Comptroller Stringer rejects federal seawall plan for city

The Forum

 City Comptroller Scott Stringer on Friday fired off a four-page letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers condemning their plan to construct offshore storm surge barriers in New York Harbor.

In the letter, Stringer castigated the corps’ proposal for not adequately protecting coastal communities from the threat of sea level rise and associated flooding. The Comptroller’s letter also highlighted the long construction timeline associated with the storm barriers and their high cost estimate — noting that the largest of the options outlined in the proposal would take a quarter of a century to build out, cost six times that of shorefront resiliency options, and endanger the delicate ecosystem of the harbor including the region’s network of marshes and wetlands that are critical to mitigating storm surge.

Stringer said he is calling on the agency to implement an integrated and environmentally-conscious approach that’s focused on onshore resiliency measures including localized floodwalls, dune and wetland restoration, living shorelines, reefs, and levees. Stringer’s missive noted that this approach was the only way to protect the city from rising sea levels, storm surge from non-catastrophic weather events, and increasingly catastrophic storms in the future.
 
The letter follows a May 2019 report published by the comptroller, “The Costs of Climate Change: New York City’s Economic Exposure to Rising Seas,” which exposed substantial underspending of federally-appropriated Superstorm Sandy recovery funding that the City had not yet allocated to protect vulnerable coastline communities including only 57 percent of a combined $14.5 billion in federal funds. The report concluded that lagging spending posed a threat to the 520 miles of coastline citywide, which is estimated at a combined property value of $101.5 billion within the city’s current 100-year floodplain map — marking a more than 50 percent increase in value since 2010.

“There’s no question about it — a future Superstorm Sandy will come and New York Harbor will bear the brunt of it. Too many of our waterfront communities are all too vulnerable to the next storm, or even the next high tide,” Stringer said Friday. “I am urging the Army Corps of Engineers to get shovels in the ground on shorefront resiliency options like floodwalls, dune systems, wetlands, and levees that can protect New Yorkers and their livelihoods. Lives are at stake, homes and businesses are on the line, and futures hang in the balance. We need to act with urgency, plan strategically, and build out resiliency efficiently in the era of climate change, because time is not on our side.”

Barriers proposed for NY Harbor

From WNYC:

In a series of public information sessions this week, the Army Corps is presenting five options for protecting the area's waterfront, four of which involve storm surge barriers:

- a five-mile long barrier at the southernmost border of the lower bay, between Sandy Hook, N.J., and Breezy Point in the Rockaways;
- a smaller barrier between Staten Island and Brooklyn, across the channel that the Verrazzano-Narrows bridge spans, accompanied by gates across the mouth to Jamaica Bay and Arthur Kill;
- a series of berms and sea walls along low-lying portions of the New Jersey and New York City waterfront, along with small gates across some waterways;
- and an option that would only use berms and sea walls.

Call to repair Jamaica Bay bulkheads

From the Daily News:

Jamaica Bay's crumbling seawalls are putting some Queens residents in jeopardy of flooding.

City Councilman Donovan Richards and other officials called on the city to repair Hurricane Sandy-damaged bulkheads in order to protect Arverne streets and homes from the bay’s deluge.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is studying the seawalls, but the report will not be completed quickly enough to stave off current flooding threats, Richards said.

State approves protection system for Breezy Point

From CBS New York:

A multimillion-dollar request for a dune system and other coastal protections for Breezy Point, Queens is moving forward, New York State officials announced Monday.

Breezy Point lost 355 homes to fire and flooding during Superstorm Sandy two years ago.

The $58.2 million request submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency entails building a double dune on the side of Breezy Point that faces the ocean, as well as potentially constructing a seawall and groins along the bay in both Breezy Point and nearby Roxbury to prevent flooding and erosion.

The state said $1.2 million was awarded to support technical, feasibility and permitting needs for the project. Another $57 million in funds for design, engineering and construction could follow, according to the governor’s office.

College Point finally seawall set for repairs

From the Queens Chronicle:

The long-neglected crumbling seawall at MacNeil Park in College Point is slated for restoration beginning next summer.

That’s the word from the Parks Department on the $2.5 million project that will involve reconstructing the most damaged portions of the esplanade and seawall, to include a step-down at the jetty, a fishing overlook and beach-kayak access.

The projects design is complete and the city agency is getting ready to submit the plans to the state Department of Environmental Conservation for approval, according to Parks spokesman Philip Abramson.

“It’s a long time coming,” said Community Board 7 Parks Committee Chairwoman Kim Ohanian. “It’s great, but it’s a project that needs to get done.”

Marilyn Bitterman, district manager of CB 7, said that the project has been on their budget request list since 1993. “They are constantly doing maintenance work on the seawall, but it’s only a stop gap measure.”

Additional fencing has been erected by the city and warning signs put up to protect the public. Sinkholes that have appeared on the path around the park have been patched with asphalt, but the surface is uneven.

Queensbridge Park seawall finally repaired

From the Queens Courier:

The Long Island City waterfront has just received a much needed facelift.

