Friday, October 16, 2015

Junk in Flushing Bay

From the Queens Chronicle:

Ever since a January windstorm apparently left two abandoned barges adrift on Flushing Bay, environmental advocates and Flushing residents have been asking why nothing has been done to clean up the mess.

Riverkeeper, a nonprofit New York City clean water advocate, has been on top of the incident since the barges first made their presence in Flushing Bay. Their concerns are twofold — not only is it unappealing for residents but it also is harming the environment. Styrofoam has begun to fall off the barges and spreading around the bay. Private property owners alongside the shore have seen debris land.

In January, Riverkeeper contacted the NYPD, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and city Department of Environmental Conservation, informing all of them of the issues. But while there have been responses, nothing has been done.

The condition of the barges has continued to decline over the last couple of months. Steel plating is breaking off and one of the barges broke in half.
Normally, when vessels break in half, both parts sink. But according to James Lipscomb, captain of the Hudson Riverkeeper, these barges have an unusual design called positive flotation. This, he said, makes the barges unsinkable.

Lipscomb and area residents cannot confirm but believe the barges were secured on the east side of Flushing Bay, attached to commercial property, and broke loose during the January storm and drifted to their current location.

8 comments:

Jackson Heights Johnny said...

There has to be some way to identify who these barges belong to....

Determine who the owner(s) are, and make them do something.

Surely some city, state or federal entity has the power to force the owner(s) to remove the barges cleanly & properly.

Or maybe I'm being too naïve.

Middle Villager said...

Call Chuck Schumer this would be perfect for one of his Saturday news conference's/ photo op.

Anonymous said...

Google Earth shows them next to Ferrara Brothers - ah, pretty much where they are now....

Anonymous said...

This is where a grandstanding elected official's press conference could make a difference by bringing attention to the problem and giving that politician an incentive to fix it.

Anonymous said...

It depends on who made a donation to whom.

JQ said...

or they can turn it into a high end bar for frivolous spending hipsters.

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/38/11/dtg-bar-barge-2015-03-06-bk_38_11.html

Anonymous said...

Flushing/college point is a dump for so many years. And yet prices of homes are insane! And nobody is making real noise.

Anonymous said...

Don't know what real noise is, but the crapicle put it on the front page and did an editorial too.