Design Commission Refuses To Approve Coney Island Boardwalk Concrete Plan

"Sadly though, the Parks Department continues to espouse half truths and absolute misinformation when they believe it suits their purposes and they won't be called on it, as was once again on display at this hearing today, " -

Rob Burstein.

Critics blasted the Parks Department design at the Public Design Commission hearing today.

Rain Forest Relief's Tim Keating pointed out that the US Army recently built two tank bridges and a locomotive bridge using recycled plastic (recycled structural composite). Parks Department representatives claim however that concrete is the most appropriate material for the Coney Island Boardwalk.

(Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on images to enlarge.

"It was, once again, extremely frustrating to have to stand, silent, and listen to misinformation, obfuscation and avoidance without the ability to respond," said Mr. Keating.

"It would appear that this is not going to pass" - Public Design Commission official.

For decades the City has refused to allocate adequate funds to maintain the historic boardwalk. Each year multiple lawsuits are filed against the city for injuries as a result. The City is using borrowed capital funds to deal with a lack of maintenance funds which has resulted in the use of concrete.

Brooklyn

By Geoffrey Croft

The Public Design Commission refused to even vote today on the Parks Department controversial plan to use concrete in the historic boardwalk in Coney Island. Instead the Commission sent the Parks Department back to explain a host of issues.

Sections of Coney Boardwalk made out of concrete (left) and wood (right) last December.

(Photo:

Debbie Egan-Chin/NY Daily News)

"Why do we need the concrete at all," asked a commissioner, a sentiment shared by more than one design official.

Parks representatives claimed that no alternative materials other than concrete could support vehicle usage on the boardwalk - despite the fact that wood has done so more than 70 years.

The commissioners were not buying it today.

"If its (plastic) good enough for the United States Army, I don't understand," one Design Commissioner, James Polshek responded, referring to tank and locomotive bridges the government has recently built using that material.

"I've heard in internal discussions the police need it (the concrete) because vehicles can't stop fast enough on the artificial wood. That's nonsensical...that's not a reason. That should be thrown out."

Parks officials Nancy Prince, landscape architect, chief engineer John Natoli, and Brooklyn Commissioner Kevin Jefferies present their case.

Officials stand in front of a collage of images depicting poorly performing concrete recently installed on the boardwalk.

Brooklyn Borough Commissioner Kevin Jefferies said maintenance needs including collecting garbage cans was the reason vehicles needed access to the boardwalk.

"And they can't be serviced on artificial wood," commissioner Polshek asked in one back-and-forth.

"No they can't," said Jefferies.

"Why not," the commissioner asked.

"Because our experience have shown that its destructive to the wood. "

"As a commissioner, with all due respect to our public - to the people who support the government - I personally would have to see absolutely, categorical, graphic, proof of it with engineers names attached and the photographs," he said to applause.

Todd Dobrin, president of Friends of The Boardwalk refuted Mr. Jefferies assertion by pointing out that the city is using wood exclusively in the most heavily trafficked area of the boardwalk. Mr. Dobrin brought numerous chunks of cracked concrete taken from boardwalk sections recently installed. He also presented the commission with a book of photos depicting dark stains and thousands of cracks.

A broken-off piece of concrete from a section of the boardwalk. A larger pice was taken a few days later. Although installed just a year ago concrete from the Coney Island Boardwalk has once again raised public safety, design, environmental as well as cost concerns. In addition to the concrete chunks found, thousands of cracks have also appeared.

Parks Department spokeswoman Vickie Karp said a few weeks ago that the existing concrete boardwalk sections had “minor hairline cracks" that "pose no safety issues.”

Parks officials including Commissioner Jefferies - former head of Park Enforcement - and

chief engineer John Natoli

attempted to down play how wide-spread the poor conditions were.

"This section represents a less than a tenth of a 1 percent failure rate," said Mr. Natoli pointing to the

collage

on the wall. "We rushed this section. We wanted to have this open for the season," said Natoli.

The Parks Department's

chief engineer

did not mention the thousands of hairline cracks that have already emerged or the amount already spent on trying to fix the issue.

More than a dozen people showed up to oppose the City's plan. Critics blasted the parks Department plan for numerous reasons.

No one on the commission publicly supported the use of concrete at today's hearing either.

"Clearly, the concrete on top doesn't look as good," said commissioner Byron Kim. "I really have to vote against any concrete."

"It would appear that this is not going to pass, " Signe Nielsen, Vice President of the commission said before listing a multitude of issues they wanted addressed.

After the hearing critics were pleased.

