Students help the ecosystem of Jamaica Bay

From CBS 2:

It’s a new day for Jamaica Bay. Hundreds of volunteers will spend a week digging in to help shore up the coastline.

As CBS2’s Vanessa Murdock reported, their efforts may make the area more storm-resistant and keep local wildlife thriving.

Over one week, 400 volunteers will shovel the shoreline of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge to make room for 10,000 native trees and shrubs. They’re plant now to create a more resilient coast in the future.

“Our world is changing, sea level is rising. We’re having increased flooding in areas that were drier than before.” Chief of Resource Stewardship, Gateway National Recreation Area, Patti Rafferty said, “Sandy produced a surge of nearly 8.5-ft in Jamaica Bay – caused big problems for the ecosystem.”

Rafferty said the beach was breached. What was a freshwater source for hundreds of species of birds became brackish. Trees were uprooted, plants died, and invasive species took over.

Now, volunteers – led by the National Park Service, Jamaica Bay Rockaway Parks Conservancy, and the Nature Conservancy are taking it back.

They’re making room for natives like juniper and pitch pine.

Habitat for humanity rehabbing Queens houses for MLK day

From CBS News:

Habitat for Humanity volunteers are working through the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend rehabbing a home in Laurelton, Queens.

Volunteer Craig Bannister told The Associated Press it’s a meaningful way to remember King.

“Volunteering is a way that brings people from different backgrounds — ethnically, racially, economically — together to work to a common goal,” he said. “So I think it’s important to really do that to remind us that we’re all really the same.”

Habitat for Humanity purchased more than a dozen homes in New York City that had been empty for more than a decade.

Foreclosure fixed up

From the Times Ledger:

Dozens of Habitat for Humanity and Delta Airlines volunteers, a few carrying small luggage, gathered Wednesday on a rainy day to start work on restoring an abandoned home in Cambria Heights.

The derelict house, infested with termites, fell victim to foreclosure and then became a zombie home until a fire destroyed most of the property. The property was then handled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development before being acquired by the New York City Housing Authority to become affordable housing.

Future homeowners are required to volunteer in the restoring of their homes. At the Cambria Heights house at 219th St, 53-year old carpenter Richard Thompson was ready to work on his future home.

“I found out about the program when I was looking for a home, but I did not have enough money for a down payment,” said Thompson, who currently lives in Brooklyn.

The program through Habitat for Humanity offers a 30-year fixed mortgage at a 2.0 percent rate with only a 1 percent down payment for a restored home.

Charles Park needs regular cleanup

Hi "Crappie, last week I was at Charles Park in Howard Beach and I saw a group of about 10 National Park Service workers with clip boards and cameras looking over the park. I was on the beach doing a cleanup of trash and they called me over to chat and take my picture. I proceeded to complain about all the trash and debris that accumulates on the beach and that there is no one who's job it is to keep it clean. Only for one summer they had a worker that would clean the beach each day but after Hurricane Sandy he was reassigned to the Jamaica Bay Nature Refuge.

I was told by one of the officials that they are looking for volunteer coordinator's to organize the community and would I like to be that person. I told them the job shouldn't be left to volunteers and that it should be the job of the NPS to keep the park clean. He said that there was nothing in the budget to hire a worker.

I then asked him that the NPS and NYC Park's was supposed to join up and help each other out with all the parkland NPS has and he said NYC Park's can't help they have more than they can handle. He also said many parks even Central Park depends on volunteers to help keep it clean.

My thoughts are that here in the USA there are many people out of work and we are spending billions on all kinds of projects and sending billions of dollars all over the world to nations that hate us and we can't even afford to clean a park in an affluent neighborhood like Howard Beach where families come to rest and relax.

Each day the tides bring in trash from boaters and what winds up in the sewage system. Each day fruits, vegetables and food is washed up from Hindu religious ceremonies. Each day people who fish and party leave behind beer bottles and trash. Just as the NPS has to clean the bathrooms and sweep the playground and empty the litter baskets they must clean the beach. Some of the debris on the beach includes sections of heavy boards from docks and have nails and bolts sticking out. They are a hazard for beach goers and to boaters if the debris is washed out with the tide.

