Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Sewer construction causes Whitestone debacle


From CBS:

Homeowners in Whitestone, Queens are dealing with a stinking mess after sewage backed up into their basements.

As CBS2’s Jessica Borg reported, residents on Tenth Avenue between 152 and 154th streets in Whitestone said they were living a nightmare during Friday’s rainstorm – as toilets turned into fountains and raw sewage covered basement floors.

And on Monday people like Jeanmarie Golden were still cleaning up. They were also still dealing with the stench.

Residents blame construction on their block for the sewage overflow. Crews with the city’s Department of Design and Construction are working on the street’s sewer pipes.

The department said the project is to “upgrade aging infrastructure.”

But resident James Martino said it is no upgrade. He believes the re-lining of the pipe caused the problem.

“It made the pipe circumference smaller, so it couldn’t handle the sewage that was being pumped,” Martino said.

Residents said they have had thousands of dollars’ worth property destroyed. The Kelly family had to throw away furniture, tools, and clothing.

The city said the project was completed earlier this month and there was simply too much rain for the sewer system to handle. CBS2’s Borg could not get answers when she asked how the pipes will handle future downpours.

10 comments:

JQ LLC said...

Holy crap. So they replaced pipes that could sustain the neighborhood with smaller piping. This is what they did in Rosedale decades ago and the streets are resemble a filthier Venice after a day of steady rain. The funny thing is that town is getting a new sewer system.

Sorry for conspiracy mongering, but Whitestone is getting redlined.

Anonymous said...

Thanks to Al Centola and We Love Whitestone civic association for getting this out on the front. Those guys are the best

Jim

Anonymous said...

"Whitestone is getting redlined."

What do you mean by this?

Anonymous said...

Where it DEC? Where DOH?

JQ LLC said...

That's why I prefaced it with an apology.

I came to this theory because of the results of the pipe replacement and seeing all that damaged property and valuables, you would think Sandy or Katrina hit the place instead of a 3 hour monsoon.

Maybe this is reverse redlining, because the city provided a service and infrastructure "improvement" that wound up detrimental to the area.

Instead of letting homes and buildings burn, maybe they would rather drown them.



Anonymous said...

Redlined is when they screw up a neighborhood to bring down the property values so that friends of the mayor can buy it up on the cheap and make lots of money.

JQ LLC said...

A town that floods easy after a downpour is a good way to bring down property values

JQ LLC said...

Like turning a bunch of hotels in a local town into homeless shelters and half way houses

Anonymous said...

Obama's shovel ready project

Anonymous said...

How are you guys doing after today rains?