"As the result of the Design Commission's insightful questions to official's of the Parks Department regarding their proposal to use massive amounts of concrete to replace the Coney Island Boardwalk- many of which we have raised repeatedly in the past as well as today - and the Commissions' expressions of discomfort with the paucity of information that Parks was able to provide, and their decision to not vote for approval at this time, I feel modestly hopeful that the Parks Department will be held more accountable for their claims and wasteful expenditures of taxpayer dollars than in the past," said Rob Burstein.

"And perhaps," he continued, "they can even begin to seriously consider the many viable alternative woods and materials that can be used to enhance rather than destroy the Boardwalk. Sadly though, the Parks Department continues to espouse half truths and absolute misinformation when they believe it suits their purposes and they won't be called on it, as was once again on display at this hearing today. Fortunately, as the result of our being present and the Commission's displeasure with inadequate or evasive responses, this strategy did not serve them on this day."

"I am thrilled that the members of the Design Commission were able to see some of the holes in the rhetoric presented by Parks personnel regarding the "need" to use concrete for the understructure and part of the decking of the Reigelman Boardwalk, " said Tim Keating, Director of Rainforest Relief who has been advocating for the use of durable, structural recycled plastic lumber (RPL) on the Boardwalk since 1995.

"It was, once again, extremely frustrating to have to stand, silent, and listen to misinformation, obfuscation and avoidance without the ability to respond," he continued.

"We have had numerous meetings with Parks Department Commissioners, engineers, designers, specifiers and others since then. Just as Parks is currently saying that domestic hardwoods "do not work for us", they insisted from 1995 to 2005 that RPL wasn't working for them. Then sold (literally) on tropical hardwoods as the only answer for the Boardwalk, they ignored our suggestions and those from engineers working for the companies producing structural RPLs for over a decade. In fact, they ignored us to such a great extent that, even when 'complying' with us when it came to ending the use of tropical hardwoods for the platforms of playground playsets, they still couldn't get it right and used a wood-plastic composite lumber, something we specifically suggested they *not* use. They are now having to replace *those* and are finally using true RPL."

The Parks Department's press office did not respond to a request for comment but told other media that they are "evaluating" the commissioner's comments.

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New York Post - October 25, 2011 - By Rich Calder

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Design Commission Keeps Concrete Away From Coney Island Boardwalk

NY 1 - October 24, 2011 - By Jeanine Ramirez

New Coney Island Concrete "Boardwalk" Falling Apart

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Brighton Beach's New Concrete “Boardwalk” Already Cracking

A Walk In The Park - June 14, 2011

Homeless Woman Slashes Man in Battery Park

Manhattan

An emotionally disturbed homeless woman slashed a restaurant worker in Battery Park, A Walk In The Park has learned.

Ageina White, 44, slashed a 22- year-old Battery Gardens restaurant worker in the stomach with a broken bottle on Friday afternoon, October 21st. The worker had been taking out the garbage when he was attacked. After the altercation the woman was observed defecating on bathroom floor. She ran out of the park and went across the street.

The woman was spotted sitting on a park bench in nearby Peter Minuit Plaza. She was arrested by Park Enforcement Patrol officers and brought to Elhurst Hospital in Queens for observation.

She was charged with assault, aggravated harassment and public lewdness. According to witnesses Ms. White has been involved in many altercations in the park. - Geoffrey Croft

One Million Trees Problems Continue

....we’re not going to get what we want unless we commit to the ongoing maintenance of these trees as they grow older. These are tough economic times, but more trees means more maintenance and pruning. It’s got to mean that.” -  Jimmy Van Bramer, city councilmember.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg installed this pin oak in Manhattan on Tuesday, the 500,000th tree in his poorly run MillionTreesNYC PR initiative.  The Bloomberg administration has spent tens of millions of dollars planting new trees while allocating little to maintain the more than 2.6 existing trees.  (Photo: Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times) 

City-Wide

In a city of steel and concrete, a single tree offers a burst of green, a cooling canopy and an antidote for frayed nerves. It seems as if nobody is against one tree. But try planting a million of them.

That is what New York City has been aiming to do, and as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg installed the 500,000th tree in St. Nicholas Park in Upper Manhattan on Tuesday — reaching the halfway point in the Million Trees campaign — officials extolled the role of trees in making the city more sustainable. Trees help fight asthma, reduce storm water runoff, absorb carbon dioxide and lower ambient temperatures.

But as callery pears, honey locusts and white pines grow in all five boroughs — on sidewalks, along medians and in parks — so, too, have New Yorkers’ grumblings, according to the New York Times.

