Wolfe's Pond Faces Long And Expensive Recovery

An egret stalks a meal in what is left of Wolfe's Pond. The seaside pond is now a giant pit of mud after the fresh water was replaced with sea water when the berm separating the pond from the sea was destroyed during the visit by Hurricane Irene. Neighbors and visitors want a quick and sustainable fix to restore their beloved pond. (Photo: Deborah Young/Staten Island Advance)

Staten Island

As city, state and federal agencies scramble to decide how to bring back Wolfe’s Pond to what is now a gaping pit of ochre-colored mud, neighbors and visitors say the fix to the Prince’s Bay site cannot come quickly enough, according to The Staten Island Advance.

In one of the eeriest legacies of Irene, the 16-acre pond simply vanished into the raging sea when the strong tide broke through the sand berm designed to keep it intact.

It was the second time in as many decades the pond disappeared as a result of extreme weather.

“This is a big-time disappointment; it’s the perfect, ‘I told you so.’ They knew it was coming and they had done nothing about it all those years,” said Arthur Dennis, who noted that the mosquito population has exploded in the weeks since Irene, with bugs breeding in the shallow pools of muddy sludge. “It’s horrible, and when it’s hot, you get a bad smell.”

RESTORE JETTIES, ADD SPILLWAY

Dennis, who has lived in the area for more than 50 years, said he and others are calling for the restoration of jetties and an additional spillway as part of the plan to remake the area.

“The jetty goes; the beach goes; the pond goes,” he said. The city Parks Department is responsible for the pond and adjoining park and beach. But the waterway is part of Staten Island’s Bluebelt system, and, as such, also under the auspices of the city Department of Environmental Protection.

Meanwhile Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) money is expected to be used toward repairs, and the Army Corps of Engineers may weigh in on the work.

“This is nothing short of an environmental disaster, and all agencies are working very well together to devise a plan for the pond to be able to be brought back,” said City Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore), who will be meeting with the Parks Department today.

“They are working collaboratively to come up with a short-term solution and looking at what to do in the long term to prevent this kind of weather erosion.”

The berm, constructed in 1920, was destroyed by the nor’easter of 1992.

Sandbags and other temporary measures kept the water from flowing out to sea for several months after the initial assault, but the battered site could not take the beatings from subsequent blizzards, thaws and high tides, and the water slowly began to drain away. It took two years and $3.4 million to upgrade the surrounding area and shore up Wolfe’s Pond — only for the water to gush out in a flash with Irene.”

“We are determining the best long-term solution to address the breach,” said Tara Kiernan, a spokeswoman for the Parks Department. The process is too new to be able to give a sense of the dollars involved or the possible scope of the project, she said.

“It’s depressing, just awful,” mused Fran Cavaliere of Eltingville, who visited the pond yesterday for the first time since Irene. Ms. Cavaliere typically comes to the park a few times a month with her grandsons to watch the turtles and ducks. “It is so beautiful usually, with the trees reflecting in the water, like a painting. I really hope they can fix it.”

The question of Wolfe’s Pond will be discussed during a meeting of the Parks and Recreation Committee of Community Board 3 on Monday at 7:30 p.m.

“Something will be done, there is no question about it,” said CB 3 Chairman Frank Morano. “Everybody has to bear with it. It will be fixed. We want to come up with the best plan.”

Read More:

Wolfe's Pond, damaged yet again by a storm, faces a long, complex and expensive recovery

Staten Island Advance - September 13, 2011 - By Deborah E. Young

Parks Department Barricades Public Road On Staten Island, Enraging Borough President Yet Again

Molinaro called Parks "arrogant" and "condescending" and said that the agency failed to consult local officials before making the incursion.

"It’s a fight," Molinaro said. "You have to watch everything they do. I’ve had it up to here with them."

Barrier placed by Parks Department to delineate footpath to Seaside Nature Park has upset residents and Borough President James Molinaro. (Photo: Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

Staten Island

Staten Island officials have a simple solution to a traffic problem that would ease congestion on Hylan Boulevard and help emergency vehicles and Great Kills residents better and more safely navigate the neighborhood.

But they say that the Parks Department has not only been uncooperative in making it happen, but has literally -- and illegally -- built roadblocks that stand in the way, according to the Staten Island Advance.

However, Parks doesn’t see it that way.

The battlefield in the latest skirmish between the Island and the Parks Department is Tennyson Drive.

