Little Neck Bay kind of crappy

From the Daily News:

Little Neck Bay is still awash in stormy sewage.

Even though the city has pumped a whopping $142 million into blocking crud from the bay, pollution continues to taint the water, residents said Monday.

Scummy storm runoff from nearby streets and front yards continues to plague the area where people fish and swim.

“Storm water is still running off the land and storm water carries everything with it into the water,” said William Nieter, a professor of environmental studies at St. John’s University and a board member at the nearby Alley Pond Environmental Center.

Nieter noted the area has seen significant improvement since auto salvage shops and dumping grounds dotted the landscape. Meanwhile, cleaning facilities and tidal marshes the city Department of Environmental Protection completed in 2011 have reduced the flow of contaminated water by 261 million gallons per year, according to the agency.

But the beach at Douglas Manor next to the Nassau County border still had to close due to heightened bacteria readings for 47 days in 2012, the highest number in the city, according to the National Resources Defense Council.

Fishermen who have the city’s blessing to cast lines in the bay might think twice if they want to eat what they catch.

Crap on the bluff

Now this makes for a lovely sight when you are strolling along Little Neck Bay in Bayside. Decided to delve further into why it looks like this. Address is 31-09 218th Street. Here's what it used to look like:

Something went wrong with the plans self-certified by a Main Street architect, and the site became abandoned, as noted in this Google Maps photo from circa 2008:

Last Summer, the DOB issued a stop work order - on this abandoned construction site - for a defective fence. It's amazing how effective they are in stopping work on already stalled sites. [Great job, Ira and Bobby!]
The City could condemn it in order to create an extension of Golden Park (after all, it is blighting the neighborhood), but then that would negatively affect a developer and positively affect the community, and under Mayor Bloomberg, we can't have that.

Poisoning the waters

From the Daily News:

A bridge rehabilitation project that already has a list of snafus - including the death of a worker and a fire that resulted in weeks of snarled traffic - is being charged with yet another potential hazard: the dumping of high levels of lead and mercury in the water.

The blasting of lead-based paint on the Throgs Neck Bridge, the 2,300-foot span that connects Queens and the Bronx, may have contaminated the waters of Little Neck Bay, according to an environmental scientist.

"I'm not by any means trying to attack the MTA [Bridges and Tunnels]," said Dr. James Cervino, an environmental scientist who serves on the Task Force on Health Effects of Toll Plaza Air Quality in New York City, a state panel.

"I want to urge them to start collecting samples and work with the community," Cervino said.
According to the agency's monitoring of 103 dust-producing work days on the bridge, no dangerous levels of potentially harmful metals were emitted.

But those tests should have included more samples, Cervino said.

"They only tested air," he said, adding that his findings came from the water and the land along the shoreline of the bay.

Although his tests were preliminary, Cervino and community leaders plan to hire an independent laboratory to conduct a more thorough examination of the samples. The results of which should be known by mid-January, he said.

CB11 wants to expand parkland

From the Times Ledger:

Northeast Queens residents called on Community Board 11 to prioritize the purchase of land for preservation at sites near Udalls Cove and Little Neck Bay during a discussion of the board’s capital and expense budget for fiscal year 2011 at a meeting this week.

The board held a public hearing Monday during which it solicited ideas from community members for priorities that could be placed in its budget. The items would then go before Borough President Helen Marshall, who would determine which items to fund for the 2011 fiscal year.

Walter Mugdan, president of the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee, proposed the acquisition of four acres of land near Udalls Cove that have not been included in the ongoing process of keeping development off the northeast Queens shoreline.

“It’s a small chunk,” he said. “There hasn’t been pressure for this property to be developed with the current downturn in development. But once that improves, it will be a prime piece of property.”

CB 11 member Henry Euler also suggested purchasing a piece of northeast Queens shoreline property for preservation. He said the board should add the acquisition of a parcel of land adjacent to Little Neck Bay on the south side of Northern Boulevard and east of the Cross Island Parkway.

The purchase would provide recreational space in the vicinity, he said.