Parents were dismayed earlier this month when they realized that the bathrooms in Astoria Park’s Charybdis Playground would be closed for a second summer due to plumbing problems.
City workers discovered last spring that sewage from the playground and Astoria pool bathrooms had been seeping into the East River since the 1930’s, according to Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski.
The discovery was made when construction of a new amphitheater began at the park’s neglected diving pool. Designers working on the project found that pipes from the playground and pool concession were not connected to city pipes, Lewandowski said at the monthly Astoria Parks Alliance meeting on Tuesday.
“The pool and playground were built in the 1930s at a time when people were unfortunately not as environmentally conscious as we are now,” a spokesperson for the Parks Department said.
The Parks Department brought in portable toilets to Charybdis Playground last summer and will do the same this summer. The new bathrooms are not expected to be completed until 2019. Bathrooms at the pool were fixed to ensure the pool could operate last summer, the spokesperson said.
At least Little Bay Park finally got their new potties.
16 comments:
Can you say C-o-r-r-u-p-t-I-o-n?
No....tell me it ain't so!
Imagine what winds up in the Flushing River.
I hope the potties are gender neutral
"...had been seeping into the East River since the 1930’s..."
"...found that pipes from the playground and pool concession were not connected to city pipes..."
They are FLOWING into the river, NOT seeping...
As a kid in the 1950s, I went from Jackson Heights to Astoria Pool on weekends with my friends during the summer months. We would spend the entire day swimming, and of course, using the restrooms.
As kids, no one thought (or cared) where things went when we flushed the toilets. We just assumed that the people who designed and built the pool knew what they were doing.
So much for assumptions!
I wonder how many other parks, pools, and public areas have the same problem? Is Astoria Pool just the tip of an ecological disaster iceberg?
God help us in Queens! Seems like no one else will (or can)....
Oh, they knew exactly what they were doing. There was no alternative at the time.
Oh Shit !! Sounds like a 'Flint' situation.
hey Jackson Heights Johnny
years ago ALL the horse manure from All the streets of ny from every cart were dumped into the river
now we're going nuts over a few kids turds?
Why does it take 3 years just to build new bathrooms and connect them to city sewer lines?
How is this a shock?
Isn't that where East River White Fish come from?
They need to stop hyperventilating, join the pipes to the city supply, and let the park open.
I love the smell of Astoria in the morning. It smells like Victory! And Poop!
"Why does it take 3 years just to build new bathrooms and connect them to city sewer lines?"
That sounds about right. Look at the Fort Totten bathroom project it's been almost three years and they are still not finished !
How many years does it take to build an f-ing toilet??
The Vallones want a monument to themselves with your taxes - started as $2 million, now $12 million, certainly will be $120 million before its all said and done.
Astoria park will be ruined with the buildings blocking the view and God knows what kind of 'amenities' they can build into it for the tower people on Astoria Cove.
The problem most of us have is that unless you live there, Astoria Park is a hike to get to. Why do a tiny number of people get all the money and attention when it can be spent on (non-waterfront) were the taxpayers footing the bill actually live?
Why does it take 3 years to build bathrooms? the same reason it takes $1 million for a dog run and no money for just about anything else.
The capital projects are honest graft that well positioned people can skim-off and milk the system for anything they can get - while you and I make do with crap.
But as one of the dog lovers (and future community board member) once famously said, 'we can trust the politicians with our money.'
I really like Avella's reaction to restrooms completion. Indeed, why does it have to look so sleek and stylish, they are fucking bathrooms. If anyone wants a comparison, look no further than the shoddy elevated bathrooms and lifeguard stations at Rockaway, which look like they belong in a Jetsons episode.
In the nineteenth century slaughterhouse were locate on the East River.
Where did you think all of the animal parts that were unusable wound up?
Rovers were the transportation networks before the railroads.
Where do you think that the quick sex condoms down near Robinwood Queens wound up?
Under the Throggs Neck bridge, not to mention the sewer outlet which emptied directly.
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