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:

• RESOLUTION: Reso 933 of 1999
  
• LIST OF MITIGATION PROJECTS:Mosholu Mitigation Res 993 of 1999

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;

• CITY IS NEGLIGENT ON BRONX HS of SCIENCE EMERGENCY PLANNING
• NOT PREPARED IN CASE OF CHLORINE ACCIDENT

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz warned that poor city agency response to the March 20 bomb scare at the Bronx High School of Science underscores the city’s negligence in emergency planning for its most prestigious school.

“With the irresponsible DEP handling deadly chlorine across the street, it’s alarming that first responders and other emergency teams have no clear evacuation plan.” the Assemblyman said, “Looking at the response from a risk management perspective, I give them a ‘D’.“

Two times between June, 2007 and October, 2008 the DEP spilled chlorine at the Jerome Park Reservoir — directly across the street from Bronx Science.

“Thankfully those accidents weren’t large enough to directly affect the school,” Assemblyman Dinowitz said. “But incredibly, there is nothing in place for any of the schools in the area in case something more serious does happen” he said. “One would think emergency planning would be the City’s first priority, but judging from their non-existent plan in case of a chlorine leak and how last week’s bomb scare was handled, clearly it’s the farthest thing from their minds.”

In the most recent incident at Bronx Science, after an emailed bomb threat was received, a fire drill was called, followed by an announcement to evacuate the building. But without effective communication systems to help coordinate and no support from the NYPD to direct traffic, the process to get students to a safe haven was severely hampered. As a result, hundreds of students were limited to walking on the sidewalk and when they got to nearby Clinton High School, the metal detection process meant they would have to stand in the street and wait.

“During this sort of emergency, you want to close the streets to traffic and have everyone move into shelter as soon as possible,” said Assemblyman Dinowitz, who graduated from Bronx Science in 1971. “School officials reacted to the bomb scare as best they could, but without proper guidance from the NYPD, FDNY, OEM, and DEP, there’s no question that student safety was compromised,” said Assemblyman Dinowitz. “Does something have to go terribly wrong before the city reacts?”

“The school did a good job but there’s need for more support from the City and NYPD,” said Bob Lang, head of the school’s UFT chapter. “It’s also troublesome that they are handling chlorine gas right across the street. If there is a chlorine spill are we supposed to be in the building or out of the building? We need professional advice in terms of planning.”

“Bronx Science’s parents are very concerned about potential threats to the health and safety of our children in the Jerome Park Reservoir area, whether due to noise, dirt, dust, and truck traffic related to the DEP’s drilling, possible deadly chlorine gas leaks, or emergency evacuations,” said Jennifer Nelson, Co-President of the Bronx H.S. of Science Parents Association. “The responsible city agencies have not demonstrated to us that they have well-thought out and developed procedures in place.”

”Also, communication with Bronx Science and the other schools in the area has not been very effective. We call upon the City to lay the necessary groundwork and increase our confidence that emergency situations, should they occur, would be effectively dealt with,” Ms. Nelson said.

Emergency planning in the area has other problems, too. “Just as the DEP did not notify us about the chlorine leaks, no one notified the residents in Scott Tower to remain inside during the evacuation and investigation,” stated Sonia Lappin, a long time resident of nearby Scott Tower Housing Cooperative.

Ironically, two hours after the ‘all-clear ‘in the bomb scare, the DEP sent out an email notifying local community groups and schools that they would begin hoe-ram digging across the street near the Jerome Park Reservoir. “With all this going on, we can only hope the contractor’s employees are prepared to take positive steps in case of an emergency,” stated Karen Argenti of the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality (BCEQ), “because the city is not ready to.”

. …………The American Society of Civil Engineers, in a report released last week, essentially described the state of American infrastructure as dreadful. More than a quarter of the nation’s bridges were rated structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Public transportation systems and the nation’s dams and levees are generally in sorry shape, many of them more than a half-century old.

Listen to what the report had to say about the water we drink:

“America’s drinking water systems face an annual shortfall of at least $11 billion to replace aging facilities that are near the end of their useful life and to comply with existing and future federal water regulations. This does not account for growth in the demand for drinking water over the next 20 years. Leaking pipes lose an estimated seven billion gallons of clean drinking water a day.”

The society gave the nation’s infrastructure an overall grade of D and said it would require an investment of $2.2 trillion over five years to get it back into decent shape ………………..

And, there is an interesting video I found mentioned in the comments section:  http://www.liquidassets.psu.edu/

http://www.nipc.org/environment/sustainable/development/communities/index.htm

While written for Illinois, this set of 13 4-page fact sheets on the broad range of community sustainability issues are broadly applicable.

Many of the fact sheets address low impact development, aquatic habitat conservation, conservation development, and other water quality aspects of smart growth. They are excellent, and most communities could benefit greatly from having publications like these to promote community sustainability. They really wouldn’t need to be modified to be usable in most locations.

More generally, you can search broadly around the web sites for www.nipc.org as well as www.growingsensibly.org and find many usseful resources.

/Karen

Agency Oversight

DEP REPORT CARD

CDWC Issue DEP Report Card, May 15, 2008

On May 15, the Clean Drinking Water Coalition (CDWC) — The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, NYPIRG and Riverkeeper — announced the release of their first annual DEP Report Card: “Making the Grade: New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s Drinking Water Protection Programs.” The DEP Report Card grades, analyzes, and provides recommendations for thirty-three DEP watershed programs which protect New York City’s drinking water.

http://www.riverkeeper.org/campaign.php/watershed/we_are_doing/1544-dep-report-card

Click on the link above to continue to read the article and report on the Riverkeeper Home Page, then return to our page to comment.

Los Angeles Eyes Sewage as a Source of Water

LOS ANGELES — Faced with a persistent drought and the threat of tighter water supplies, Los Angeles plans to begin using heavily cleansed sewage to increase drinking water supplies, joining a growing number of cities considering similar measures.

The watersheds that supply water to New York City are roughly the size of Delaware.

Thank you from Michael who saved the bottle cap message for me.

Karen Argenti and Dennis Nagle leading a group of community residents around the walk inside the fence of Jerome Park Reservoir.  We estimate the date around 1998-99.  People love to walk on the level circumference walkway near the water.

This is a great service of google.books (http://books.google.com/) where you can read this really old book online. It is an amazing description of the water system, how it was designed, and what it was modeled after.

The Title is: A Memoir of the Construction, Cost, and Capacity of the Croton Aqueduct Compiled from Official Documents: Together with an Account of the Civic Celebration of the Fourteenth October, 1842, on Occasion of the Completion of the Great Work: Preceded by a Preliminary Essay on Ancient and Modern Aqueducts By Charles King.

The link is:

http://books.google.com/books?id=FZ4OAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA146&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=0_0#PPR1,M1