I personally don't like to sit and see trash so I always like to cleanup my area and have taught my children to leave a park a little cleaner than you found it but this is a big dirty job that shouldn't be left to a few volunteers that will do periodic cleanups." - Rich

Home sweet homes finally repaired

From CBS 2:

Nearly two years after Superstorm Sandy, two friends in a Queens neighborhood are finally back in their own homes.

As CBS 2’s Elise Finch reported, it took extensive repair work and help from volunteers and each other.

The homeowners credit the St. Bernard Project, Catholic Charities and Friends of Rockaway for donating materials and labor to get them back in their houses.

Students restoring Prospect Cemetery

From the Times Ledger:

...after renovations that included the removal of the vegetation and the restoration of the on-site vacant Chapel of the Sisters, a group of volunteers and workers from Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery are repairing dozens of the toppled headstones.

“This is very interesting,” said volunteer Luci Cooke, 19, a college student from Brown University. “It’s actually excellent because I recognized some of the names in the tombstones.”

Cooke was working alongside Vivian Normant and Ali Dore, two of the five students visiting from France and helping in the project through an exchange program sponsored by Preservation Volunteers.

They were restoring the tombstone of Angeline Cornwell, who died in 1908 at age 78.

“This is a very good experience,” said Dore. “The work is hard, but I like it.”

Normant was an English teacher in France, but now she is getting her B.A. in art history back home to teach art to high school students.

“I love the work that is being done,” she said. “We are touching a part of history.”

The group, which includes students from Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design, has restored about 50 damaged headstones. The project will also relandscape the grounds and institute an interpretative history of the place.

The colonial burial ground, next to the York College campus, dates back to 1660.

Eyesore cleaned up by volunteers in Jamaica

From Cleanup Jamaica Queens:

A beautiful Easter weekend, sunny skies and warm temperatures, but here in Jamaica garbage prevails as always, while our local leaders as usual drag their feet and asses on this horrendous garbage problem that plagues our community, posses a health risk, devalues property values and affects quality of life in such a negative way.

Well, some ladies of Jamaica, including friend, comrade-in-arms and community activist, Pamela Hazel, have taken matters in their own hands to clean up a notorious dumping ground that has been a major eyesore for years, while local politicians and leaders twiddle their thumbs. At the corner of 108th and 164th St, sits a vacant house owned by James Fobb, that has been not only a big dumping ground for garbage, but a place for homeless and criminals to go inside according to residents.

Since their calls to leaders about cleaning this up have fallen on deaf and dumb ears (not too mention all the lame excuses they have to hear, like “private property”), they decided to roll up their sleeves, put their masks and gloves on and clean this eyesore up. As Pamela puts it, they did not want to see the eyesore this Easter weekend.

The below 10 minute video shows their efforts and some strong words about our lazy ass elected leaders, including Queens Borough President Melinda Katz.

Community cleans up what Crowley left an eyesore

From the Juniper Berry:

In December 2009 our Council Member, Elizabeth Crowley, organized a press conference on the corner of Metropolitan Avenue and Fresh Pond Road to call for the area to be made into a community garden. On the site was an abandoned newsstand, a graffiti covered 200 ft. LIRR retaining wall, weeds and a good deal of dumping. Crowley invited State Senator Joe Addabbo, Assembly Member Mike Miller, Community Board 5 District Manager Gary Giordano and community leaders. After the press conference nothing happened. Surprise, surprise. Is anyone out there shocked by the inaction? The elected officials got some face time in the Dec. 13, 2009 Daily News with the headline "Blighted area at Metropolitan Ave., Fresh Pond Rd. intersection to become green site." However as usual, the community once again got nothing except a lingering eyesore.

