What's it all about algae?

Queens Chronicle 

“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.”

 

This would be 17 million cheaper to fix than building a fake park in Jackson Heights

Queens Chronicle

Nearly three years after the Flushing Meadows Corona Aquatic Center’s Olympic-caliber pool closed for what was supposed to be “at least six weeks” for an emergency roof repair, it remains off limits to the public as the Department of Parks and Recreation struggles to repair its unique movable floor.

Parks said in a City Council oversight hearing last December that the pool at the 14-year-old, $67 million facility — built as part of New York City’s unsuccessful bid to host the 2012 Olympics — would reopen by January or February 2022. But while the emergency roof repair was completed in July 2021, the pool remains closed with the department’s site now reporting that the closure is “due to needed repairs to the movable floor” that’s designed to move up and down to accommodate diving as well as swimming.

Whirling machine sounds reverberated from the direction of the pool when THE CITY visited the center on Tuesday as a father rushed in looking for a swim meet for his two children waiting in the car — only to be told he was at the wrong location.

“This part of the building is closed, that’s why we have this thing here,” Ashley Bernal, the facility’s deputy director, told THE CITY as she pointed to a black belt cordoning off a section of the chlorine-scented lobby.

Construction work on the floor began this September. Yet the Parks Department capital project tracker shows the $500,000 fix marked as “0% complete.”

Parks spokesperson Dan Kastanis told THE CITY the department plans to reopen the pool around January 2023, before closing it again for 12 to 18 months starting in the summer of 2024 for a complete reconstruction of its roof along with its HVAC and dehumidification systems. In the meantime, safety netting installed onto the ceiling in early 2020 would remain in place to catch concrete shedding from the roof.

Progress on repairing the movable floor has been slow, one source familiar with the project said, because it’s a custom item that does not exist in any other Parks-run aquatic facility and requires specialized materials that are not widely available. The parts are expected to arrive in December and be installed shortly after, the source said.

Queens Chronicle 

More than two years after its transformation began, the 26-block stretch of 34th Avenue between 69th Street and Junction Boulevard in Jackson Heights remains a source of joy to many and angst to others.

The 1.3-mile section of roadway has been part of the city’s Open Streets initiative since May 2020. The longest open street in the Big Apple, it’s considered the “gold standard” of the program. On Oct. 24, the New York City Department of Transportation’s major redesign of the corridor, a project called “Paseo Park,” was officially completed.

The new design includes more “shared streets,” where cars can travel at slow speeds and are directed by diverters and other road treatments, as well as eight traffic-restricted, fully pedestrian plazas. The stretch of the avenue serves as an open street between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. seven days a week.

“We are very happy with this space and design,” says Jim Burke, co-founder of the 34th Avenue Open Streets Coalition, which had helped bring Open Streets to Jackson Heights and push for subsequent improvements. “And I think it’s a pretty fair compromise.”

Not everyone agrees. Cassandra Langer, a resident of Jackson Heights for the past 35 years, believes both the open street and new design have blighted 34th Avenue and the neighborhood in general. She wants the route returned to a standard, functioning street.

“This new design ignores the needs of the retired elderly population, handicapped people and others,” laments Langer, a community activist who works closely with the Jackson Heights Coops Alliance — which holds an anti-Paseo Park stance. “The changes might have made sense at the beginning of the pandemic, but not anymore.” 

Langer stresses that the Paseo Park design negatively impacts parking and the ability to get deliveries, and is “not pragmatic” for older citizens who cannot solely rely on biking or walking to get around. She also points out that barriers aren’t always removed when open-street hours have ended.

“The politicians are not listening to our side or even looking for a compromise,” Langer complains. “They just want a top-down approach. We’re the grassroots taking on the powers that be.”

She said more community meetings about the situation will be held and a lawsuit is possible. And she believes the upcoming winter months “will show how unworkable the Paseo Park design is.”

Jim Burke, unlike Langer, is satisfied with the open-streets format, which he had helped fight to establish. He notes the various family-friendly activities held on 34th Avenue: everything from gardening to arts and crafts to dance classes.

