Manhattan penis extension proposal

 

New York Times

On Jan. 1, Eric Adams was sworn in as New York’s 110th mayor. He is now in charge of the city’s response to big, and growing, problems. One is a housing affordability crisis. Another concerns the ravages of climate change: sea level rise, flooding and storm surges.

There is a way to help tackle both issues in one bold policy stroke: expand Manhattan Island into the harbor.

Last September, after witnessing unprecedented flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ida, Mr. Adams said that it was “a real wake-up call to all of us how we must understand how this climate change is impacting us.” This realization should spur him to pursue aggressive measures to mitigate climate change’s devastation.

Both Mayors Bill de Blasio and Michael Bloomberg offered climate-change plans that included extending the shoreline along the East River in Lower Manhattan. But these proposals, while admirable, would be small steps and would hardly make a dent with problems of such big scale.

This new proposal offers significant protection against surges while also creating new housing. To do this, it extends Manhattan into New York Harbor by 1,760 acres. This landfill development, like many others in the city’s past, would reshape the southern Manhattan shoreline. We can call the created area New Mannahatta (drawn from the name the Lenape gave to Manhattan).

A neighborhood of that size is bigger than the Upper West Side (Community District 7), which is 1,220 acres. Imagine replicating from scratch a diverse neighborhood that contains housing in all shapes and sizes, from traditional brownstones to five-story apartment buildings to high-rise towers. If New Mannahatta is built with a density and style similar to the Upper West Side’s, it could have nearly 180,000 new housing units.

Opinion Conversation The climate, and the world, are changing. What challenges will the future bring, and how should we respond to them?

 

Former Belt Parkway toxic dump mountain is now a state park

Curbed New York

After 70 years of promises, Brooklyn’s newest waterfront park is finally open for visitors.

The first section of Shirley Chisholm State Park recently made its official debut on a site that was previously known as the 110-acre Pennsylvania Avenue Landfill. Situated on the northern coast of Jamaica Bay in East New York, near Starrett City, this vibrant new green space has opened up the shoreline here for the first time in generations.

The words “charming” and “fun” don’t often come to mind when walking around New York City’s polluted landfills. Yet somehow, a walk through this new park is just that—a surprisingly enjoyable ramble through a delightfully varied landscape of wildflower meadows, native grasslands, hidden beaches, and bustling fishing piers. Butterflies and songbirds fill the air, while cooling breezes waft in from Jamaica Bay.

Though it has only been open for a week, the park is already a hit with the neighborhood. During its first weekend, the parking lot was filled to capacity and every two-wheeler was checked out of its Bike Library, which is run by Recycle-A-Bicycle. Parents pushed baby strollers along meandering gravel hiking trails, while fishermen lined the piers along Jamaica Bay, happily pulling in dozens of porgies.

The second section of this park, at the adjoining Fountain Avenue Landfill, won’t be complete until 2021, but for a community that has been cut off from the waterfront for decades, any access to the water is no small thing. “I’ve been waiting for this for 20 or 30 years,” said one fisherman, as he cast out into the waters of Jamaica Bay. “I moved here in 1986, and they were working on it then, piece by piece, off and on, over the years.”

Styrofoam is back

From Crains:

A state judge has overturned New York City's ban on plastic foam containers, finding the nearly 30,000 tons of dirty meat trays and to-go cups now sent to landfills can be recycled in a cost-effective way, according to a decision made public Tuesday.

The ban went into effect July 1 after lawmakers voted in 2013 to approve it unless a yearlong inquiry found the foam could be effectively recycled. An industry group of manufacturers, recyclers and restaurant-owners then sued, arguing that the ban was based on politics, not policy and that recycling was feasible.

The environmental initiative was spearheaded by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent, and supported by current Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat.

But state Supreme Court Judge Margaret Chan ruled that Department of Sanitation Commissioner Katheryn Garcia didn't properly take into account industry estimates of the market and recycling opportunities generated during the yearlong review period when she decided that plastic foam couldn't be recycled economically and in an environmentally friendly way.

Ms. Garcia didn't "clearly state the basis of her conclusions when the evidence contrary to her findings were clearly before her," Ms. Chan wrote, noting industry estimates that 21 companies would buy used containers from the city. She also noted the city would save $400,000 annually if 40 percent of its wasted plastic foam wasn't sent to landfills, though as much as 75 percent could be recycled following machinery improvements.

Astoria Mountain being flattened

We have word from George the Atheist that the Berrian Blvd landfill which was proposed to become a park is in the process of being denuded of trees and bulldozed.

Bye, bye, brown bins?

From WNYC:

New York City's fledgling composting program has hit a major snag.

The nearly two-year-old pilot project takes food scraps from about a dozen neighborhoods and 400 schools as part of an effort to reduce waste. But the facility that processed most of that organic material was shut down last month, forcing the city to send the bulk of what's picked up to landfills.

The problem stems from the highly-contaminated nature of New York City's organic waste, known in the composting industry as "feedstock." Most composting companies are small operations that take feedstock that's relatively easy to break down, like rotting fruits and vegetables, leaves, and grass clippings.

But the Peninsula Composting Group's facility in Wilmington, Del., was more aggressive. It took that stuff and more, including discarded eggs and dead chicks from hatcheries, manure-filled animal bedding, and decaying meat and bones. The $20 million, 27-acre facility also took material that was highly contaminated with plain old garbage, using magnets to pull out metals and employees to pick out plastics and other non-organic stuff.

In October, Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control refused to renew Peninsula's permit. That decision followed a public hearing that drew 200 people. Most in attendance testified against Peninsula, describing odors that were so awful they induced nausea and prevented children from playing outdoors.

