Lincoln Restler gets arrested during environmental protest against a pipeline in Williamsburg

 

Brooklyn Paper 

Police arrested four protesters who locked themselves to a controversial National Grid fracked gas pipeline construction site in Williamsburg on Thursday morning.

Two environmental advocates fastened each other to the underground tube for three hours while two more activists secured themselves to the active building site at the corner of Manhattan and Montrose avenues at around 9 am, protesting the utility company’s seven-mile fossil fuel pipe.

“They don’t care about us. They never asked for our consent to come in here so we need to stop it because no politician is doing it for us,” said Pati Rodriguez, who linked herself with a makeshift cardboard pipe to the pipeline with fellow protester Benny Woodard on Oct. 15.

About 30 protesters with groups like the No North Brooklyn Pipeline Coalition and Frack Outta Brooklyn cheered on the subterranean stunt as dozens of cops with the Special Operations and Technical Assistance Response units showed up and cordoned off the block.

The demonstrators live-streamed their underground action, while another protester held a dance session above the construction site.

Just before noon, police went down and hoisted them out, cuffing the duo along with the two other protesters who were locked against the construction fence — including local Council candidate Lincoln Restler. 

Cops drove the four arrestees to the 73rd Precinct in Brownsville for trespassing onto the site, although they have yet to be formally charged, a police spokesman said. They were yet to be formally charged and were still at the eastern Brooklyn station house as of Thursday evening, a Department spokeswoman said. 

Looks like Lincoln is taking a page from the de Blasio cosplay protester campaigning playbook.

As for this environmental group, where were they when this pipeline started three years ago? Why did they and most importantly Lincoln wait until the last phase of construction was happening in their neighborhood? NIMBY much?

 

Woodside Houses without heat during storm

From the NY Post:

Around 3,000 public-housing residents in Queens were forced to ride out Thursday’s blizzard in units with little or no heat — prompting some to risk carbon-monoxide poisoning by cranking up ovens and stoves.

The latest suffering inflicted on hapless tenants of the New York City Housing Authority led Mayor de Blasio to blame “decades” of past neglect, just days after he was sworn into his second, four-year term.

A NYCHA spokeswoman said they were told about radiators going cold in all 20 buildings at the sprawling Woodside Houses around 11:15 a.m. Thursday.

Spokeswoman Jasmine Blake said the problem was caused by a drop in the pressure of natural gas supplied to the complex’s steam boilers by the National Grid utility company.

Blake said NYCHA maintenance workers adjusted valves to provide some heat to the lower three floors of the six-story buildings, and a National Grid spokesman said it restored full pressure in the gas line by clearing “debris around the strainer around the gas meter” at around 1:30 p.m.

The heat was back on in all 1,300 apartments around 5 p.m., NYCHA said.

Landlords and National Grid employees pinched for bribery

From CBS2:

Dozens of Brooklyn landlords and National Grid employees have been accused of illegally installing gas meters to put money in their own pockets.

CBS2’s Ali Bauman had exclusive access as many of the suspects turned themselves in on Thursday morning. Many of the suspects didn’t have criminal records, but some now face years in state prison.

The 37 people were accused of working hand in hand to bypass city regulations and make a quick buck, many now face charges of bribery, falsifying records, and the highest felony charge — enterprise corruption

LIC hipsters just want to be assholes

Dear Crappy,

Today I decided to savor some sunshine and take a walk. I felt enjoying my community's "public"/"park" spaces was in order, so I headed over to the Manhattan Avenue Kayak Launch. The attached photos, which I knew you would find interesting given recent events, were taken at 1:17 pm. Although they pretty much speak for themselves, I will elaborate a bit. The bearded fellow (to the right) was engaged in a conversation with the fellow in the orange shirt (to the left). About what is anyone's idea. At one point there was a fellow to the left of the orange shirted fellow. He appeared to be taking photos of the bearded guy and the orange shirted guy talking. He could have been taking photos of the bulkhead (Queens side, obviously) of the former bridge which once spanned from Manhattan Avenue to Long Island City. Or both. Too difficult to tell.