The longtime safe-streets activist also emphasizes that Paseo Park “is a way to get to other thoroughfares without a car,” which is important to many in Jackson Heights. Burke believes the new level of accessibility, along with the chairs and tables peppered throughout the 34th Avenue corridor, is partly responsible for the economic resurgence of some “mom-and-pop stores and vendors” in the area.

In response to those who criticize Paseo Park for being ill-suited to the needs of older citizens, Burke cites his mother: “She has been using Access-A-Ride without an issue.” (Jim Burke's mom lives in Rockaway Beach)

Councilman Shekar Krishnan (D-Jackson Heights), who was instrumental in bringing Paseo Park to the community, is proud to have such a space in his district.

"The 34th Avenue Open Street was designed by DOT, FDNY and NYPD to improve safety and accessibility for our community," Krishnan told the Chronicle. “It is a family-focused oasis on what was once a car-centric corridor, bringing together neighbors of all backgrounds and ages. ” He declined to speculate about future plans.

Really would like to hear what the NYPD and FDNY have to say about their role in the open streets that has impeded accessibility of ambulances, fire engines and patrol cars. And who actually from those departments approved this? This one mile of new fake park land is going to cost us 84 million dollars too, so this dumb experiment is going to leave that Flushing pool high and dry.

Two young adults drown in Rockaway Beach where resiliency construction is still going on

 

AMNY

The city’s Parks Department is again urging beachgoers not to swim in closed and unguarded areas of Rockaway Beach after two people fatally drowned there on Friday.

The victims died in separate incidents that occurred at about 6 p.m. on June 17, according to police.

Law enforcement sources said the first victim, a 16-year-old girl, was pulled out of the water off the intersection of Beach 108th Street and Shore Front Parkway.

Simultaneously, police reported first responders got the second victim, a man in his late teens or early 20s, who drowned in the waters off Beach 98th Street — ten blocks to the east of the first fatal drowning.

Both victims were rushed to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, where they died, police sources said.

The two victims were among five people pulled out of the waters off Rockaway Beach on Friday, according to WABC-TV. The other three distressed victims survived.

 The fatal drownings occurred at a time when the Parks Department deals with a lifeguard shortage that forced the agency to cut its indoor swim programs this summer.

Neponsit hospital will finally be demolished for a park and LGBTQ community is pissed

 

THE CITY 

 A city plan to demolish a long-abandoned hospital and nursing home in the Rockaways has drawn scrutiny from all sides — including those who want the building to stay up to protect a historic beach haven for New York’s queer community.

The public hospitals agency announced last month that three crumbling buildings comprising the former Neponsit Adult Home on Beach 149th Street would be torn down at the end of the summer season. The land would then be turned over to the Department of Parks and Recreation, and eventually be home to a park, with space for lifeguard facilities and parking, officials said.

“It’s been a community eyesore for a long time, and there really wasn’t a good plan for it for a very long time,” local City Councilmember Joann Ariola (R-Queens) told THE CITY. “I think it’s going to be a positive addition to the community.”

But those who flock to the sands behind the seaside building — including a historically Black and brown community of trans and queer beachgoers, and some nudists — fear tearing down the edifieces that acted as a shield will ruin their “utopia.”

The former hospital’s fence directly borders the beach, where beachgoers have built a monument to the late Ms. Colombia, a beloved NYC queer icon whose legacy they’ve celebrated each year since she died in 2018.

LGBTQ New Yorkers have congregated at Bay 1 — the first beach in the federally operated Jacob Riis Park — since the late 1950s, according to historians. Queer authors including Audre Lorde and Joan Nestle mention the beach by name as a safe haven in their works.

 Many in the community now believe tearing down the hospital and putting in a park where children play would make Bay 1 less of a safe space.

“There are so many places in New York City that we are not comfortable in. Riis is our home, our dance floor, our marriage place and our burial ground,” Ceyenne Doroshow, founder and executive director of Gays and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society, or GLITS, told THE CITY.

Happy New Year from College Point

reddit/nyc

The de Blasio Chainsaw Massacre

Impunity City 

 While there was an original plan to improve the park to keep the water level from overflowing that caused major damage to NYCHA buildings across the FDR drive that was done in coordination of the community concerns by placing berns against the highway’s path, The Blaz abruptly threw that plan in the garbage and memory holed it, then his minion city planners at the Dept Design and Construction came up with an entirely new plan that warranted the leveling of 1,000 trees and construction of a 10 ft platform of where the current park stands at a cost of 1.45 billion dollars. As expected, this did not go over well with the residents and community activists who have been adamantly demanding to stick with the original, less destructive and  less expensive plan. 

