Rockaway bathrooms already falling apart

From DNA Info:

The multimillion dollar bathrooms and lifeguard stations placed along city beaches as part of a post-Hurricane Sandy fix have already begun rusting and leaking, DNAinfo New York has learned.

The city spent $105 million to place the 35 modular units, which were designed by Garrison Architects and built by Triton Construction, along beaches on Rockaway Beach, Staten Island and Brooklyn in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

Of the 35 stations, 21 are lifeguard shacks, 10 are public bathrooms and four are used for maintenance and operations, according to the Parks Department.

But while the shacks were intended to be strong enough to withstand the next superstorm, those who have used them say they are already falling apart — including at least one structure that has duct tape securing its railings for the handicapped-accessible ramp.

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Little Bay Park construction stalled

Dear Community,

Many of you have noticed that work on the Little Bay Park Comfort Station and parking lot expansion have come to a grinding halt. That's not completely true because in actuality construction never began.

Initial inquiries to the Department of Parks & Recreation were met with the sounds of silence. When the Parks Department did respond they would deny the existence of a problem. They even went so far as to make the ludicrous claim that work was taking place but it just happened to be at times when no one was nearby to view the progress.

As is so often the case, the story has once again taken a new turn. A spokesperson for the Parks Department now reports that work was delayed because the contractor needed to obtain the proper construction permits. What this means, if it's accurate, is that a contractor hired by the Parks Department fenced off a large area of parkland and moved dirt and large pieces of construction equipment onto the worksite without have all the permits in place. Would anyone reading this email allow a contractor they had hired to perform in such a reckless and irresponsible manner? I don't think so.

Individuals employed by the Parks Department are dedicated and hard working. However, incidents like the Little Bay Park fiasco emphasize the need for greater oversight. Hopefully a new mayor will bring about much needed change.

Sincerely
Warren Schreiber

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Bioswales or garbage pails?

From CBS New York:

Some Queens residents say new sidewalk gardens aimed at improving drainage may end up being more of a bother than a help, CBS 2′s Janelle Burrell reported.

The city is spending $2.4 billion to install more than 6,000 of the gardens, known as bioswales, throughout the five boroughs over the next five years. The gardens are engineered to extend five feet into the ground and can hold up to 2,500 gallons of rainwater.

Matt Mahoney, associate commissioner for intergovernmental affairs for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, said that alleviating the demand on the sewage system will save taxpayers $3 billion over the next 20 years.

But Pat Kannengieser, who said two of the gardens are slated to be added in front of her Middle Village home, said she is worried she will inevitably be the one left to maintain them.

“I see them also as catch basins for litter,” she said.

The DEP said it is paying the Parks Department to maintain the plots, but Kannengieser said the city plans to clean the gardens just once a week.

Okay, these will be maintained by Parks? Does anyone believe that? They don't have the money to do routine maintenance in actual parks, never mind along the curb.

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Does St. Michael's Cemetery have land to swap for parkland?

This was passed on by a reader:

BILL NUMBER:S581

TITLE OF BILL: An act to authorize the city of New York to discontinue use of and convey certain park land

PURPOSE: To authorize the city of New York to discontinue use of certain park land and convey it to the St. Michael's cemetery.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1. Authorizes the city of New York to discontinue use as park land and to convey, in fee simple, the land described in section three of this act to Saint Michael's Cemetery.

Section 2. Provides that the authorization of this act shall be subject to the requirement that the city of New York shall use any proceeds and/or land received in exchange for the conveyance authorized by this act to acquire land, to be dedicated for park purposes in an amount equal to or greater than the fair market value of the land being conveyed.

Section 3. Describes the land authorized to be discontinued as park land and conveyed as the property bounded by Astoria Boulevard to the north, 30th Avenue to the south, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the east, and St, Michael's Cemetery to the west, in the Astoria section of Queens, City and State of New York. The property consists of a 3.77 acre highly irregularly shaped parcel of vacant land know as St. Michael's Park.

JUSTIFICATION: This legislation would allow St. Michael's Cemetery, located in Astoria, Queens to acquire a small strip of park land that is underutilized and in disrepair located adjacent to the cemetery.