Cheers!

Your comrade on other side of the creek,

NYS

Parking one's boat on a Superfund site as well as on top of a gas line - not too bright.

When the sh*t hits the basement

From the Queens Courier:

Homeowners gathered around on Seneca Avenue near Norman Street in Ridgewood on Thursday afternoon to get answers from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) regarding sewage problems they have been experiencing since earlier this year.

Homeowner Angela Georgescu said she started seeing sewage flood her basement as far back as eight years ago after National Grid excavated the road in front of her house.

The problem was sporadic until sometime in early 2015, when she learned that seven other houses on her block were also having trouble doing their laundry and were spending more time in their basements cleaning up.

Mark Chen Oi Ming, one of her neighbors, claimed he saw utility workers damage the sewage line eight years ago. At the time, the employees told him they would come back to make repairs but Ming did not see them again.

The Department of Health has visited the site at least twice because the sewage has overflowed into the sidewalk, neighbors claimed.

Georgescu and other homeowners have tried calling 311 and contacting local Assembly and Council members but have received no response or have been told that action cannot be taken since the sewage line is private. A representative for Assemblyman Mike Miller told the homeowners to individually call plumbers to identify the problem.

Georgescu and other homeowners hired plumbers to check their sewage lines and have all received the same answer – their individual sewage lines are clean and damage free.

DEP officials visited the site on April 2 to provide information about the sewage infrastructure and next steps the homeowners need to take to repair this problem. According to DEP officials, these homes were built more than 100 years ago, which means the sewage pipes were constructed before the city sewer was put into place.

In this case, the DEP claimed, the sewage lines are considered private property and the responsibility of the homeowner. The sewage from these seven homes collects into a private drain that then connects to the city sewer and travels to a sewage treatment plant.

What to do with abandoned gas plant site?

From the Forum:

Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Rockaway Beach) this week presented recently appointed National Grid President and Executive Director Dan Seavers with a community-drafted proposal for repurposing a manufactured gas plant (MGP) in Rockaway Park.

Prior to its descent as a derelict area in the community landscape, the Rockaway Park MGP, in operation from the 1880s to the mid-1950s, served as a successful gas production site and storage facility governed by the Long Island Lighting Company. The site subsequently went through a series of changes in ownership and in 1998 was transferred to KeySpan, a New York City-based natural gas distributor. Shortly after the site’s acquisition, it was named a DEC State Superfund Site and was added to the State’s Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites, designated as class 2 , meaning that it is considered a substantial threat to public health and/or the environment and requires remedial action to dispose of toxic waste and polluted substrate.

In 2008, National Grid assumed cleanup efforts when it purchased KeySpan, and has been working to restore the integrity of the plant site since. However, due to deteriorating bulkheads at Beach 108th Street, these efforts were suspended indefinitely. Now, with the repairs on the Jamaica Bay bulkheads nearly finished, the last phase of cleanup up at the MGP site is set to begin.

In anticipation of the site’s decontamination, Assemblyman Goldfeder conducted an online community survey last year inquiring from residents what they thought the fate of the MGP should be. Survey participants were eager to share opinions and sent in hundreds of ideas ranging from commercial development to cultural centers, which Goldfeder presented to National Grid.

Crappy illegal street repairs are epidemic

From the Daily News:

Thousands of city streets are being torn up by utility firms making repairs without permission, city records show.

The number of fines levied against Con Ed, KeySpan Energy and smaller construction companies for illegally chopping up streets has risen 130% over the past five years, from 937 in 2008 to 2,153 in 2013, according to records obtained via a Freedom of Information Law request filed in November.

“It certainly contributes to lousy pavements in the city. And the conditions of the streets are directly related to safety,” said AAA spokesman Robert Sinclair.

City Department of Transportation honchos say the increase in violations is due in part to more work being done on the streets and inspectors fanning out across the five boroughs, hunting for unsanctioned, pavement-busting projects.