Compounding this situation even further was East River Park activists were trying to get FOIL documents to see who was behind the new project and what they received was full of redactions just like every other FOIL de Blasio and his crack team of narrative control minions released in the last 8 years.

When the day came to announce the NYC’s new East River Coastal Resiliency plan in April on his variety show press briefing, The Blaz read from his dais of cheat sheets and his honeypot fauxgressive council crony Carlina Rivera read from her laptop all the wonderful improvements the new plan was going to bring to the community that used the park, even though it will not be ready for over a half decade, which was another sticking point for residents and activists. After many months of protests by activist groups East River Park Action and 1000 People for 1,000 Trees, they managed to get a stay on the demolition in November, but it was instantly overturned by a city judge with close ties to the Blaz and his Brooklyn Machine political allies.

Shockingly, right when the contractors and the chainsaws started chopping the first of the parks trees, a state appeals judge ruled another stay maintaining the legal suspension of the demolition. At least it was supposed to, because despite the best efforts of the protestors and their attorney Arthur Schwartz, the contractor boss of the resiliency demolition took the court order and threw it on the ground like it was garbage right in front of the protesters and the cops.

 

Parks Dept opens up more accessible paths to the Ridgewood Reservoir

 

 NY1

What once provided water for Brooklyn, now delivers peace and quiet for New Yorkers, and a habitat for a variety of wildlife. 

It’s the Ridgewood Reservoir, which sits on the Brooklyn-Queens Border at Highland Park. The East Causeway of the reservoir, with its original fencing from 1858, is now open weekends thanks to the work of the Parks Department and not-for-profit environmental education group NYC H20. 

"We bring students and families and community groups out to natural places like the beautiful Ridgewood Reservoir to teach about nature, water ecology and the water system, and to give people an appreciation for it and why they should care about it,” said Matt Malina, the executive director and founder of NYC H2O. 

Fed by 13 reservoirs reaching out east through Queens and Nassau Counties, the reservoir was built in 1858 to provide the then city of Brooklyn with water. It provided water for 100 years, and was last used in the 1960s when it was drained. Two of the basins have become forests again, the middle basin a freshwater pond.

"It's home to ducks, dragon flies and other birds and there are also dozens of species of birds that come through on their spring and fall migrations,” said Malina, who also noted that if you look closely there are even Italian Wall Lizards that call the area home. 

Here's hoping that the initial 're-imagining" plans to build a waterslide and performance space got thrown in the garbage.

 

Bill de Blasio hates your children and your parks

 

CBS New York 

 After a Queens park playground appeared to be open for a weekend and then abruptly closed, parents want to know what’s going on.

CBS2’s Jenna DeAngelis went to the city for answers, and spoke to eager Astoria residents.

“Please open the playground soon!” two young boys said.

It’s a plea to the city Parks Department from friends Archer and Arlo, who don’t like seeing the Astoria Park playground closed.

“There’s a lot of stuff to climb,” Arlo Pignataro said.

Arlo got a chance to climb and swing in the park when it was open on July 31.

“Kids were playing, and the sun was shining, so he got to go in the new splash pad, and swing and climb, and it was great. And then the next day I had to tell him that it wasn’t actually open,” said mother Amybeth Whissel.

That’s because the next day, parents like Marianna Scantlebury were asked by Parks staff to leave.

“It was like a mixed message because some of the Parks Department was saying it was unsafe and that there were tests that needed to be done and there were other people saying, oh, it had something to do with the sprinkler system,” Scantlebury said.

 THE CITY

 A major undertaking to remediate contaminated soil under several baseball and soccer fields in Brooklyn has dragged on for nearly a decade, testing the resolve of a local community still recovering from the devastation of Superstorm Sandy.

And it’s getting worse before getting better: In late July, a chain-linked fence emerged around one of the few remaining open spaces at the Red Hook Recreation Area on Bay Street, sealing off the public for at least the next 18 months.

