8 Charged In Shell Bank Creek Illegal Dumping

Eight people have been arrested for dumping untreated human waste and restaurant grease into Shell Bank Creek in Sheepshead Bay, Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes’s office announced Wednesday. The businesses and their managers face charges punishable with fines of $75,000 per day of violation and up to three years’ imprisonment, Mr. Hynes’s office said. (Image: NBC News)

Brooklyn

Four people and four businesses at a Brooklyn shopping center face criminal charges over the dumping of raw sewage and restaurant grease into Shell Bank Creek in Sheepshead Bay, home to bluefish, crab, striped bass and other fish, in addition to a marina, according to the New York Times.

The Kings County district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, and state and city environmental officials said Wednesday that complaints from residents about sewage and grease in the creek led investigators to a nearby shopping center where businesses maintain their own septic pipes, which connect to a city sewage treatment center and run along the creek’s bank.

One business, a Regal Cinemas multiplex movie theater, had been served notices from the city’s Department of Environmental Protection beginning in 2003 that its sewer lines leaked and needed repairs, officials said.

Investigators used green dye to trace discharges and found that, despite the notices, the officials said, fecal matter and toilet paper from the movie theater’s septic system showed up in the creek as recently as this year.

Read More:

8 Charged in Sewage Dumping in Brooklyn Creek

New York Times Green Blog - December 8, 2010 - Mireya Navarro

8 Arrested for Dumping Raw Sewage Into Sheepshead Bay

Three corporations, including TGI Friday's and Regal Cinemas also charged

NBC News - December 8, 2010 - By Jonathan Eiseman

Manhattan Beach Civic Group Puts Parks Dept. “On Notice" Over Dangerous Concrete Road Barriers

Frustration over massive concrete planters along Oriental Boulevard’s median is riding high for Manhattan Beach Community Group, which put the Parks Department “on notice” during their November meeting, according to Sheepsheadbay Bites.com

The 67 year-old group sent a lettter to Adrian Benepe on November 18. In the letter the group put the blame for future accidents squarely on the shoulders of the city agency and was written after the group was advised that it would make the city accountable in future lawsuits.

The group, with the help of Community Board 15, has spent the better part of two years fighting the tall concrete planters, which they say blocks the view of oncoming traffic for turning vehicles and can be attributed to several accidents, including one recent death. Parks Department officials agreed earlier this year to move the planters by the end of September, but later ditched the plans by saying they’re “too heavy.”

"The removal of the planters that were placed by the Parks Department on the center median on Oriental Boulevard in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn is imperative. The enclosed photographs taken from inside a car on November 7, 2009, confirm the extremely dangerous condition for drivers who cannot see oncoming vehicles when turning. There was a recent death as well as multiple accidents attributed to the height and the location of these planters.

In your September 2009 letter to our organization, you stated that the planters would be removed from the mall by the end of September. To date, no action has been taken."

Read More:

MBCG Puts Parks Dept. “On Notice”
Sheepshead Bites - November 23, 2009

Manhattan Beach Community Group