In 2010, the city beefed up fines, to $1,500 from $800, for jackhammering on streets without a permit.

But the number of violations has steadily gone up despite the souped-up penalties, the data reveal.

Since 2008, the city has hauled in $13.5 million from bad-behaving utilities, records show.

Con Ed, the city’s largest utility, has been hit with the most fines over the past two years, the records show.

Gas pipeline hearing tonight

From Metro:

The first of two Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Public Hearings over a proposed Rockaway gas pipeline will be taking place at the Knights of Columbus Rockaway Council 267 at 333 Beach 90th Street starting at 7 p.m.

The pipeline, to be built by Williams Transco and National Grid, is being hit with much of the same criticism as the Spectra Pipeline planned for lower Manhattan.

Both pipelines would bring shale gas — produced by fracking — to the city. Opponents are complaining that the review period has not been long enough and that environmental and safety concerns are not being adequately considered.

This pipeline would be embedded in the ocean floor, run under the sandy bank of Riis Park Beach, cross below the Rockaway Inlet and continue up Flatbush avenue to a Metering and Regulation facility. The facility would be built in two of the old abandoned airplane hangars at Floyd Bennet Field.

Breezy Point homeowners suing LIPA & National Grid

From CBS New York:

Scores of Breezy Point homeowners have filed a lawsuit against the Long Island Power Authority and National Grid, CBS 2 has learned.

According to the suit filed by 120 homeowners, the utility companies failed to de-energize the power grid ahead of superstorm Sandy.

Nearly 130 homes burned to the ground in Breezy Point and in Rockaway Beach, Queens after electrical fires broke out.

Earlier this year, 17 homeowners had announced plans to sue the utilities for failing to cut power ahead of the Oct. 29 storm’s landfall.

At the time, residents argued that if LIPA had turned off the power ahead of time, all they would be facing now is flood and wind damage and not a neighborhood wiped off the map by flames. They said homeowners’ insurance will cover much of the damage, but not the loss of so many irreplaceable items.

National grift

From the Daily News:

Nearly a million Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island residents were overcharged on their natural gas bills for two years — prompting investigators to freeze rates until 2015, state officials said.

The state’s Public Service Commission found National Grid charged customers around $2.90 extra a month in 2010 and 2011 - adding up to a $68.9 million payday for the utility company. The news was first reported by New York Power and Light, a new website watchdog.

National Grid stiffed about 980,000 of its users across three boroughs, said the commission, which figured out the overcharges after noticing “the company’s high earnings.”

The rate lockdown affects the “delivery” portion of customers’ gas bills. Prices for the gas itself can still increase, based on market forces.

Chilly nights in Hamilton Beach

From the Daily News:

Many southern Queens homeowners whose belongings and houses were destroyed by the wrath of Superstorm Sandy are still living without heat.

Some residents of Hamilton Beach, a community of one- and two-story homes bordering Howard Beach and JFK Airport, said Wednesday that water gets into their National Grid gas lines every few days — knocking out the service they need for heat, hot water and cooking.

“We’re very frustrated,” said New Hamilton Beach Civic Association President Roger Gendron. “We just feel that after all of these months, a solution should have been reached by now.”

Gary Robertson, 36, said that since the storm he often wakes up in the middle of night “freezing.”

“Every two or three days, I have water in my gas line and my heat kicks off,” said Robertson, whose home flooded with about five feet of water during Sandy. “I’ve had days where my house was 35 degrees.”

He said he calls National Grid several times a week, is on hold for 15 to 20 minutes and then someone is sent to his home to confirm there is a problem.

But it can take days before the utility sends a truck out to pump bottled gas flush into his line to flush the water out of it, he said.

“It’s disgusting,” he said. “I’ve had so many hardships from this storm ... and to have to deal with this, as well as everything else, is extremely frustrating.”