Until recently, locals and athletes enjoyed the space’s track, basketball and handball courts, and four baseball and three soccer fields — especially after the state’s COVID-19 lockdown order was lifted and outdoor activities resumed last year.

“It’s supposed to be done,” Tony Harrison, 58, a Red Hook resident, said of the park overhaul work.

But, he added, “It’s going on and going on.”

 

Admin note: I will no longer be referring Bill de Blasio as the mayor of New York City. I don't care how many days he has left. He's abdicated his position and sold out his constituents for the last time and doesn't deserve the title anymore. Like Louis Grossman said the other day, it's time to say no more.

Forgotten sidewalks

 

 

Queens Chronicle 

 It’s almost been one year since Hurricane Isaias hit New York City, took out power for days and tore trees from their roots, but plenty of sidewalks throughout Queens look as though the storm ravaged them yesterday.

“We know that if this was in Manhattan, the issue would be fixed already. The outer boroughs, the last I checked are the real boroughs, so get this done,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said at a July 13 press conference to demand the city take responsibility for what he called a public safety hazard.

State Sen. John Liu (D-Bayside) called the Tuesday press conference in Bellerose as a “last resort” after he spent months calling on the city to repair broken pavement sprinkled across his district. Shattered sidewalks can be found there, as well as in College Point, Whitestone and Flushing separated from the public only by caution tape.

Kathy Parent’s Bellerose home, where the event was held, lies alongside 87th Road, where a tree was ripped from the city-owned grass space last August during the storm. The roots shredded the concrete, which has been left untouched since the city Parks Department removed the fallen tree months ago.

“I take pride in maintaining my property to the best of my ability, so I am very distressed by the fact that my sidewalk exists in this horrible condition, but more so dangerous condition,” Parent said, adding that children have attempted to ride their bikes over the mess.

Parent said she wouldn’t consider fixing the sidewalk herself and then billing the city for reimbursement because she believes she would end up waiting 20 years for the check. She said she replaced the sidewalk herself several years prior and refuses to put more money into it, especially when it is the city’s responsibility.

“Kathy, we know if the shoe was on the other foot, if this was your responsibility, every single person the city could send to find you would be here by now, so this is really about ensuring that the government practices what it preaches,” Richards continued.

According to Liu, the city promised to address the problem in the spring when the weather was warmer, but summer is halfway finished and he hasn’t seen any changes across Eastern Queens.

That morning, Mayor de Blasio was asked by reporters if he was aware of the situation and what action he would take to ensure the homeowners would finally see relief after a year.

“We’ll get to work on it immediately,” the mayor responded. “It really bothers me to hear that this much time has passed and anyone isn’t getting the help they need. So, we will expedite that.”

 

NYC Parks didn't hire enough lifeguards this summer

 NY Post

A staffing shortage is causing some Rockaway Beach lifeguards to fly solo, creating a potentially dangerous situation, guards told The Post.

Lifeguards at the city beach said the long hours on the stand alone compromise safety as they become fatigued or have to deal with multiple rescues. Some staged a protest on Friday.

“If you were out in the water drowning, four of us (have) a lot better chance of seeing you than if I’m by myself on that chair. Especially on a day like today: foggy, muggy,” one lifeguard in his 10th year said Saturday.

Others said they were not even allowed to take bathroom breaks, a distraction that made it harder to focus on swimmers. They said supervisors were not sympathetic.

“All they do when we try to explain to them that we need help and we need the manpower is just, like, ‘Well, you get paid for eight hours.’ ” one guard said.

The Parks Department is missing one-third of its lifeguards which also forced the cancellation of swimming lessons, water exercise classes and swim teams as pools opened for the season Saturday.

The department said it “expected” to have 950 lifeguards ready to go as 49 outdoor pools welcomed swimmers. Beaches already opened May 29.

The dilapidation of Crocheron Park.

Hello Queens Crap, I Hope you're safe and well. 

I am a resident of the beautiful Bayside Flushing area. 

Crocheron Park is one of my favorite parks. I go there frequently to run, bike, and walk. It's a big gorgeous park. I love walking over the pedestrian bridge above the Cross Island Parkway to the path that's along the parkway and Little Neck Bay.  To me it's just one of the best parts of being a Queens resident. 