On Saturday, May 18th, volunteers from the Juniper Park Civic Association and the Juniper Juniors took matters in their own hands. About 20 volunteers descended on the area armed with brooms, garbage bags, weed wackers and 15 gallons of puritan stone colored paint and transformed the area.

The JPCA funded the clean-up. Council Member Crowley did not.

Special thanks to JPCA Board Member Len Santoro and his wife Barbara for organizing another great cleanup.

Can anyone out there name one - just one - thing that Liz Crowley has done to improve her district?

Disaster relief reality show proposed to help Sandy victims

The Real Volunteers 04-26-13

"The last thing the world needs is another reality TV show, but this one is actually different. Attached is a 12 page proposal for a new reality show or series of shows related to the inside life of volunteerism and disaster relief:

The Real Volunteers of the Jersey Shore
The Real Volunteers of NY
The Real Volunteers - International Edition
and Volunteer Wars

If this show gets picked up and becomes widely viewed, it will certainly help to generate tens of millions of dollars in additional donations to victims of hurricane Sandy. Therefore anything each of us does to help get this show get to air will be an act of compassion for the suffering that is an everyday reality. This is not just great entertainment!" - Steve Major (the Arverne sinkhole guy)

Not a bad idea, especially since most people have chosen to stay and rebuild. And isn't it nice to know that months after the rescuers left, they're still thinking about us?

Then there's the guy who won't leave for a few months that has already forgotten about. From The Forum:

Reeling in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, people throughout South Queens dug into their pockets – into retirement funds, into savings for children’s college tuition, into all sorts of accounts that were never meant to be used for what they were: to replace roofs and heating systems, to rebuild basements once submerged in water, to begin to piece together unrecognizable houses and make them places that could, once again, be called home.

Then, months later, there came word that, for those who dipped into accounts that now seemed dangerously close to empty, federal funding could be making its way, slowly, to them. That the tens of thousands of dollars – or more – many spent on work not covered by insurance or the Federal Emergency Management Agency may not be lost, that perhaps relief would finally be heading their way.

For many in New York state, as well as New Jersey, this seems to be coming true. But, in Queens, and the other four boroughs, Mayor Bloomberg said earlier this month that he does not plan to use any of the $1.77 billion in federal hurricane aid to reimburse homeowners who already spent money on rebuilding their homes, arguing that it would open too many possibilities for fraud and that the money should go to those who have not been able to afford repairs yet.

While the mayor is insistent that reimbursements not occur, a number of area legislators are pushing the federal government to squelch Bloomberg’s plan – which they are authorized to do – and ensure homeowners see at least some money come their way.

“The mayor should not punish responsible homeowners who utilized their savings to make repairs in an effort to get back into their storm-damaged homes,” Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Rockaway) said. “Nearly 85 percent of my district, including my own home, was destroyed during Sandy and if homeowners and small businesses had waited more than six months for the city program to kick in, we would not have made any progress in recovery and there would be massive devastation throughout southern Queens and Rockaway.”

Goldfeder joined Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton) for a press conference on Sunday in Far Rockaway to urge Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan to use some of the $1.77 billion for reimbursement – a decision Goldfeder said the federal government could ostensibly make before it starts issuing payments around the end of May. HUD is administering the funding, though it is being allocated through the mayor’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Relief program. Additionally, the two legislators have sent a letter to Donovan on the matter, and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has also reached out to the HUD secretary in an effort to secure funding for reimbursements.

In other Sandy news...

From NY1:

New York state's plan clears the way for the allocation of federal housing funds for a total of $1.7 billion, which breaks down to about $838 million in housing money and $415 million in economic development funds.

That will include buyouts for some homeowners and reimbursements for repairs that have not already been paid for by FEMA.

"We're not just going to build back, we're going to build back better than before," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. "With the funding we have in the supplemental, with the response that we've had from all levels of government, I think we're poised to do that."

The money is also expected to be used for small business grants to get stores and restaurants open in time for the upcoming summer tourism season.

