DEP & flooding is a topic borough wide

Jamaica:

Immediately after the rezoning was approved, the city's Buildings Department required that any new manufacturing and residential buildings within the rezoned areas must be reviewed by the Department of Environmental Protection for certification of their sewage and storm systems, according to a spokeswoman for the DOB.

Jamaica residents grill CB over new sewer inspections

"If the developer does not get certification by the DEP, then they cannot develop the property," Robert Holbrook, the city's Department of Planning liaison, explained to the board.

Residents had complaints that the rezoning was moving too quickly and that not enough was being done to improve the less-than-adequate infrastructure in the community. Many residents blamed the poor sewage and street construction for the floods unleashed by summer storms on July 18 and Aug. 8.

Let me guess, they can self-certify their DEP plans too, right?

Middle Village:

“We need a new system,” said Juniper Civic President Robert Holden at his group’s bi-monthly meeting last Thursday. “We’re the backbone of the city, we pay taxes and we want better services for it. “But we’re not going to wait in line while they keep sending (services) to Manhattan.”

Flooded Locals Demand Sewer Fix

...civic members argue that infrastructure upgrades would only do so much to stem future flooding problems. Holden believes rapid overdevelopment is also contributing to the flooding, as the spread of multi-family homes increasingly overwhelms the area’s drainage systems. Still, with a 2005 proposal to downzone portions of northern Middle Village awaiting certification from city planners, relief may be a long way coming.

City hall hearing:

"I don't want to get into why this happened, whether it's from poor sewage infrastructure or poor infrastructure management or global warming," Gennaro said. "I want solutions because, to be perfectly frank, the status quo is unacceptable."

Gennaro grills DEP on boro floods

What to do about it:

If Mayor Mike Bloomberg looked to London’s congestion pricing as a model for how to handle New York City’s traffic problem, perhaps Queens elected officials could turn to another one of the 722 communities nationwide operating on a combined sewer system for an approach to flood management.

A Rising Tide: Solutions Sought To Handle Overflow

You mean they should do work? HA!