But the decay and neglect can no longer be ignored. It's in stark contrast to other parks that I've been to. Hook Creek Park in Rosedale is immaculate and well kept. There's no comparison. Why has such a gem in Bayside been left to rot? This is not just recent, I've contacted 311 for years, it's all been disregarded. 

Lighting has been broken and left dangling by wires, a danger to curious kids. The broken lights also leave the park pitch black, so anyone wise wouldn't consider the park at dusk. The park has become a haven for pot smokers, and God knows who else. 

The benches perched above the Cross Island were once intended to be a regal and elegant view of beautiful Little Neck Bay and the cars below on the Cross Island are now staring at decades of an accumulated neglected mass of weeds and trees which were never supposed to be there. It's a catastrophic NYC Parks disaster. I cannot fathom that we continue to turn a blind eye. 

Why has this gorgeous park fallen into such neglect? Hook Creek Park is like a shimmering paradise in contrast. I just don't get it. This is not recent covid19 nonsense. Look at my pictures, this is years of neglect. 

Thank, Queens Crap

NYC Parks and Con Edison are being hard on Ron Jeremy's tree

NBC 4 New York

 Adult film star Ron Jeremy is fighting to save a tree his father planted outside their New York home the day he was born.

Jeremy took to Twitter on Saturday, saying that utility Con Edison was going cut down the tree that was planted in Queens in 1953. 

The tweet includes a 2018 photo of Jeremy hugging the tree outside the home on Bell Boulevard in Bayside.

Jeremy, who has been staying at a Hollywood hotel during the coronavirus pandemic, told the New York Daily News that a neighbor let him know the trunk was wrapped in yellow tape last week.

“I looked after that tree all my life. They tried to chop the tree down years ago but I wouldn’t let them,” Jeremy said. “I even belted myself to the tree.”

 The tree is on city property, and the Parks Department can choose to remove it, according to Con Edison, who replied to Jeremy's tweet. It is up to the city to decide whether to remove the tree to avoid any potential damage it may cause to surrounding power lines.

The city will pay for sidewalk damage caused by full grown trees

Eyewitness News


New York City officials are getting at the root of the problem when it comes to cracked sidewalks.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday that the city will now pick up the tab to repair sidewalks damaged by city-owned trees, and the city will also ramp up sidewalk repairs under the "Trees and Sidewalks" program to address 5,500 priority sites over the next three years.

Previously, homeowners were responsible for fixing the damage under threat of fines.

"We're not just fixing broken sidewalks, we're fixing a broken system," de Blasio said. "We tripled funding for tree related sidewalk repair, but homeowners were still on the hook for problems they didn't create. As a homeowner, I know how frustrating that is. Now, if a street tree causes damage, we're taking care of it."
 

The city will stop imposing liens on one-, two- and three-family properties that have sidewalk damage caused solely by city trees, and while the DOT and the Parks Department will still inspect for dangerous sidewalk conditions, the city -- not the homeowner -- will be responsible for fixing them if they are exclusively tree related.

NYC Parks Department is using Forest Park as a septic waste dump

 CBS New York


There’s a nauseating mess in a popular Queens park. 

 Trucks have been spotted pouring a whole lot of waste but the more shocking discovery is who’s behind it all. 

Chunky, murky sludge gushing at full speed directly into one of the most beloved parks in Queens. 

“Smells like a sewer,” one resident said. It’s creating a soggy, muddy cesspool of bugs, trash, and who knows what else on a strip of land in Forest Park near Union Turnpike and Myrtle Avenue.

 No word from Mitchell Silver about this, not only would he not allow this in Central Park or Prospect Park, but exactly what parks this waste is coming from (maybe this shit is coming from Flushing Meadows with the U.S. Open going on)?  And to our idiot mayor, doesn't Forest Park factor in your version of the Green New Deal?

Update:
QNS

  The location is the same section of Forest Park where the agency plans to create a new entrance where parkgoers from nearby Glendale can enter from Myrtle Avenue to other sections that will also soon be revamped.

“This is not hazardous waste. These trucks were used to clear soil and sediment from our clogged catch basins and spray shower drains to prevent puddling. Fresh water from the holding tanks is used to flush the sediment,” spokeswoman Meghan Lalor said. “Any large debris will be addressed this evening and then we will follow up by raking the sediment with machinery to address anything remaining.”
 
