A city carpenter not involved with the project was overheard one recent afternoon marveling at the retaining wall under construction along Hendricks and Sherman avenues, and as he passed the site, he wondered aloud where the funds came from to have bankrolled such a "heck of a job."The right kind of restoration
The answer to his question: Capital funds set aside following the Henry Hudson wall collapse of 2005 to repair public retaining walls supported the project, and city contractors took pride in restoring the beauty of the 19th-century stonework.
The .78-acre tract at the top of a hilltop straddling St. George and New Brighton, used as an embankment by British soldiers during the Revolutionary War, only became a park in 2003, when Councilman Michael McMahon (D-North Shore) allocated funds for the city to purchase the site from private owners, preventing its development.
Very interesting! We in Queens have been told by our councilpersons since they took office way back in 2001 that the City has no money in the budget for land acquisition to create new parks or prevent development.
The reality is that the City always comes up with money for whatever it wants to spend it on. It's time they spent it on what WE want. It pays to compare notes with other boroughs. If Staten Island could get money to save a piece of its history, then so can Queens. Let's not allow those we elect to get away with lying to us anymore.
2 comments:
The question that begs to be asked is whether the funds to actually purchase the land were in the capital budget or a "member item."
In Queens, the pressure is for "services" and the money goes to groups that purport to deliver them.
So how come there was no money to save i.e. St. Saviour's, a very important piece of Queens' historical past ?
The long list of our lost treasures could tower to the clouds!
Yet clubhouse favored cultural or historic institutions like the relatively unsuccessful "Theater In The Dark" continue to receive bailouts from NYC to help
maintain the patronage jobs of their directors and staff.
There's always plenty of $$$$$ in the cookie jar for them folks!
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