St. Michael's Cemetery has agreed to transfer a replacement parcel of land to the City of New York in order to replace the park land acquired and ensure that the western Queens community does not lose valuable green space.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2012: Senate Bill 2513 (Gianaris) - Died in Senate Cities Committee 2012: Assembly Bill 4874 (Simotas) - Died in Assembly Rules Committee 2010: Senate Bill 2768-B (Onorato) - Died in Senate Cities Committee 2010: Assembly Bill 4317-B (Gianaris) - Died in Assembly Cities Committee

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: To be determined.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.

VOTE: COMMITTEE VOTE: - Cities - May 30, 2013
Ayes (5): Lanza, DeFrancisco, Grisanti, Avella, Breslin
Ayes W/R (1): Ball

So, where is the replacement parkland?

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Alcohol & food sold openly in parks by illegal vendors

From A Walk in the Park:

The city is losing millions of dollars in revenue annually from illegal vendors while the Bloomberg administration does little to combat the problem.

In Flushing Meadows Park it's a wild wild west, cat and mouse game as dozens of illegal vendors work openly in the 900 acre park. Women pushing "invisible babies" do brisk business selling alcohol from covered baby carriages, beer is hidden in sewers to avoid detection, while others sell food, ice cream, drinks and snacks and toys.

Licensed vendors say they can not compete. In Flushing Meadows Park alone ice cream truck concessionaires pay the Parks Department up to $ 32,000 annually in addition to Heath Department fees, liability Insurance, and in the case of Mr. Softee - a $ 3000 annual franchise fee, on top of the $ 85,000 - $ 120,000 required to purchase the trucks.

Mean while illegal vendors sell from make-shift home made push carts, baby carriages and bicycles that by-pass permits and insurance.

Legal vendors also note that the Parks Department sets the prices they are allowed to charge while unlicensed ones are not under the same constraints. Some legal ones have been forced to lower prices in order to try and compete.

Critics also point out that park patrons being allowed access to unlimited amounts of alcohal is a concern for getting behind wheel to drive home.
Illegal vendors take away revenue not only from owners but also from the workers who's salaries are often based on a percentage of what they sell.

Some vendors say they are under the constant threat of violence from illegal vendors while the city does little to protect them. They say you are lucky if law enforcement occasionally conduct sweeps and confiscate illegal items but nothing is constant and certainly there is not a permanent uniform presence needed to deter this activity.

Legal vendors say they constantly complain to the Parks Department's revenue division - who oversee the agency's vast array of concessionaires but their concerns fall on deaf ears. They complain that the city refuses to protect them while being told there's nothing they can do because they don't have the resources to address the issues.

There is not a single dedicated Park Enforcement Patrol (PEP) officer permanently assigned to patrol 900 acres of FMCP, the largest park in Queens.

__________________________________________________________________

I'm sure Holly Leicht of New Yorkers for Parks and Council Member Julissa Ferreras will suggest another conservancy to take care of this...

But seriously folks, it's become much easier and more profitable to do as you please rather than follow the rules in this town. What is the fine for illegal vending even if you were unfortunate enough to get caught?

I urge you to click the link at the top of this post and read the whole story. Illegal gambling, hiding booze in storm drains, legal vendors being harassed and told to vacate the park during the US Open - when they would likely make the most money. It's simply amazing what goes on in our parks. And no one does a damn thing about it.

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Parks isn't always to blame for street tree conditions

Ok, so what a-hole did this?

This concreted tree is in front of 578 Seneca Avenue in Ridgewood. I suppose a vibrant, diverse tree hater is lurking around there.

So, is this tree a goner?

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Trees down all over Highland Park!

From Save Ridgewood Reservoir's Facebook page:

These are photos of Highland Park which surrounds the reservoir. Fallen trees everywhere, weed clogged paths, broken lamps and trash everywhere. Why spend millions to destroy a habitat reclaimed by nature and used by birds on a natural migratory path when the parks department can't even maintain the park that exists? Spend that money on fixing up the existing Park!

