“I don’t see the turtles,” said one little girl who excitedly approached the Bowne Park pond on her tricycle Monday.
That’s because passersby could not see much of anything beyond the blooms of algae dispersed throughout the pond.
While that has been a common sight at Bowne Park for years, that was before the city spent $3.6 million and eight years’ worth of work on preventing that very problem, a job completed just over two months ago.
Two women walking around the pond’s perimeter Monday afternoon said they had seen some algae forming in the pond about a month ago, but that the problem has gotten astronomically worse since then.
Around that time, Flushing resident Anthony Szymanski, who first notified the Chronicle of the issue last weekend, noticed the algae building up. He sent a 311 request on June 8, which was marked as closed June 26, saying the Department of Parks and Recreation had “completed the requested work order and corrected the problem.”
“They got to get a hold of the contractor, because after two months, it’s like this?” Szymanski said.
As of Monday afternoon, the southern end of the pond was in slightly better shape than the northern end, where the park’s beloved turtles swam through clouds of algae, maneuvering around plastic water bottles and other debris at the surface. Still, the Chronicle observed two turtles that appeared to be dead, floating atop the green sheet of algae.
When the Chronicle attended the pond’s ribbon cutting on May 4, former Councilman Paul Vallone expressed excitement about the three new sprinkler cannons, which are designed to aerate the water and shoot geysers of water in the air in unison.
But the Chronicle found Monday the fountains were not in their usual aesthetically pleasing form. Instead, they went off sporadically, often producing a weak spurt of water, if at all. Other times, the fountain clicked, but failed to produce any kind of release.
Indeed, that is part of the problem: Parks Department spokesperson Dan Kastanis said one water cannon and the pond’s refill system are “offline due to mechanical issues discovered post-construction.” He added they are expected to be back in action “this summer.”
The office of Councilmember Vickie Paladino (R-Whitestone) said a part is needed to mend the fountain, but that it could be fixed as soon as next week. The Parks Department confirmed that, and said a part for the refill system is also en route.
Paladino is not concerned about the quick return of problems at the pond.
“Things break,” she told the Chronicle in a statement. “It’s a park fountain part and it needs replacement; it’s not a big deal.”
17 comments:
This is the "Green" New Deal ! LOL...
Can we blame Trump ?
It just doesn’t end
Rightwing nuts should be happy. Rightwing nuts, TrumpTurds etc. hate clean water, clean air .
It’s in their doofus DNA.
I like it looks like the Great Swamp of Florida !
Whah whah whah. Go away with your problems.
Vickie Paladino is too busy being a Karen and sticking her nose into everybody's private life to be bothered with a few million dollars going down the drain (or into her pocket?)
Sad ...
@"Can we blame Trump ?"
No way! He fixed all this.
This algae problem was brought to Paladino's attention weeks ago and she dismissed it saying, "The parks department officials are professionals and know how to deal with it."
She also said that she did not like the fountains.
The fountains need to be turned on to aerate the water in the pond. Without aeration the fish and turtles die, and the algae grows out of control.
The jokers who performed the work at the pond should be banned from city contracts until they fix the fountain problem.
Also, those who visit the park should be instructed not be feed the wildlife that lives there.
Goose poop is an incessant annoyance.
Algae eat sewage and produce oil, which turns them brown. If you can get them to exude the oil (like fat in humans), you can then transesterify the oil into biodiesel. WHen the algae turn brown they are satiated and stop producing oil, but if you get them to give it up, the continue producing. Further, algae eat pollution and CO2, which can be bubbled ("scrubbed") throught he water full of algae. If you stick crushed CDROMs in the algae, then the light can penetrate deeper into a pool of algae.
Just drove by one hour ago: algae gone.
Here it goes, the Chronicle's campaign to discredit Paladino:
"the office of Councilmember Vickie Paladino (R-Whitestone) said a part is needed to mend the fountain, but that it could be fixed as soon as next week. The Parks Department confirmed that, and said a part for the refill system is also en route.
Paladino is not concerned about the quick return of problems at the pond.
“Things break,” she told the Chronicle in a statement. “It’s a park fountain part and it needs replacement; it’s not a big deal.” "
Parks are for liberals and communists.
Pour concrete over it all, and make it into free car storage for car owners.
Kitarra thanks once again for expressing your drunk opinion.
@"I like it looks like the Great Swamp of Florida !"
You know things are going really bad when New York starts looking like "The Great Swamp of Florida". Then again, Vicky the Karen probably thinks that's a good thing.
Yup, the algae is gone (for now) and the fountains are on shooting a spray 10 feet into the air every 30 seconds or so. Parks department was scooping algae up early this AM.
I give it a week and the green stuff will be back.
Also, the park lights are on during the daytime.
Typical politicians at work.
Constituents complain about a problem and they are dismissed.
But let a media outlet complain and the problem gets solved right quickly.
So, from now on don't even bother trying to enlist a politician for help because it is a waste of your time.
Just report it to the media.
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