Bad timing for important projects

From the Queens Chronicle:

The only direct route into Coleman Square, which bore the brunt of Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge in Old Howard Beach just six weeks ago, 159th Road has been impassable for the past few weeks because a National Grid project to move gas lines is causing the street to be torn up. The square sits in a low-lying swampy area adjacent to JFK Airport near the bed of Hawtree Creek, which meanders behind homes and stores between the street and the subway tracks. During Hurricane Sandy, the storm surge reached anywhere between 6 and 10 feet in the square, destroying every business there.

Now, as most merchants in the square attempt to return to some sense of normal, some are complaining that the construction work is hindering progress.

Further complicating the situation in the square are the repairs being done to hurricane-damaged buildings and the shuttle buses from Far Rockaway dropping off commuters at the subway while the A line to the Rockaways is out. The subway tracks in Broad Channel and over Jamaica Bay were destroyed in the hurricane and the MTA is running shuttle bus service from the Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue station around JFK Airport to Howard Beach.

The National Grid project should take a few weeks, but there is no timetable on when the DEP’s sewer replacement project will commence or be completed.

Concern over natural gas pipeline

From the Daily News:

A plan to extend an underwater natural gas pipeline beneath a national park in the Rockaways is getting a chilly reception from environmentalists.

Local environmentalists said they are concerned the pipeline could disrupt a nearby artificial reef filled with marine life.

“We’re worried about the environmental footprint that this project will have out in the Atlantic Ocean,” said Dan Mundy Jr., vice president of the Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers, a group formed to protect the bay.

The Williams Companies, an Oklahoma-based energy corporation, has proposed building a 3-mile pipeline that would connect the Rockaways to the existing natural gas Transco line in the ocean that runs parallel to the Rockaways.

It is to go under a golf course in Jacob Riis Park in the Gateway National Recreation Area.

The company also proposed turning an unused hangar on Floyd Bennett Field, in Brooklyn, into a meter station.

“The City of New York is moving off of fuel oils,” said Williams spokesman Chris Stockton. “The demand for natural gas in New York City is going up.”

Energy company National Grid would build an additional 1.5-mile pipe connecting the Rockaways to the station, said company spokeswoman Karen Young. National Grid also plans to connect the meter station to a gas main in Marine Park, Brooklyn, that delivers fuel to customers.

Ozone Park hole fixed

From NY1:

A huge hole in Ozone Park, Queens has finally been filled. Last week, NY1 For You looked into how it sat uncovered for over a month after National Grid replaced a gas main line, causing concern in the neighborhood.

After residents called NY1 For You, NY1 contacted National Grid, and they filled the hole immediately.

The eyesore is gone, parking spaces are back, but most of all, residents say they're happy it's safe again.

Once again, if you want something fixed and calling 311 does nothing, call the media.

National Grid better get on that

From NY1:

A huge hole in Ozone Park, Queens has sat uncovered for over a month after a gas main was replaced by National Grid, leaving the neighborhood on edge.

“Biggest concern is really the safety of them having this opened up. We have a school down the block, kids are constantly on this route, and you know kids are curious, so they're constantly looking in,” says resident Hardat Singh.

“I've seen kids actually jumping across, like daring each other,” says resident Zoey del Rio.

Anyone could easily fall into the hole, which is why residents say National Grid should cover it with metal plates at the very least.

Forest Hills trench repaired

Treacherous trench in Forest Hills

Update on Jamaica gas site

Dear Queens Crapper,

Having invested time and effort in covering the story for us, I thought it would be in order for me to update you on developments since I last made contact.
Last Wednesday; April 27th, National Grid finally came out to reflag the site with the caution flags that used to mark out the path of the buried gas lines.
Kindly find the pictures of how the site now looks attached (in total corroboration of what we have been saying that the site has enough going on already for there to be need for any additional use imposed without risk to lives).
I also found some pictures of some of the practices of the building owner over the site in the past that worry us going forward as long as the site is left unfenced and open to his access.
We'll be in touch.
Thanks once again and God bless. - Felix

Is building atop a gas line a wise move?