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Dangerous trees in many parks

We have phony park advocates petitioning for funding for tweeding programs via public private partnerships instead of demanding adequate funding in the city Parks budget, and we're surprised this is happening?

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The Overlook has seen better days

Located here and here.

Dead grass abounds, long since replaced by patches of dirt and rocks. The uneven terrain has proved a potent trip hazard. And then there is the mud puddle that has been present almost every day of the summer. A wonderful breeding ground for mosquitoes that make the park a sorry place to be at dusk.

- Ted, Kew Gardens

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Pregnant woman killed by falling tree in Kissena Park

From CBS New York:

A giant tree came crashing down at the popular Kissena Park in Flushing, Queens Sunday evening, leaving a pregnant woman dead.

As CBS 2’s Tracee Carrasco reported, another woman was also injured when the tree came down.

Police were notified of the accident at 6:25 p.m. The woman, who was reportedly in her 30s, was sitting on a bench under the tree when part of it fell.

Officials told 1010 WINS the woman was pregnant. She was reported in traumatic cardiac arrest and in critical condition when she was rushed to New York Hospital Queens. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

It was not known how many months pregnant the woman was, or what happened to the unborn baby after the woman died.

“The city does not put enough money into tree maintenance, and I’ve been furious with the mayor for his plan to plant a million trees when we don’t take care of the trees we already have now,” said state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Queens.)

“This is the twelfth injury over the last eight weeks,” added Geoffrey Croft, president of New York City Park Advocates. “We have been calling on the city to properly inspect its trees; maintain its trees, and it is outrageous.”

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Staking a claim to community garden

From the Wall Street Journal:

Despite its serene setting and rows of flowers and vegetables, a community garden in Flushing, Queens, has turned into a battlefield.

Violent fights, death threats and shouting matches, sometimes involving fistfuls of dirt, have become routine at Evergreen Community Garden, leading to volunteer guards at the entrance and police patrols. And almost all of the tangles involve elderly Korean gardeners, officials and witnesses say.

The disputes grew out of the city Parks & Recreation Department's decision last year to take control of the 5-acre garden from a Korean-American senior citizens' group, which had transformed the trash-filled public space into a working garden back in the early 1980s.

A fight broke out at a news conference by elderly Korean gardeners upset that New York City took control of their park in Flushing, Queens. Mellad “Sam” Massoud, a member of the Evergreen Community Garden who supports the city’s control of the park, is seen shouting in the video because he was upset that the news conference was taking place. He was injured in the fight and spent three days in a nearby hospital. He said he was "simply reacting to the situation,” adding, "The fighting has gotten bad and we need to stop.”

The parks department—which contends the seniors' group had been improperly selling produce from the city-owned plot and excluding outsiders—turned control of the park over to its GreenThumb network of community gardens and installed a manager last year.

But the older gardeners are still trying to reclaim the land, at times by drastic means.

A year ago, the garden's 75-year-old former manager clutched a lighter and container of gasoline, threatening to light himself on fire if he didn't get his old job back, city officials said. The incident prompted a police hostage negotiation team to respond and two nearby schools to be locked down.

Then earlier this summer, 100 gardeners signed a petition saying they feared for their safety around one of the garden's new managers—and one person took out a restraining order against him, according to court documents. That manager now has a gardening schedule, set by city GreenThumb officials, so he doesn't violate the court order.

Parks officials say they are trying to keep the peace at the garden, located in Kissena Corridor Park.

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Bowne Park looking much better

Hi Crappy –

Well – we now have definitive proof that the only way to get some people to do their jobs in a timely fashion is to shame them! And shame them we shall!

Guess what? The Bocce court at Bowne Park is almost done! They sit on the project for about seven months and then all of a sudden it’s completed in a week! Is it possible that someone in the Parks Dept. is a fan of the Crapster?



The benches are in, the walkway paved and the protective guards removed from the trees. As usual – there’s a lone worker plugging away – God forbid that the contractor FROM NEW JERSEY send over a crew and just complete the damn job. And why is the contractor schlepping in from Jersey - did Whitestone fall off the map? Hey Parks Dept. – we have contractors right here in Queens – please hire locally!