Officials cut the ribbon on Tuesday on the $6.65 million project in Queensbridge Park which included the restoration and improvement of the seawall, and the creation of a six-foot-wide waterfront promenade with benches and plants as well as a small pier at the north end.

The seawall protects the park from high tides and covers some of the mechanisms and underwater cables that keep a number of subway lines in order. It was previously blocked off by a chain-link fence due to decades of deterioration.

This project, managed by the NYC Economic Development Corporation, included the reconstruction of the seawall using rip-rap revetment. Rip-rap, made up of large rocks, was used to protect the shoreline by absorbing and deflecting waves and also decreasing the effects of erosion.

DEC won't see benefit of seawall

From the Queens Courier:

Two Beechhurst neighbors want to end a two-decade-old fight with the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to keep their decks, which were built over unauthorized seawalls, which they say protected their homes from Hurricane Sandy.

Thanks to their parallel 15-foot high decks, Al Risi and 90-year-old neighbor Ruth Winkle’s water-edged houses suffered only flooding damage from the storm, but were left mainly intact, they said.

But since the decks have never had the proper permit, the DEC is calling for the residents to remove them. Risi and Winkle, who lives alone with her three dogs and nursing aide, argue that taking the decks down would make the residences vulnerable to another storm of equal or greater intensity than Sandy.

Risi and Winkle built the seawalls on their properties about 18 years ago without permission from the DEC. Engineers warned Risi when he bought his nearly $1 million, three-level house in 1995 that it needed protection from the tides, so he requested a permit for the neighbors’ seawalls from the state agency. But he said the DEC didn’t respond to him when he submitted his final plans, so he went ahead with the structures, which are made of large stones slanted at an angle. The DEC later said that he had illegally landfilled the area.

A DEC representative did not return numerous emails and calls for comment on this issue.

Actually, it's more likely that they suffered only minor damage because they live on the north shore, not the south shore.

Promised seawall not part of the plans in Rockaway

From DNA Info:

Newly released plans for the rebuilt Rockaway Beach boardwalk do not include a protective seawall and have no timetable for completion, angering residents of the Hurricane Sandy-damaged peninsula who say they're being left vulnerable to future storms.

The plans for the boardwalk reconstruction, which is slated to begin by the end of the year and estimated to cost $200 million, were discussed Tuesday night at a community board meeting in Rockaway Beach. It included a presentation from the designers of the new boardwalk, CH2M Hill.

Though the plans are still being finalized, a seawall wasn't included in the preliminary design, according to Deputy Parks Commissioner Liam Kavanagh.

Queensbridge Park seawall may finally be repaired

From WPIX:

Queensbridge Park will be repaired after 15 years of neglect.

City, State and Federal funds are being used in the $3.65 million project which is set to be finished by the summer of 2014 and managed by the NYC Economic Development Corporation.

Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, who represents the area, says the project the seawall will be reconstructed using “rip-rap revetment” which is made up of large rocks, will be used to protect the shoreline by absorbing and deflecting waves while lessening the effects of erosion.

When it’s completed, there will be a 6-foot wide waterfront promenade with benches and plantings, and a small wharf at its northern end.

The MTA also added in $1 million to the project because the erosion is affecting the structure of the F train which runs under the river in the area.

Fixing sinkholes presents a challenge

From the Times Ledger:

The coastal areas of College Point are about to get a face-lift, but the city still plans to perform construction in the isolated neighborhood and then give the accompanying amenities to Douglaston.

In late spring, the city Parks Department is set to begin making improvements to the interior pathways of MacNeil Park and has nearly finished reconstructing the comfort station and improving site drainage, according to a department spokesman.

The projects are part of more than $1.2 million that the department is using to spruce up the greenspace, Parks said.

But the money, allocated by elected officials, is still not enough to fix the sinkholes that plague the coastal walkway.

Borough President Helen Marshall and City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) allocated $425,000 to fix the interior pathways, and Marshall designated a further $800,000 to reconstruct the comfort station and improve drainage.

But to fix the sinkholes, the department would also have to fix related seawall problems, which it does not have the cash to do, a spokesman said.

Parks is currently seeking funding for such a project, which James Cervino, a marine and earth scientist who lives in the neighborhood, testified about at a recent budget hearing.

Cervino wants the seawall project to be included in Marshall’s budget for the coming fiscal year. Large rocks called riprap need to be restacked in front of the seawall in a neater fashion to prevent water from eroding the soil underneath the pathways and creating the sinkholes, Cervino said.

The city Department of Environmental Protection is also working to make College Point a little greener, but critics charge that the department should be doing more.

DEP now is creating wetlands at the end of Powell’s Cove Park, and when the project is complete, the area will have less invasive plant species, restored landscaping in the park and more than 3,500 trees and shrubs.

But the department is also putting resources into a restoration in Douglaston that community leaders think should stay in College Point.

Queensbridge Park wall will finally be repaired

From the Queens Chronicle:

After years of bureaucratic back and forth, a single city agency has been named responsible for fixing the seawall in Queensbridge Park, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Queens and Manhattan) said Tuesday.

