Updated Video Link

I just discovered that the website "Veoh" hosts video at a much higher quality than "Youtube" so I updated the video link in the sidebar.

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Queens Courier Article

Here is a belated Queens Courier article about the August 12th tour with Congressmembers Nydia Velazquez and Edolphus Towns. At a recent community board meeting, a city representative alluded to the fact that the Department of Parks & Recreation will be submitting new plans to the comptrollers office. That design will still include clearing some of the forest and creating ball fields. Comptroller Thompson had rejected a previous plan.

The Queens Courier
Wednesday, August 20, 2008 4:26 PM EDT

Congressmembers tour Ridgewood Reservoir
By Marianna Nash

Congressmembers Nydia Velazquez and Edolphus “Ed” Towns visited Highland Park on August 12 to tour the Ridgewood Reservoir, which fell out of use in 1989 but has since developed a diverse variety of species and reverted to woods and wetlands. The two were joined by reporters, community organizers and activists, several of whom were led down into two of the three basins by Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski and the park’s Natural Resources Group Chief Naturalist Mike Feller.

A debate has arisen over whether to preserve the three-basin reservoir or build public ball fields in the third basin, which lacks the diversity and indigenous species of the other two. Mayor Michael Bloomberg's PlaNYC 2030, which allocated $50 million for the Ridgewood Reservoir alone, aims to transform eight underdeveloped park properties into athletic facilities.

“One of the key goals of PlaNYC, the Mayor’s far-reaching plan to fight global warming and create a more livable city, is to ensure that every New Yorker lives within a 10-minute walk of a park or open space. Highland Park in Queens is one of eight large parks being redesigned to help achieve this goal. As with all of these projects, the City holds listening sessions with community residents to incorporate their input. The design of this great park is in the beginning stages - we have not been able to begin the design process or do an environmental assessment without the design contract," said a Department spokesperson.

The Parks Department's design contract was rejected by Comptroller William Thompson, who urged them to consider the environmental implications of the proposal. Thompson also co-wrote an op-ed piece for The New York Times with Robert Kennedy Jr. last May, favoring preservation. Other city politicians have rallied behind the preservation cause, including Borough President Helen Marshall, who testified at a City Council hearing on whether to preserve the reservoir.

Congressmembers Velazquez and Towns supported preserving the three basins, though Velazquez has also called for improvements such as fences and lighting.

“We learned about this in 2007 when the mayor said the city was allocating $50 million for a development project. I was contacted by community residents from both boroughs,” said Velazquez, whose district covers parts of Brooklyn and Queens. “Some people do not want to destroy the ecosystem, so they immediately contacted me and [Towns]. They want the money to improve Highland Park so that it can be used. For the past 20 years, much of Highland Park has fallen into disrepair. Only a small fraction is being used right now.”

Velazquez cites concerns about public safety, there being no working lights neat the reservoir, despite walkers and joggers.

“The city administration should use the funding to preserve and improve the park without destroying the natural ecosystem. The point is to make this reservoir a tourist destination, as well as an education center where schoolchildren can come and learn about the species of birds and trees. There is so much potential for this incredible forest.”

The community organizers on the tour included Paul Kerzner, president of the Ridgewood Property Owners and Civic Association.

“It reinforced what I already knew, which is that the area is pristine. I would like to see the Parks Department build a comfort station, fix the lights and the walking areas. On the Northeast side, there should be another comfort station and parking area. If the Parks Department did just that, that would be the first stage in getting people to use this natural setting.” It was too early, he added, to consider building sports facilities, an idea he called “atrocious.” Instead, he suggested, the reservoir “should be fixed up and brought back to its original splendor.”

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Daily News Article

The following article was just published in the New York Daily News. It appears to be another example of oversight issues at the Department of Parks & Recreation. Perhaps the City Comptroller's Office should do an audit of this arrangement:

Park turns into parking lot but where's the 900G?

By John Lauinger
Daily News Staff Writer

Tuesday, October 14th 2008, 7:02 PM

Show us the money.

