursday’s history-making meeting proves that no matter how much the Mayor controls the Manhattan media, the people of the Bronx must continue to stand strong in the pursuit of truthful information from City Hall and diligence over the administration’s ongoing attempt to hide from scrutiny.

I applaud the work of the community members of the Croton Facilities Monitoring Committee, and look forward to its next meeting on Thursday, November 5 so we can hear what the DEP has to say.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, 81^st AD

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(Editor’s note:  We are going to start a new category of Guest Pens.  Just send the info in on any one of our comment section (it is always monitored), and I will post.  Some people do not want to use their name, but I will verify that they are credible. )

As we prepared for CPC testimony on the Lower Concourse Rezoning, we read the fine print. Well, Con Ed chimed in, but not at the public hearings.  Apparently they are the fee holder for 287 Exterior Street. A modification allowed by the NYC Department of City Planning, BUT NOT YET APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL, would give them a special allowance.

First they block the Bronx Kill, now they are trying to block access to the Harlem River.  It is disappointing to say the least.

Defend the Harlem River Greenway. No Special Treatment for Con Ed! Testify. Tell your Council member to vote no, or remove this special treatment from the language.

Details at:
N 090302 ZRX        Lower Concourse Rezoning*      BX 1 at:
http://a030-cpc.nyc.gov/html/cpc/index.aspx?searchfor=lower+concourse
p.29

and
See Con Ed’s letter asking for this special treatment at page 44-48 of:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/env_review/lower_concourse/apendix_n.pdf

Is this fair, or right?

http://www.friendsofbrookpark.org
Activists are a threatened species, but there’s safety in numbers. If you can’t be active, please $upport your local environmental activist.
646.648.4362
PO Box 801
The South Bronx, NY 10454

Editor’s Comment:  Today, June 25, we spoke with Con Edison’s representative and have been assured that they are in accord with the Harlem River Working Group’s goals of a greenway and increased waterfront access.    Under the current zoning, Con Edison does not have to provide access.  With the new zoning, they wanted to discuss how big the pedestrian walkway would be, as well as how much of a ribbon of land around the inlet would lead to the water.  Check out the parcel of land and see where the inlet is — 287 Exterior Street.

Now we can see how important it is to keep talking to each other.  Thank you all for you interest.  ~Karen

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(Editor’s note:  We are going to start a new category of Guest Pens.  Just send the info in on any one of our comment section (it is always monitored), and I will post.  Some people do not want to use their name, but I will verify that they are credible. )

E-mail : friends@ferrypointpark.org
URL    : http://ferrypointpark.org

First we want to congratulate Pepsi Cola Bottling Co. on the completion of their huge facility on Brush Avenue. We again thank them for their tour of the facility on May 2nd. We then want to thank Pepsi for the contributions of water to the “Friends of Ferry Point Park” who are responsible for gathering hundreds of volunteers each year to clean the waterfront of the East River and Westchester Creek.

“Friends” also works to for fill the tree stewardships of the 3000 sapling trees donated by the Prince of Monaco to create a living 9/11 Memorial Forest at Ferry Point Park. Our volunteers also nurtured Street Trees on Brush Avenue and planted hundreds of daffodils in the 9/11 Hilltop Memorial Grove and the 9/11 Throggs Neck Triangle Grove. We appreciate your water donation. We have a special thank you for Eddie Prost of Holt Construction for being there for each problem on Senger Place during the construction phase. Now the problems we face at the site of the new Pepsi Facility, Flooding , constant noise.

Flooding: Our previous Borough President was proud to announce this Pepsi development yet there were no modifications made to enhance the “Unimproved” streets surrounding the future Pepsi Plant. Millions were given in tax abatements and incentives to get Pepsi to stay in the Bronx, and yet no attempt has been made to improve the main Street that their 95 plus vehicles will parade down each day and night 7 days a week. It is embarrassing to see 21 million spent on the construction of this building and the trucks can’t get out of the neighborhood due to flooding by the neglect of foresight by the NYC EDC/DEP/DOT.

The horrendous Flooding on Brush Avenue was covered in detail by News 12 NY on June 18 and 19th. It is obviously a problem to the entire area of the NE Bronx if there is a 300ft by 40 foot/ 3ft deep pond forming at 650 Brush Avenue each time it rains hard and heavy. We understand that Brush Avenue is an “unimproved Street” and therefore some sidewalks and many catch basins were never installed. BUT how does NYC get away with allowing huge warehouses filled with delivery vehicles and a 6 acre Pepsi Distribution Facility to be built on an “Unimproved Street”? When and how do we get it upgraded to handle the water and traffic in this portion of the “Zerega Avenue Industrial Zone”?

Before the construction of this building, over 200 UPS Trucks and 200 Cable Vision Vans used this area each day. In heavy rains there was a large puddle. We cannot remember a time where trucks could not pass. We commented at one of the first Pepsi meetings that they would not be able to use the basement parking that they planned due to underground fresh water springs that historically ran through this area. Pepsi had to redesign the plans and use the roof top to park. We kept a close eye on the construction of the Pepsi Facility and witnessed the large retention tanks put below ground. We also made note of the swales that were included around the building. We asked at the dinner meeting where the water from the building would go. We asked Ken Kerns to ask the same question (there were different answers, I was told that Pepsi had a special permit to put the water directly into Westchester Creek and Ken was told it would go into the sewer system). One portion of our double lined sewer goes directly into the creek so I just thought that’s what they meant. At the meeting on May 2nd, I asked if the rain water would be directly fed into Westchester Creek, the answer was eventually.

We have one of the most advanced sewer systems in NYC. Brush Avenue has 2 separate lines to remove water from the Ferry Point Area. One is the sanitary line and one is the rain/runoff line. According to Catherine Poggi (our Historian and yes, my Mom) she witnessed the risers being put in place to have catch basins connected to the rain run off line. But DEP has neglected to install these catch basins. We have asked Com.Bd.10 to include us in the budget this year for a drainage study and we were told that this budget item was accepted. Even if the study was to start tomorrow who will protect the deliveries and stalled vehicles that have been submerged in 3 ft of water? How do the customers and workers walk through this dangerous water to get to UPS?

We want something done now!!! The new houses nearby have had flooding in their basements since Pepsi leveled the land, How many vehicles will be damaged? How many tow truck fees will be paid? How many UPS deliveries and Cablevision repair/installation schedules will be missed? How many lawsuits will be filed? A sidewalk with 3 catch basins would solve this problem.

My group has warned about this situation and now it is here. We are willing to offer our past correspondences and 311 complaint numbers to the persons with damaged vehicles to support any claims against the City of NY for their neglect.

The area of Brush Avenue in Bronx 10465 is in dire need of catch basins and sidewalks
The development of this area into a portion of the Zerega Ave. Industrial zone can only
“hold its head above water” if extreme ASAP measures are taken by our elected officials.
This week alone hundreds of vehicles from UPS/Cablevision and Pepsi have been stalled,
immersed and damaged by 3 ft of water that is 300 feet in length.

In May a stalled vehicle in this flooded area ended up in a 3 way collision at this location (650 Brush Ave.) I am requesting a representative from the offices of our Elected Officials to accompany me on a short tour of these problems. I will update the entire community which is affected by delayed UPS deliveries, Cablevision installation/repair delays as a result of this ongoing flooding.

Noise complaints: I have had 23 noise complaints from our members about two separate noises from the Pepsi Building. There is the constant 24 hour loud motor noise humming and the intermittent load chattering motor noise that occurs 24 hours but at various intervals. We are asking for help to address these noises ASAP. Neighbors are suffering from interrupted sleep, headaches and irritability.

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