Monday, October 6, 2014

Local lakes getting some love

From the NY Times:

It is the largest lake in New York City, a historic salt marsh that was flooded when Flushing Meadows-Corona Park was fashioned from a former ash dump to host the 1939 World’s Fair.

But while years of effort and millions of dollars have gone toward cleaning up the city’s major waterways, like the Hudson and Bronx Rivers, city officials and parks advocates have paid less attention to Meadow Lake and the four dozen other lakes and ponds scattered across the parkland.

And it shows: At Meadow Lake, excessive algae can turn the water a sickly yellowish-green and the shore is lined with phragmites, an invasive reed. Its waters are compromised by runoff from the nearby Grand Central Parkway and Van Wyck Expressway, spent coals from barbecues in the park and even goose droppings.

Now, in a possible model for other city lakes and ponds, the parks department is trying to restore the 70-acre lake to health, or at least mitigate some of the excess nutrients like phosphorous and nitrogen that cause algae blooms and other problems.

Along the eastern bank, a recently completed project expanded the shoreline with native plants that naturally filter runoff, and a bioswale — a long channeled trench — was dug and landscaped to capture runoff before it reaches the lake.

A similar project is under construction on the opposite shore, where on a recent afternoon, mallard ducks swam in a new wetland area, planted with sedges and rushes, whose main purpose is to intercept stormwater runoff from a large parking lot and the Grand Central Parkway beyond.

Another lake in trouble is in Bowne Park, in Flushing, Queens. While it is not listed as having blue-green algae, the lake has become smothered by other kinds of algae in recent summers, and residents have complained.

This past summer, City Councilman Paul Vallone, whose district includes the 12-acre park, allocated $1.45 million toward improving the water quality in the lake, where two fountains provide some aeration. The Queens borough president, Melissa Katz, dedicated another $1 million toward the project.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Save Bowne Park Lake

Anonymous said...

If they unburied the FLushing River instead of calling it the Flushing Creek, we would not have as much local flooding.

Anonymous said...

The south of the LIE side of FMCP, where Meadow lake is situated, is virtually ignored by Park Dept. The funds allocated are spent mostly on the north of the LIE side, where the USTA stadiums as situated. The roads around the lake are constantly flooded.

Anonymous said...

I was going to get that water tested because I'm 100% sure it's worse than they're describing, and they don't want a newspaper headline reading "NYC's biggest lake is a toxic dump". Better for them to throw a few dollars at it and pretend they're doing something about it.

Decades of neglect.

Anonymous said...

Melissa Katz?

Anonymous said...

In 2008, the Parks Department commissioned the landscape architecture firm Quennell Rothschild to daylight the buried sections of Flushing Creek and create bird sanctuary isles in Meadow Lake. Somehow this ambitious plan was shelved. Time to revive it.

Here's are the images of the plan: http://www.qrpartners.com/project/flushing-meadows-corona-park/

Joe said...

More lies for the upcoming mid term elections. And the sheeple voters will fall for it as always.

Anonymous said...

Wondering aloud:

What's going to happen to the increasingly growing wetlands at the old Flushing Airport? The old airport road (extension of Linden Place) is about to re-open. Perhaps someone can comment on the underground aquifers under the former aviation site? I understand these underground waterways connect north and south Queens.

Anonymous said...

"...bird sanctuary isles in Meadow Lake."

Whoa!! Birds?? Can't have that. Think of all the bus and truck accidents that will occur when the birds fly into the engines and windshields of these conveyances.

Anonymous said...

"What's going to happen to the increasingly growing wetlands at the old Flushing Airport?"

I think they might be draining that area. At the corners of Linden place and the Bronx Whitestone Expy there is a bunch of huge pipes that appear to be pumping some stuff out of the airport into the sewers.
Check it out.
The city might be wringing the wetland dry for future development.

Alan said...

I think they might be draining that area. At the corners of Linden place and the Bronx Whitestone Expy there is a bunch of huge pipes that appear to be pumping some stuff out of the airport into the sewers.
Check it out.
The city might be wringing the wetland dry for future development.
******************************************

http://www.qchron.com/editions/north/city-edc-gets-million-for-wetlands-at-flushing-airport/article_a2e1272a-7cf9-52ba-a8d6-2cab1b886b65.html

Hmmm.......Did the $4.3 million disappear into the reeds???

Anonymous said...

"If we drain all the swamps, where will the children play?"
--Morticia Adams

Seriously, though, you can't just ignore an area's hydrology and build willy-nilly on wetlands without having to deal with future consequences like flooding.

Anonymous said...

The Mayor will be at Bowne Park and will have a press conference Tuesday about the future of these proposed park improvements.

Queens Crapper said...

No, he'll be at Bowne Playground in downtown Flushing with Peter Koo to talk about funding repairs for playgrounds in low income neighborhoods.

Anonymous said...

The boy mayor wouldn't want to seen with the gambling bocce boys and the and the gambling card players in Bowne Park.

Hell, he'd have to even breathe in the noxious fumes from their cigarettes which the kids have to inhale daily because the playground adjoins the courts and card table.

Anonymous said...

Reporter Lisa Foderaro write "Melissa Katz" because many city reporters know next to nothing about our borough. Some reporters are from out of town.

Anonymous said...

Agreed, Parks Dept virtually ignores anything that isn't near Arthur Ashe or the golf course. The area around the lake is consistently flooded and until recently had poor lighting. But hey, roll out the red carpet for the throngs of yuppies coming to the US Open, or drunk frat boy types hopping off the LIRR to a game at what used to be Shea stadium.

Anonymous said...

Love?
LOL!
Get rid of your local pols and really show these lakes some real love.
They are the ones who have allowed the crap to fester there.