That's the rallying cry of a Flushing watchdog group that wants to know what the city Parks Department has done with almost $900,000 in revenue from a deal that turned 2.5 acres of Kissena Corridor Park into a gravel parking lot.

New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens agreed to pay $24,943 a month for the once-wooded lot as part of a three-year lease set to expire at the end of the year.

"Everyone would like to know how this money has been utilized," said Chuck Wade of the Kissena Park Conservancy West. "We don't have any kind of written statement about the receipts and the expenditures."

The advocacy group formed shortly after the public learned of the deal, which permitted the hospital to bulldoze the land into 400 temporary parking spaces while it builds a parking garage.

The deal also allows the hospital to make payments in "services instead of cash.

In an interview with the Daily News yesterday, Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski could not say how much the hospital has paid to the city over the last three years.

But she detailed a host of upgrades to Kissena Corridor Park that used the hospital's funding.

The city paved several walking paths and replaced sections of fencing, she said. It also hired three maintenance workers and bought maintenance equipment.

Over the course of the lease, another employee was hired to oversee the playground during spring and summer months.

The funding also provided for upgrades to other parks within Community Board 7, Lewandowski said, including a major project to prune and fertilize trees in the Kissena Park arboretum.

"This gave us the funding to move forward and get that done," she said.

The hospital will finance an environmental restoration of the land once the lease expires.

Camela Morrissey, the hospital's vice president for public affairs, said it has "no plans" to apply for an extension, as long as it can receive necessary permits for its parking garage.

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New Link Added

The New York City Department of City Planning has some interesting information available on their website. I just added a link in the sidebar to the "Environmental Review" page. From there, you can access recent Scoping Documents and EIS Documents. I'm not completely surprised that neither the NYCDoCP website, nor the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation show any documents relating to the proposed development of Ridgewood Reservoir. I'm guessing that either Commissioner Benepe is trying to sneak this project passed at the last minute or all the negative press has given the DoPR cold feet.

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Upcoming Meeting

There will be a meeting of the Highland Park-Ridgewood Reservoir Alliance this Friday, October 7th, at the Ridgewood Democratic Club starting at 7PM. All are welcome.

Directions to The Ridgewood Democratic Club at 6070 Putnam Street. The entrance is the first door on Stier Place. A map is at the bottom of this page.

From Brooklyn:
Take Eastern Parkway until it ends at Bushwick Avenue.
Make a right turn onto Bushwick Avenue and move to the left lane.
Bear left onto the Jackie Robinson Parkway (formerly Interboro)
Exit at Cypress Hills Street (2nd exit)
At the top of the exit, make a left onto Cypress Hills Street
At the bottom of the hill make a left onto Cooper Avenue
Make a right at the 5th block (62nd Street) 62nd street ends in 2 blocks at Myrtle Ave Make a left turn onto Myrtle and the make a right turn (about 50 feet) onto Fresh Pond Road (just at the end of the underpass; Fresh Pond starts at Myrtle and there is a carpet store on the right)
About 1/4 mile, 1 block after the M train station, Putnam Street is on the left.
It’s one block after the train station

From Manhattan:
Take the LIE
Exit to The Grand Central Parkway East (towards LI)
Stay in the right lane and exit onto the Jackie Robinson Parkway (formerly Interboro)
Exit at Cypress Hills Street
At the top of the exit, make a right onto Cyrpress Hills Street
At the bottom of the hill make a left onto Cooper Avenue
Make a right at the 5th block (62nd Street)
62nd street ends in 2 blocks at Myrtle Ave
Make a left turn onto Myrtle and the make a right turn (about 50 feet) onto Fresh Pond Road (just at the end of the underpass; Fresh Pond starts at Myrtle and there is a carpet store on the right)
About 1/4 mile, 1 block after the M train station, Putnam Street is on the left.
It’s one block after the train station

From The Bronx:
Take the Triborough to the Grand Central Parkway and follow directions above

Parking can be sometimes be difficult in the area

By Subway:
Take the M train to the Fresh Pond Station or the L train to Myrtle Avenue and then go upstairs and take the M to the Fresh Pond Station
Walk one block to Putnam and then left onto Putnam.


View Larger Map

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