This initial approval is only a small portion of the $60 billion in supplemental appropriation approved by the federal government earlier this year. New York state's share of that is $35 billion.

Much of that remaining money will go towards long term projects like hardening critical infrastructure and reimbursing local governments for overtime incurred during the storm.

Parking placard perk ends for CB members

From the NY Post:

Community board leaders are fuming that Mayor Bloomberg is about to yank their parking placards.

On Feb. 1, the city is planning to eliminate a precious perk that New York’s 59 community-board chairs have enjoyed for years — a pass that lets them park anywhere for free for three hours.

The board leaders are not ready to give up their treasured passes quietly.

“They got my service for 28 years. I think it’s quite insulting, whoever made this decision,” said Queens Community Board 7 Chair Gene Kelty.

“When the city asks me to come into the city [for a meeting], I’m not coming in,” he said. “You can send a car or I’m not coming in.”

While the passes are being nixed for volunteer board leaders, paid district managers will keep theirs.

Fire dept's equipment destroyed by storm

From NY1:

With their equipment still damp from the flood waters, the head of the West Hamilton Beach Volunteer Fire Department said he doesn't know when they will be able to replace the fire trucks and ambulances they lost in the flood. Three fire engines and two ambulances were destroyed.

The volunteers say the water swept through the firehouse in a matter of minutes. It happened as a crew was helping residents.

The West Hamilton Beach Volunteer Fire Department has been around for more than a century and it's been a lifeline for this tiny beach community.

This was the place where many went for food and clothes after the power went out, but now that the lights are back on, they are working on getting new equipment.

A backup ambulance and the rig they received from the Hooversville Volunteer Fire Department this week is just about all they have.

Grandmother's mold eliminated by volunteer

Firefighter caught lying

From the NY Post:

A "disabled" city firefighter is still battling blazes while he rakes in a taxpayer-funded pension.

Retired FDNY Lt. John Brown, who left the department after 9/11 with a tax-free $82,000 disability pension, has responded to hundreds of fires in his Long Island hometown since leaving the FDNY, The Post has learned.

Brown, 53, a 24-year veteran assigned to Ladder Co. 165 in St. Albans, Queens, was awarded a three-quarter disability pension in September 2002 after the FDNY determined he had developed reactive airway disease, an asthma-like condition, after toiling at Ground Zero.

Yet Brown has been found fit to serve as a New Hyde Park fire commissioner and firefighter, a Post probe found.

Brown joins other city firefighters revealed by The Post to be performing Herculean feats after retiring with three-quarter disability pensions -- including a former lieutenant who now competes in triathlons and long-distance runs and another ex-firefighter who takes part in martial-arts bouts.

Slowly but surely, Bayside Cemetery getting cleaned up

From Ink Lake:

Progress continues apace at cleaning up the monument to neglect that is Bayside Cemetery in Ozone Park.

Thanks to CAJAC (Community Association for Jewish At-Risk Cemeteries), new landscapers have been hired, and every weekend volunteers are out there. Usually it’s one or two “regulars”, but sometimes CAJAC is able to rustle up Boy Scout troops, familes of people interred there, or other small groups.

When I first went out there this past summer, the task seemed Sisyphean, it now seems merely Herculean. The key is persistence.

FDNY farming out EMT duties?

From the NY Post:

Some city emergency medical technicians are "turfing out" low-priority 911 calls to nonprofit volunteer ambulance units in Queens, several sources told The Post.

That allows the nonprofits to pick up patients and receive payment -- money that otherwise would have gone to the city.

"Yeah, it happens. Some of the guys are turfing out calls to other guys who work for the community crews," said a longtime volunteer with a Queens community-ambulance team.

"It's only low-priority calls they don't want to take, or if they're really jammed up," the volunteer said. "They'll text or call a 'vollie' and say 'there's a pick-up on this street, you want it?'"

One longtime worker at the FDNY's Emergency Medical Service said: "It's a bit deceptive to the patient. When people call 911, they expect to see an FDNY crew roll up, not a volunteer unit."