From the Queens Chronicle:

In addition to their contention that allowing commercial activities to take place over a “sensitive” public utility facility could cause an accident, neighbors argue the linking of the two stores on the short residential block is bound to overwhelm the neighborhood with traffic. They also say it would damage a parcel that residents consider a neighborhood park.

The grassy area, next to the gas facility, still has some greenery, but most of the plant life has been uprooted and lost due to people driving over the sidewalk to park there. The walkway is cracked and broken in several places and the dirt pressed into grooves from the weight of tires.

“It was like a park — people would come there and walk their dogs,” said resident Nikki Ogunkya. “It was nice for the street, but now to walk past it everyday — it’s devastating.”

Felix Ogunkya, Nikki’s husband and the leader of the protest, said that National Grid was unaware of what was happening on the land until he called them. Staffers told him if residents see people parking on the site to call and the company would send someone out to investigate.

“They do it everyday,” Ogunkya said. “How often can we call them?”

He recently enlisted the help of City Councilman Ruben Wills (D-South Ozone Park). Ogunkya said the lawmaker reached out to National Grid and asked them to replace the yellow caution flags, which the utility promised to do within 48 hours — that was on April 19, and they were still not there on Monday.

Karen Young, a spokeswoman for the utility company, said the land where the gas lines are located does not belong to National Grid, so they can’t put up a fence around it. She further asserted that the construction of a driveway on the land would not cause safety issues.

Young suggested that complaints about the broken sidewalk be referred to the city’s Department of Transportation, but said the utility would go out to the site to replace the yellow flags.

Anytime people want to build near or over a gas line, they are required to call a national hotline, Young said, so that representatives from various utilities can check to make sure the area is safe for construction. She did not specify if the landowner in this case had done that.

Similarly, Jennifer Gilbert, a spokeswoman for the DOB, said the owner and contractor are obligated to follow such rules, however, she did not say whether the agency checks to make sure they have done this before it approves the permits.

Anyone else notice a major problem here?

And now a follow up from the organizer:

"National Grid came out to re-insert the yellow caution flags that used to populate the site Wednesday afternoon (I am attaching pictures of the flags so you know what they look like). Unfortunately, none of these flags remained on the site before I brought it to Councilman Wills' notice and he then impressed on National Grid the need to come out to re-insert them.
Interestingly however, just like the Queens Chronicle's report suggests, National Grid support for this is such that they 'graciously' avoided putting any flags up along the path of the proposed driveway even though I have videos that show that there used to be flags right in front of the door that the driveway is to link up to our street. I could think that this was just a co-incidence on their part, but I stopped believing in co-incidences with these guys since I have witnessed what they have been able to do through the DOB: National Grid may just be the next 'helper' to come along for them. Regardless, they are bent on getting this project finished whatever may be the cost or risk!
Anyway, thanks again for all your support. I'll be in touch.
God bless,
Felix"

Jamaica rally postponed until Thursday

Community Leader's Letter of Support
CHANGE OF DATE FOR RALLY TO PROTEST DANGEROUS DEPT OF BLDGS PLAN:

DOBs’ Plan to Allow a Commercial Bldg Access over an Existing Gas Facility Imperils Residents’ Safety

Please be aware that the protest rally planned by the residents of this Jamaica, Queens neighborhood against a Department of Buildings (DOB) plan to permit a new commercial building to have their driveway over an existing National Grid underground Gas Facility has been postponed to accommodate for the NYPD protest permit process, which was started Monday morning.

The rally has now been moved back to Thursday April 21st, 2011 at the same time (5:00 pm) at the same location (the corner of 110th Avenue and Sutphin Blvd in Jamaica, Queens).

We apologize for any inconvenience and ask that you, kindly, update your schedule accordingly because your presence is vital to helping these residents get their story out in a way that would allow for proper review and a re-consideration of what is an accident waiting to happen if executed as presently planned.

For more information, kindly contact Mr. Felix Ogunkya, the point-person for the residents @: (917) 723-6500.

Thank you.