On to our second victory. The platform in the pond has finally been replaced! It only took three trucks and about eight guys scratching their heads (and elsewhere) to accomplish this.



It’s sad that you have to harangue a city agency to get people to do their jobs – their cushy, benefits-provided, paid-vacation with overtime jobs. Especially in this economy when McDonald’s workers are expected to hold down two full-time jobs to survive.

Well Crappy – all I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you! Without your forum we’d still be waiting! You are a force to be reckoned with!

Flooshing Rezident

I can't take full credit for this, for it's the people who are walking around and taking photos that are the real heroes. I am just putting it in an electronic form for all to see. I also know that after the blog post, political pressure was applied to get the park cleaned up. As for having a fan in Parks, I hope I do have at least one. The Dept is, unfortunately, stretched too thin and does the best it can despite its funding getting cut year after year. Just remember the next time you see stuff like this, that it's the way it is because your council member approved the budget that doesn't give Parks nearly enough to do what it needs to do. - QC

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City plans to spray pesticides on concertgoers

So the NYC Parks Dept is co-sponsoring a concert series in Juniper Valley Park. Tonight is "Classic Rock night" and starts at 7pm.

And the NYCDOH apparently doesn't care. They blindsided everyone involved by announcing that they would be spraying the area tonight beginning at 8pm and that everyone should stay indoors.

Great communication work!

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Terrace on the Park contract up for bid

From the Queens Courier:

Terrace on the Park operators want to upgrade the facility and are looking to get a new lease on the popular and historic Flushing Meadows-Corona Park catering hall to do so.

Their contract with the city’s Parks Department expires next March, officials said.

The department has issued a new Request for Proposals (RFP) for the 52-11 111th Street site.

“While the current concessionaire has invested more than $8 million in capital improvements, exceeding the requirements of their license agreement, it is clear that additional infrastructure investments are needed,” a Parks spokesperson said.

George Makkos, co-owner of Terrace on the Park, said they have invested $12 million so far to better the catering hall.

But the 100,000-square-foot building needs “millions” of dollars more in capital improvements which cannot be done under the looming lease expiration date, Makkos said.

“Given the size and complexity of the building, the money that we will need to spend will never be recovered in the time, in the lease that we have left,” he said.

Makkos said he and co-owner Jimmy Kaloidis want to retain and upgrade the catering hall.

Here's more on the current owner:

http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/pushcart-emperors-live-high-pay-article-1.552540

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/food_filth_fight_goes_round_round_3pdSFZ9AHQUXsdBPwFUO3O

http://www.citylimits.org/news/article_print.cfm?article_id=3019

http://www.ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/press-releases/archived/nov23a_04_attach1.pdf

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Problems once again at public pools

From A Walk in the Park:

Police and Park Enforcement Patrol officers working in and around the city pools not only had to battle stiffing temperatures during the heat wave last week but also unruly patrons.

The NYPD arrested at least 13 people in Parks Department pool related incidents NYC Park Advocates has learned.

The charges ranged from Inciting A Riot, Resisting Arrest, Gang Assault, Robbery, Assault, Criminal Possession of A Weapon.

Several pools were temporarily closed to quell the violence and more than a dozen lockers were robbed.

Nice Astoria Pool report here. But my favorite is this one:

Police arrested a Washington Heights woman who created quite a disturbance when she refused to go quietly after putting on a show for pool patrons. According to law enforcement sources, Raiz Nunez, 21, was wearing a pink thong bathing suit with white sandals and dancing, shaking her behind while holding on to a railing in the deep end treating it like a stripper pole. The audience chanted as she gyrated and encouraged adults, and then children to smack her behind which some obliged.

The incident prompted some patrons with children to leave and caused a larger crowd to gather.

"She thought she was on the pole, and this would get her some attention and it did," said an officer at the scene.

She was asked to leave. Things escalated while she was being escorted out by police and PEP officers attempting to remove her from the premises.

"She was saying that she looks good and 'you are all just jealous that's why you're doing this.' She looked liked SpongeBob SquarePants," said an officer referring to the woman's apparent non hour-glass figure.

So for all those people who you hear saying, "I wish there was a free public pool in my neighborhood!"