The dumping occurred near the northeast corner of the park where people are able to enter from Myrtle Avenue. The Parks Department has been looking to revamp the area which mostly serves as a route for motorists get on the Jackie Robinson Parkway.
 
But the scene was alarming for multiple people in videos captured as the smell was bad, according to those in the video, and garbage such as water bottles and wrappers could be seen.
 
“The smell of the discharge was abhorrent. There were gallons and gallons of muck, mud, debris and heavens know what else,” said Frank Schorn, who captured the videos. “The liquid flowed into a sewer entrance some dozens of yards away. The sewer grate is nearly completely blocked with debris from prior discharges of waste.”

The truck has Jersey plates. The city hired a private carting company to dump that shit.

Crappers in Queens parks are the filthiest or not even available at all

LIC Post


Public bathrooms in Sunnyside, Woodside and Long Island City are among the worst in New York City, according to a report released Thursday by the Comptroller’s office.

The report, titled Dis-comfort Stations: The Conditions and Availability of NYC Parks Bathrooms, found that 25 percent of the bathrooms at City parks in Community District 2—which covers Sunnyside, Woodside and Long Island City– were in an “unacceptable” condition.

The report, which reviewed the state of bathrooms at City parks, defined a bathroom as unacceptable if it had deficiencies such as broken toilets or sinks; damaged walls or ceilings; or broken soap dispensers.

Community District 2 ranked as the ninth worst of New York’s 59 community districts. It also ranked last of the 14 community districts in Queens.

 Meanwhile, in Jackson Heights and North Corona, there are hardly any public bathrooms at City parks at all, according to the report.

Queens Community District 3, which covers Jackson Heights and North Corona, was found to have just 12 public bathrooms, equating to 7 bathrooms per 100,000 residents. The district was the eighth worst in the City on a per capita basis, according to the report.

Drinking fountains in Queens public parks are loaded with lead

 

Gothamist


The water from one drinking fountain in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx has 50 times as much lead in it as permitted by federal regulations, according to an official test. Another at a tennis court in Cunningham Park in Queens has nearly 23 times above what officials consider safe.


The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation has published early results from its program to test for lead contamination at its public drinking fountains. And while many of the numbers are alarming, they’re also “very common” for cities with aging, lead-based plumbing, according to Marc Edwards, a civil engineer at Virginia Tech who helped uncover harmful lead levels in Flint, Michigan.


A Gothamist/WNYC analysis of the city’s data found that, out of the 448 fountains checked thus far, 20 fountains (4.5 percent of the early total) tested above the federal standard of 15 parts per billion (ppb). By comparison, in a similar exercise carried out in New York City public schools in 2017, roughly 8 percent of water sources tested above the same threshold once all the results were tallied.


The testing program is a component of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s LeadFreeNYC campaign to eliminate childhood lead exposure in the city. The parks department said drinking water from public fountains is not a known source of exposure, but the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot, said the tests “will ensure that we leave no stone unturned.”


Research has shown that even low levels of lead exposure can cause reduced IQ, hyperactivity and other behavioral problems in children. In adults, lead is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and other health issues.


Sampling in parks and playgrounds started on May 6th in Queens. All of the city’s 3,500-plus public fountains are scheduled to be tested by June 14th. Two samples are drawn for each source, one after a fountain has sat unused for up to 18 hours prior to testing, and another after a flush of several seconds to help determine how deep the source of contamination in the plumbing goes. Any fountain that exceeds 15 ppb will be turned off until it can be fixed, officials say. Test results are to be updated on a weekly basis.


At the Dry Harbor Playground in Forest Park in Queens, a drinking fountain where children regularly play came in at 296 ppb, nearly 20 times the federal standard.


“There's no doubt that that's too much lead to be drinking from a fountain,” Edwards said. “You should be worried about it. You should remediate that tap. That shows there's a hazard.”

 This investigation only started a few weeks ago and Queens parks dominate the list. And despite Gothamist's headline and the odious NYC Parks officials marginalizing this vast public health hazard, these are a lot of parks with high level toxicity and not "some".