Peninsula's closure is a big blow to New York City. The Department of Sanitation had relied upon Peninsula's leniency, because the city's composting waste stream right now is filled with a lot of contaminants, especially plastics. Deputy Sanitation Commissioner Bridget Anderson, who oversees the composting initiative, said the department allowed people to use plastic liners in the brown bins they set at their curbsides to get them to give the program a try.

"We're stuck right now in this place where we're trying to encourage the front end behavior and also figure out how to manage the processing side," she said. "So there's a little bit of a chicken-and-egg issue."

New recycling rules for plastic

From NYC.gov:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Operations Cas Holloway and Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty [Wednesday] announced the expansion of the City’s recycling program to include for the first time the recycling of all rigid plastics, including toys, hangers, shampoo bottles, coffee cups and food containers. The expansion of plastics recycling – which begins today – is part of the City’s Solid Waste Management Plan and is made possible, in part, through a partnership with SIMS Municipal Recycling whose recycling facilities are equipped to handle the broad range of plastic recycling. The recycling expansion will result in more than 50,000 additional tons of waste a year no longer ending up in landfills at a savings to City taxpayers of almost $600,000 each year in export costs, and for rigid plastics, it is recommended that New Yorkers should rinse and recycle it.

“Starting today, if it’s a rigid plastic – any rigid plastic – recycle it,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “There is no more worrying about confusing numbers on the bottom of the container. This means that 50,000 tons of plastics that we were sending to landfills every year will now be recycled and it will save taxpayers almost $600,000 in export costs each year.”

Donald Trump's golf course belching gas

From the Daily News:

High levels of explosive methane gas have been discovered next to Bronx homes that abut a dump the city is turning into a golf course for Donald Trump, a Daily News investigation has found.

As construction of the $97 million links has accelerated this year, methane in quantities the state considers potentially volatile has been repeatedly detected in test wells just yards away from homes.

Residents of this working-class neighborhood had no idea — and weren’t too pleased.

“That concerns me. What are we breathing?” asked Stephanie Machuca, whose Balcolm Ave. condo sits about 25 feet from a green-capped well that registered excessive amounts of methane in May.

The Trump golf course is now under construction on top of a dump that was closed in 1963. The decomposing garbage that’s still underground creates methane, a highly volatile gas that’s been percolating under Ferry Point for years.

Occasionally the test results showed higher levels of methane. But in recent months, the tests have regularly detected concentrations at the project’s edge far in excess of the LEL, records show.

The state is aware of this rash of high methane levels. In response, it has decided not to shut down construction but to increase the frequency of monitoring. “We’re concerned about movement of landfill gas.

Okay, why the hell are we building a golf course for Donald Trump? And using shady contractors, to boot?

Is Rikers Island hazardous to health?

From Fox 5:

Is Rikers Island making people sick? Five corrections officers are suing New York City claiming that after decades of work at the jail -which sits on top of a former landfill- they are suffering from cancer.

Good Day New York spoke with Officers Jacqueline Bede and Vanessa Parks and their attorney, Seth Harris of the Burns & Harris Law Firm.

"Too many of us are coming down with cancer. Too many of us are retiring with cancer and too many of us are dying before our 20 year retirement," said Parks, 51, who has colon cancer.

"The smell, makes me nauseous. All day, it's a terrible smell," said Bede, 49, who has uterine cancer.

The City denies that Rikers Island is causing cancer.

"The corrections officer union did a study a few years ago because of so many complaints by constituents. Many are sick from methane gas that is leaking through the soil. Rikers Island is a landfill. It's where we used to get rid of garbage. They tried to put in a methane gas barrier 20 years ago that isn't working because the alarms keep going off. In the 90s, they did a study to appease the workers but they never tested the soil," said Harris.

The end of Edgemere

Nathan Kensinger has the third and final installment of his Rockaway ramble. Click photo for story.

Radium contamination at SI national park!

From SI Live:

Outdoor enthusiasts looking to enjoy the 580-acre Great Kills Park for fishing, ballplaying, model airplane flying or other activities this summer may have to make alternate plans.

Four-foot high wooden fencing has been erected, almost overnight. It sections off approximately half of the park land that is believed to be affected by radium contamination.

In fact, the entire portion of land bounded by Hylan Boulevard, Bulkhead Road and Buffalo Street has been indefinitely closed to the public. This includes the stretch of shore along the Great Kills Harbor bulkhead frequented by anglers and crabbers.

“As a result of the preliminary investigations for radium contaminated soil at Great Kills Park, Gateway management has taken the precautionary step of closing public access to the areas of the park that were built on landfill,” said Jane Ahern, a spokesperson for the National Park Service (NPS). “We appreciate the public’s cooperation as we work towards completing a full investigation.”

Staten Island dump transformed into a park

The City Concealed: Freshkills Park Project from Thirteen.org on Vimeo.

In Staten Island they took a dump and made it into a park. In Queens, we take parks and turn them into dumps.

Converting landfills to parks in Brooklyn

From the NY Times:

In a $200 million project, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection covered the Fountain Avenue Landfill and the neighboring Pennsylvania Avenue Landfill with a layer of plastic, then put down clean soil and planted 33,000 trees and shrubs at the two sites. The result is 400 acres of nature preserve, restoring native habitats that disappeared from New York City long ago.

The site is not yet open to the public. Indeed, it is still listed by the state as a toxic waste site. But the air is clear and fresh.

A spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said the Fountain Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue Landfills, currently listed as a “significant threat to the public health or environment,” could be reclassified by next spring as safe for public access, requiring only continued monitoring of their conditions.

So Bloomberg is taking a contaminated site and converting it into a passive use park and natural area, but then he is taking an ready-made natural area at the Ridgewood Reservoir and turning it into ballfields. Logic: lacking in the mind of the mayor.