Borough President James P. Molinaro and City Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore) said that Parks has illegally paved and built a barrier in the roadway on Tennyson near Seaside Nature Park, a city playground on the Cleveland Avenue side of the thoroughfare.

Molinaro, who said he plans to take Parks to court over the incursion, said that the right of way where the incursion occurred is actually owned by a builder with a project under way in the area who is committed to building out the roadway.

Molinaro called Parks "arrogant" and "condescending" and said that the agency failed to consult local officials before making the incursion.

"It’s a fight," Molinaro said. "You have to watch everything they do. I’ve had it up to here with them."

Without addressing the legality of the incursion, a Parks spokesman said the agency’s design does not prevent the developer from building out the road.

The agency said Parks paved "a small section" of Tennyson because a pathway was needed to provide access to Seaside Nature Park. Prior to this, Parks said, there was no access to the park from Cleveland.

The agency said it is working on a "memorandum of understanding" with the developer in order to maintain the path.

The lawmakers also want an unbuilt, city-owned portion of Tennyson Drive near the planned Crescent Beach Park to be paved.

But they told the Advance that Parks wants to hold on to the roadbed, between Robinson and Armstrong avenues, for possible use as a pedestrian pathway or bike lane for the future park.

Tennyson runs parallel to Hylan Boulevard and having it fully open would help motorists in the neighborhood and would also remove traffic from congested Hylan, Molinaro and Ignizio said.

They said having that chunk of the road closed off endangers public safety by making it more difficult for firetrucks and ambulances to make their way into the neighborhood from Hylan because of a dearth of left-turn lanes.

Molinaro said Parks’ action amounted to an act of "arrogance" and "defiance" and that the agency acted without consulting local officials.

"To do that to me, knowing what I need ... " Molinaro said of his desire to build out more of the road.

Borough Engineer Michael Nagy said that there is more than enough room in the 80-foot streetbed to build a standard 60-foot road and leave space for bikers or pedestrians who want to use the park.

"We’re being stopped by our own colleagues in government," said City Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore). "We can’t do this with one hand tied behind our backs."

The agency said it is "not building anything" to preclude the road from being further developed. A planned pedestrian walkway for the beach, Parks said, is in the park confines and would not interfere with any development of the road that is adjacent to the park.

Molinaro, who also battled Parks over the opening of roads in the new city park in the former Fresh Kills landfill and over the building of Bloomingdale Park, is especially angered because his office has allocated more than $60 million to the agency since 2002.

"I’m not an enemy," he said. "I’ve given more money for parks than the other four borough presidents combined."

Read More:

NYC Parks barricades public road on Staten Island, enraging borough president yet again

Staten Island Advance - April 07, 2011 - By Tom Wrobleski

Syringe Found In Newly Opened Playground Sandbox

There's a concern when a public health issue related to children goes ignored by the New York City Parks Department. That property is under their jurisdiction." - Council member Vincent Ignizio

Great Kills resident Mike Daly holds a syringe that was found in sandbox in the Seaside Wildlife Nature Park. The Playground was opened just two weeks ago and parks users are already complaining about the lack of maintenance and security personnel. (Photo: Anthony DePrimo/Staten Island Advance)

Staten Island

Tiny hands of babies and toddlers playfully sifted the sand at Seaside Wildlife Nature Park on Monday when a mother pulled a needle out of the sandbox.

She handed the filthy syringe to Mike Daly, a retired firefighter who was at the Great Kills park with his wife, Jessica, and two kids, according to the Staten Island Advance.

Mike immediately called 911.

"They said they had nothing to do with that," Mike says.

So Mike called the non-emergency 311 line. The 311 dispatcher switched Mike over to the Department of Parks and Recreation.

"They said they would respond in three to four days," Mike says. "They said they would send me an e-mail."

Parks and Rec might as well have told Mike they would give toddlers plenty of time to prick their tiny fingers on any other syringe hidden in the sand and pick up hepatitis or HIV or some other nasty disease they wouldn’t wish on their worst enemy.

"That’s disgusting," Mike says, wearing a rubber glove and holding up the syringe, which is dirty and slightly bent at the end of the needle.

"When you call the Parks Department and tell them something like this, they should do something, not say that the normal response time is three to four days."

Parks spokeswoman Vickie Karp says whoever told Mike to wait three or four days for an e-mail "didn’t answer it well."

What a way to unveil a gorgeous park.

"I don’t want to see the park destroyed," says Sheryl. "It’s beautiful, but we have a right to enjoy it free of litter, free of language, free of drug paraphernalia."