During a meeting with city officials, it was decided that the Parks Department would be taking the lead on mending the collapsing promenade, which has been rendered unusable to residents for nearly a decade.

According to Maloney, Parks Department Commissioner Adrian Benepe said his agency was working on removing lead paint which had fallen into the park from the Queensboro Bridge. After that project is completed, he will begin to repair the seawall, which continues to collapse into the East River.

Meanwhile, Maloney said she is in discussions with the state Department of Environmental Conservation to get permission for the city Department of Transportation to fund a portion of the estimated $12 million repair as part of environmental work required by the DEC after DOT construction on other parts of the waterfront was completed.

Since 2003, politicians and city agencies have been talking about repairing the wall — finding funding, making plans and even contacting the Army Corps of Engineers. However, like the crumbling seawall itself, these plans sank into a river of bureaucracy, leaving Queensbridge residents with a 200-foot-long gaping hole where an esplanade once was.

No money for seawall

From the Times Ledger:

...money remains an issue. Joshua Laird, assistant Parks Department commissioner for Planning and Parklands, said the city agency’s annual budget is generally allocated for specific projects and there is none allocated for this one.

“It’s a source of really great frustration for us, for the commissioner [Adrian Benepe],” Laird said. “We recognize it as a real hardship for the community.”

According to the letter, Maloney secured $555,000 and Nolan obtained $350,000 in fiscal years 2005 and 2006 for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a survey and repair the seawall. But the Parks Department rejected the funds.

Laird said this was done because the agency believed the survey was unnecessary.

“We don’t need a feasibility study,” he said. “We know it needs to be done, we need construction money.”

He added that working with the corps could have meant the project would take five years to complete, so the plan was rejected by the department at the time. But money or occasions to complete the project through other means have not surfaced in the same amount of time.

The letter said the seawall should be repaired through mitigation obligations by either or both the city Department of Transportation or city Sanitation Department.

Laird said that in mitigation obligations, an organization that does a city project involving construction on a body of water needs to mitigate the harmful impact by additional construction.

If it was in Hunters Point, it would have been fixed 5 years ago...

US Reps Maloney, Crowley and the Crumbling Seawall

Normandeau Newswire – Queensbridge Park on the East River at the Queensboro Bridge is a beautiful park with a beautiful view of the Manhattan skyline.

Until about ten years ago people would relax at the water's edge. Then the seawall started crumbling. There were holes in the seawall the width of milk crates. People could no longer get to the water.

In Summer 2002, a press conference was held in Queensbridge Park where City Councilman Eric Gioia, US Rep Crowley and US Rep Maloney spoke about Federal money being obtained to repair the seawall. This was happily witnessed by Queensbridge Houses Park Warden Elizabeth McQueen and then Queensbridge Tenants Association President Nina Adams.

Congressional representation switched from Crowley to Maloney due to redistricting.

Nothing further was heard from Maloney. The Queensnbridge website cropped Maloney from the group photo shot leaving McQueen, Gioia, Crowley and Adams.

It is now 2010, the milk crate sized holes are now big enough for a Volkswagen. But it is election time, and Maloney is now showing interest in the seawall again. In a letter that she sent to Mayor Bloomberg, Maloney is now requesting action on the seawall.

Tenants are suspicious of the timing of the letter as some of the co-signors are running for office with opponents. Could this be simply a ruse to publicize candidates?

Nina Adams who is now CEO of Queensbridge Outreach is disappointed that the names of Eric Gioia and US Rep Crowley were not mentioned. Although those politician no longer represent Queensbridge Park they had shown a sincere dedication to its needs.

Maloney is now back in the picture. We will see if substantive seawall progress is made.

Park seawall crumbling

From the Queens Gazette:

Lawmakers in Western Queens have sent out an SOS to Mayor Michael Bloomberg urging immediate action to repair a 200-foot section of the Queens seawall overlooking the East River in Queensbridge Park in Astoria.

The wall has completely failed an expert warned, and is concerned about further deterioration along the waterfront near Queensbridge Houses, the city’s largest public housing development.

For safety reasons, the public officials added, the city Parks Department fenced off the damaged area around the seawall, blocking out local residents’ access to the waterfront.

In addition, cathodic devices under the seawall that are critical to the safe operation of the New York subway is endangered by the seawall’s deterioration.

Making the plea to the mayor were Congressmember Carolyn Maloney, state Senator George Onorato, Assemblymembers Michael Gianaris and Catherine Nolan and Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer. They were joined by Borough President Helen Marshall.

Years ago, Maloney and Nolan secured significant funding to help repair the seawall, but at the time the Parks Department rejected the funding saying the city could more quickly make the repairs if the work was done as mitigation for city projects that have impacted area waterways.

However, the lawmakers’ statement went on, many years have passed since the Parks Department rejected the funds, which were then diverted to other projects, and no work has been done on the seawall.

I have an idea. Let's wait until it collapses and kills a child playing in the park, then we can not only pay for emergency repairs, but also a multi-million dollar lawsuit.