Trust me, you really don't want one.

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Turtles dying at Bowne Park

This is a large, bloated, dead turtle with its mouth open in agony in the pond at Bowne Park. One of its legs is probably entangled in a discarded length of fishing line. This has happened before. It’s disgusting and extremely upsetting. The turtle most likely drowned and then bobbed to the surface as it started to decompose and filled with gas. Last summer an enormous turtle died in a similar manner.

When is the Dept. of Parks going to wise up and BAN FISHING AT CITY PARKS???? I don’t think the dead wildlife find it all that sporting!!!

Something is extremely wrong with people that feel the need to torture animals with their children for fun. Their justification of fish not being able to feel pain is just painfully stupid! Haven’t they ever seen a fish out of water? Does it look like it’s not suffering?

PEOPLE NEED TO STOP TORTURING AND KILLING ANIMALS FOR FUN!!! ESPECIALLY AT OUR PARKS!!!

Regards,
Flooshing Rezident

As always, thanks again Crappy!

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Dead wildlife and filthy conditions at Bowne Park

"Bowne Park is exceptionally filthy and filled with dead animals this year. Last year we had a great young girl there every day cleaning up the park and looking out for everyone and their pets. This year, the Parks Dept. has really dropped the ball. Perhaps Bloomberg moved all the money into his Canadian Geese Extinction Program!

Here are some not-so-lovely images.

There are about four garbage pails for the entire park.



They are always overflowing with garbage and are rarely emptied.


I like a beer as much as the next person but this is ridiculous. We need webcams beaming to a website that we can all monitor.


Chairs, shopping carts and baby strollers are regularly thrown into the pond and are left there for weeks at a time. The wooden platform by the seating area has been removed and a crappy metal barricade on wheels has been positioned in front of the missing platform for months now. Would it really cost that much to replace a few pieces of wood???? Yesterday, the temporary (HA!) metal barricade was in the pond – along with the chairs, shopping carts and baby strollers!

The pond itself is filthy and there are new dead turtles every day. It’s a really nice sight for the kids and the animal lovers!




When notified of four abandoned baby ducklings, the Parks. Dept. lied to PETA and said they had been taken care of, but they were, in actuality, ignored and eventually killed by the snapping turtles (12 out of 13 died, 4 had been abandoned by their mother – perhaps she was killed as well).

I guess it would have been too difficult to put on waders and go out with a net. They were trapped in the water – it’s not as though they could fly away! This was the only day they got out of the pond and it was because the pond had overflowed – a common occurrence due to the jerry-built fountains!

Trees bases are filled with garbage (perhaps a drugs stash – note the Marino’s bag – I guess these slobs are local!)


It’s absolutely disgusting!

Yet the Parks Dept. has $700,000 (that’s the number people are throwing around) to WASTE on a bocce court!!! And even that’s a complete disaster!

Two guys show up perhaps once a week and work for perhaps an hour. They must be getting a  monthly fee and, as such, are majorly dragging their heels. This should have been a $30,000 two week job! At the very least it should have been finished for the summer.

Why hasn’t it been completed? Why don’t the contractors just put the damned benches in and take their fence home? Because they get paid thousands every month on the fence rental!!! This entire project warrants an investigation. It just reeks of corruption!


We, the local residents, are disgusted by the conditions present at Bowne Park and we are angry!  Joe Moretti – your homegrown activism is starting to spread to Flooshing!!!! Thanks for the forum Crappy!" - Flooshing Rezident

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When developers request street tree removal

From Crain's:

Since a 2010 law was passed requiring builders to pay the city for chopping down healthy trees planted on the public sidewalk, Staten Island homebuilders have claimed examples like Mr. Molino's — where the contractor is charged tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of dollars by the city for tree removal — are becoming more frequent and detrimental to their business.

"I'm a second-generation builder, and this has never been an issue until the past four years," said Frank Naso, president of the Naso Organization, which specializes in commercial and residential land development. "What's really happening is the Parks Department is devaluing [the future homes] on vacant land. The builder is eating the cost."