After all, it’s for the kids.

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Needle in new Great Kills park sparks panic

The Staten Island Advance - October 13, 2010 - Jeff Harrell

Last Weekend For Cedar Grove Beach Club?

The Bloomberg administration has refused to extend the Cedar Grove Beach Club license.  The administration has also refused to create and competitively bid out a seasonal bungalow concession.   The bungalows have been used for more than a half a century as part of a beach club instead, the city is insisting the bungalows be destroyed.  The Parks Department released a rendering this week (above) for its controversial Cedar Grove Beach Club site. The "plan" calls for destroying most of the 41 Summer bungalows and replacing them with natural vegetation like beach grass. It calls for building a playground and bathrooms, installing new entrances, and installing a concession. A lifeguard station will also be installed. The few bungalows that will be preserved will be converted for administrative uses.   

"It's a typical rope-a-dope by the Parks Department. They're going to get in there with their $1.8 million, knock the bungalows down and then walk away and we will never see the real plan implemented," Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore), whose district houses Cedar Grove, told the Staten Island Advance.

For the most part, residents fear neglect. Just next door sits New Dorp Beach, whose bungalows were knocked down in 1962. Now owned by the city, the beach there is hideous. Condoms and drug refuse litter the shore. The foundation of an ancient hospital has never been removed.

The city has put aside $1.8 million to fix up Cedar Grove -- money, ironically, from the rent paid by Grovians. It's not enough, officials admit, to get through even one summer.

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe has said they can not have have people living on parkland as the reason for getting rid of the seasonal concession however they have not said why people living in house boats on park property or allowing many non-park uses which occupy parkland twenty four hours - three hundred sixty five day a week is any different.

Meanwhile Parks Department officials have repeatedly attempted to mislead the public by indicating the seasonal bungalow concession somehow prevents the public from accessing the beach and that its new "plan" was not compatible with current uses including having "nice beaches."

"Now, you feel like you're trespassing on private property," Mr. Benepe said. 

A contention bungalow users say is absurd. 

On Tuesday Mayor Bloomberg was confronted by protesters on the steps City Hall to save the summer bungalows.  The Mayor said he had "no idea" about the issue and he would "take a look."  Mr. Bloomberg posed with one protester and held a sign which read, "PARKS MUST RECONSIDER. SAVE CEDAR GROVE."  - Geoffrey Croft

Longtime residents gather for a final picnic at Cedar Grove Beach Club over the weekend. Bungalow users must be out by this Thursday.  The Bloomberg administration has refused to competitively bid out the seasonal bungalow concession which have been used for more than a half a century as part of a beach club. (Photo: Michael McWeeney/Staten Island Advance) 

Staten Island

It's been quiet on the shores of Cedar Grove Beach Club these days. 

The kids are back at school and their parents at work, leaving only the oldest of the old-timers to reflect on nearly 100 years that suddenly seem like they've gone by so fast. 

"Sometimes I find myself standing and staring out the window and I can't imagine not summering here," said Marie Mulcahy, 67, who was sitting on her deck recently with her husband, Roger, 79, and sister-in-law, Eileen Lee, 82. A few feet away a lone fisherman cast a line and a sunbather sat under a yellow umbrella at the water's edge. 

"All we have is hope now." 

Over the past few weeks, the residents of the 41 beach colony bungalows have been taking photos off the walls and boxing away knickknacks collected through the years. Furniture has been donated to charity or given to friends. Pots and pans, clothing, small appliances and paintings were sold at a yard sale last Saturday. 

Despite the support of elected officials and a rally last Monday on the steps of City Hall, they may really be leaving for the very last time when their lease with the city expires on Thursday. 

The Parks Department is reclaiming the privately-leased stretch of land at the foot of Ebbits Street in New Dorp as part of its vision of incorporating its 78 acres into 10.6 miles of "continuous, open public beach" from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to Crescent Beach in Great Kills. 

By Memorial Day 2011, the beach -- already free and open to anyone to use and maintained by its residents at no cost to the taxpayer -- is expected to be readied for swimming, according to a plan provided to the Advance by Parks. 

Read More: 

Last gasps at Staten Island's Cedar Grove Beach

Staten Island Advance -  September 26, 2010 - By Stephanie Slepian

Village pillage on SI's shore

New York Post - September 24, 2010 - Andrea Peyer 

Bloomberg's Knowledge Of Cedar Grove Beach Club Issue "No Idea"

A Walk In The Park -  September 21, 2010