The FDNY units still respond to the calls, said several volunteer EMTs.

"But maybe they'll just go a little slower to let the volunteer crew get a head start so the vollies do the transport if a patient needs to go to the hospital," said one of the volunteers.

Instead of worrying who's picking the patients up, maybe the press and politicians should concern themselves with where they're taking them to, since we're down a bunch of hospitals.

Volunteer ambulance corps back in 911 system

From the Forum West:

City fire officials have agreed to once again allow community-based volunteer ambulance corps to log onto the 911 system, in a reversal of a much-criticized decision made late last year.

On Tuesday, Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village), who chairs City Council’s Fire and Criminal Justice Committee, was joined by members of volunteer ambulance corps at a press conference on the steps of City Hall. Following the rally, Crowley led a hearing on the recent FDNY/EMS decision to remove the vollies from the 911 system.

During that hearing, EMS Chief John Peruggia agreed to restore the policy that allowed the groups to log onto the 911 system, according to Crowley, who called the decision a “victory for all New Yorkers.” However, she cautioned that “while this is a step in the direction, there is still progress to be made to reach a solution that will most effectively utilize these volunteer groups in partnership with the EMS... I hope today’s hearing demonstrates a willingness and a commitment from the EMS to work with our community volunteer ambulances and the City Council to utilize these free and important resources.”

There are about three dozen volunteer ambulance groups throughout the city, mostly in the outer boroughs, that respond to nearly 15,000 emergencies annually. The policy reversed last October was a 2001 EMS Command Order that allowed vollies to log onto the system in an effort to maximize all available resources.

Volunteers needed to help save NYS Pavilion

From HDC Newsstand:

Although the Fair buildings were intended as temporary, 1965 plans for creating Flushing Meadows-Corona Park identified the Pavilion for preservation and reuse. While the Theaterama was later successfully renovated as a community theater, the remaining complex is closed and derelict. Today the Tent is used for storage, and the Road Map is in an advanced state of deterioration from weathering, vandalism, and past inappropriate recreational uses.

We’re looking for 12-40 volunteers to help out onsite on SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21ST AND SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28TH, performing a range of activities from removal of invasive vegetation, to the careful and systematic collection and bagging of map fragments that have been dislodged from the floor of the Pavilion. Instruction would be given to the volunteers on how to go about collecting the fragments before any work would begin. We’re looking for volunteers who are responsible, pay close attention to detail, and can follow instructions. Given the historical nature of the work, a certain degree of sensitivity is required. Everyday more of the famous map disappears, making the proposed conservation work critical.

Volunteers should meet at the New York State Pavilion in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, by 9 a.m. All friends, family, co-workers and associates are welcome. There is a lot of work to be done and many volunteers are needed so please feel free to forward to others whom you think might be interested.

Bloomberg volunteer has no takers

The location:

54th Street and 3rd Avenue, in Midtown East. A Bloomberg volunteer tries to hand out campaign literature, but no one wants it.


Those who did take the fliers, perhaps thinking they were coupons for Dunkin Donuts, quickly filed them.

Oh well, I guess they'll just have to resort to subway vandalism...


I suggest you pass up the opportunity, especially since the Daily News exposed the fact that the leaflets Bloombergers pass out are full of lies.

Council candidate's volunteer attacked

From the Queens Campaigner:

Democratic District Leader and City Council candidate James Wu said one of his petition volunteers was attacked and had a clipboard with personal information from hundreds of voters stolen Sunday.

Wu said a 19 year-old volunteer with his campaign was collecting signatures for the district leader’s bid to replace Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) Sunday, when a man ran up behind him, knocked him to the ground and stole his clipboard containing information on between 200 and 300 Democratic voters in the area.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Wu said. “And I’ve only been doing this 20 years, so what do I know?”

The incident occurred near the corner of 184th Street and Utopia Parkway at approximately 7:30 p.m. According to Wu, police were investigating the case as a grand larceny.

Photo by LiuNYC2009 on Flickr