It seems counterintuitive that trees would have a negative effect on property values. But Mr. Naso sees little incentive in planting trees on vacant lots if a developer later must pay big sums to remove them to build on the land.

He is currently building two houses on Staten Island's North Shore that he hopes to sell for about $300,000 each. The city is asking him to pay $15,000 in restitution for trees that he says he needs to cut down to build. "If you pass that onto the homebuyer," Mr. Naso said, "you'd price them out."

But the flip side of debilitating costs carried by builders is that the Parks Department is attempting to put a monetary value on something as invaluable as a big, old tree. Mr. Molino's stately pin oak on Rudyard Street measured in with a diameter of 42 inches at "breast height," according to the city, which suggests an age of between 80 and 100 years. That made it rare: Less than 1% of the city's 592,130 street trees were that size or larger, according to a 2006 municipal tree census.

"Our No. 1 goal is to preserve and protect the urban forest of New York City," said Jeremy Barrick, deputy chief of forestry, horticulture and natural resources for the Parks Department. "Trees provide a benefit to the entire community. The way we protect those trees is by putting a replacement value on them that ultimately deters or makes it difficult to justify the removal of a tree. One three-inch [diameter] tree does not provide the same benefits in the here and now as a 42-inch tree."

Once a healthy tree has been deemed by Parks Department inspectors as an "unavoidable obstruction with construction," the city employs something called the trunk-formula method for calculating the value of the tree that must be removed and how to replace it. Factors scored on a scale include the tree's species and the condition of its trunk and foliage. Location is also a part of the math.

"We come up with a number of three-inch trees that are necessary to make up for that loss," Mr. Barrick said.

The city averages between 30 to 40 healthy-tree removals a year, Mr. Barrick said, and a handful of those cases have been challenged in court.

And this is why the developers just cut the trees down without permission. If Parks doesn't know ahead of time and can't measure the trees, there's no way they can adequately estimate the cost or the number of trees to replace them with. It probably costs less to pay a fine after the fact than to go through the permit process.

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Rockaway paramedics will get a GATOR

From WPIX:

There was little question since Hurricane Sandy hit, beach access for paramedics and their ambulance was somewhat restricted this summer season.

It’s exactly why paramedics want a John Deere GATOR, a beach accessible vehicle, used in Coney Island for patient transport.

Instead, Rockaway paramedics would use what’s known as a SKED, a roll up pallet meant for mass casualty situations and hitch it to the axle of a Parks and Recreation ATV. That ATV, driven by a park employee, would then drag patients through the sand to get to an ambulance in the Rockaways. Concerns only grew when they learned the patient could also be taking in fumes during that ride.

“We carry CO meters and the CO meters at 35, they go ballistic. They go off. It measured at 980 parts per million so now you’re not only dragging the patient through the sand, you’re blowing CO on them for a block or two before you even get them to an ambulance,” said Israel Miranda, Union President representing EMS and Paramedics.

After complaints, petitions, and with PIX11′s help, it seems there was a change of heart and the Rockaways will be getting exactly what it needs.

The FDNY said after a review of the procedure the SKED policy will not be used. Instead, the Fire Commissioner instructed the Bureau of EMS to place one of the city’s GATORS in the Rockaways.

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Ridgewood Reservoir project goes bust

From the Daily News:

Residents are irked that the latest scaled-back master plan to transform Ridgewood Reservoir to a park arrived without any cash to actually pay for it.

Three new design options were unveiled last week — one including features such as boating, a rock climbing wall and natural turf fields on the 50-acre site but another mimicking community calls for passive features such as paths and viewing platforms.

But that victory rang hollow given the lack of funding. And some civic leaders were still troubled by proposals that would disturb the natural scene for playgrounds and boating.

In 2007, the city unveiled an ambitious $50 million plan that would have cleared 20 acres for ballfields. But that died for lack of cash, too.

Now the city is close to completing a smaller scale project to fix lighting and pathways around the reservoir and make it more handicapped accessible.

“It’s shameful and ironic that now they are finally representing plans that the community wants and they have no money,” said Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates. “How much has been spent on contracting out plans and designs?”

It's all about the contracts. Not the actual work.

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