Residents worry that the saplings will eventually lead to buckling sidewalks, dangling limbs, excessive shade and leaf litter, among other things. Three of the top five categories of parks-related calls to 311, the city’s help line, involved complaints about trees. One Queens homeowner begged the city not to plant a tree in front of her house by arguing that her dog would get confused by the introduction of a new smell; she got a tree anyway.

Even elected officials who profess a love of trees say they fear that the city may not be putting the necessary resources into caring for the trees once they are planted. They cite instances of premature deaths, as well as a pruning backlog, made worse by recent budget cuts. The regular pruning cycle of street trees is now once every 15 years to 20 years, down from once every 7 years.

“I’m all about trees — trust me,” said Jimmy Van Bramer, a city councilman who represents western Queens. “But we’re not going to get what we want unless we commit to the ongoing maintenance of these trees as they grow older. These are tough economic times, but more trees means more maintenance and pruning. It’s got to mean that.”

Of course, many residents have embraced a leafier streetscape. And most of the trees planted under the Million Trees program, which began in 2007, are too small to have caused problems — their roots and boughs have not yet reached the tentacle stage.

But at least some of the newly planted trees have met untimely deaths. Efforts to plant trees along a narrow median on 11th Street in the Long Island City section of Mr. Van Bramer’s district, for example, have failed.

Tom Paino, an architect whose house overlooks the median, said that landscapers planted the trees too late in the spring and that the root balls were not sufficiently submerged. Recently, workers chopped down the dead trees, leaving behind stumps. “As soon as they put them in, I thought, ‘They’re not going to make it,’ ” he said. “It’s a very frustrating experience.”

City officials defend their record, saying some tree mortality is to be expected. Various studies of newly installed trees show that 7 percent to 11 percent die within two years of planting, depending on the location. “It’s not surprising in urban areas to see these mortality rates,” said Bram Gunther, chief of forestry, horticulture and the natural resources group at the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Moreover, city officials say, all new trees are under warranty for two years from the date of planting by landscaping contractors, who are also responsible for watering them.

“Most people love trees,” the parks commissioner, Adrian Benepe, said. “But this being New York, you’ll always find someone who doesn’t want a tree.”

Indeed, at the other end of the complaint spectrum are those residents whose requests for new street trees have gone unheeded. Some lost trees to Tropical Storm Irene. The city says there is a waiting list of at least a year for a new street tree in some neighborhoods.

The Million Trees campaign, which is a year ahead of schedule, is a partnership between New York City and a nonprofit agency founded by Bette Midler, the New York Restoration Project. The city is overseeing new trees on streets and in parks, which will make up most of the plantings. The Restoration Project, meanwhile, is focusing its efforts on libraries, churches, cemeteries and housing projects, while encouraging New Yorkers to plant trees in their own yards through tree giveaways.

“A really important tree is about to hit the ground,” Mayor Bloomberg declared in St. Nicholas Park on Tuesday morning, before he lifted a shovel and planted an 11-year-old pin oak on a patch of lawn. He was helped by Representative Charles B. Rangel and other elected officials, as well as Carmelo Anthony, the Brooklyn-born basketball star with the Knicks.

As with most initiatives under the Bloomberg administration, the tree effort has been meticulously documented. Some 120 species have been planted across the city so far, with Manhattan receiving 49,045 trees (9.8 percent of the 500,000) and the Bronx getting 135,626 trees, or 27.1 percent.

To address residents’ concerns, the city has introduced a number of programs. For buckling sidewalks, for instance, the city now does repairs in front of one- to three-family homes; in the past, it was the homeowner’s responsibility. Since starting a repair program several years ago, the city has received 38,300 requests, and it has addressed 9,169 so far. To prevent buckling in the first place, all new trees have considerably larger beds, allowing room for spreading roots.

As for pruning, the city says it responds to all complaints about dead limbs or trees within 30 days; if the condition is deemed hazardous, the work will be performed immediately.

The parks department, with the nonprofit group Trees New York, has stepped up its “citizen pruner” program, in which residents can become trained and certified to do limited pruning of street trees. The one limitation, however, is that citizen pruners must keep their feet on the ground, which prevents most work on taller trees.

And the city recently revamped its Adopt-a-Tree Web site, where residents can sign on to take care of trees in their neighborhood. By Tuesday afternoon, 2,999 people had officially adopted trees, pledging to water, mulch and weed. New Yorkers who take a free tree-care class get a bucket or garden hose.

“At the end of the day, our goal is to have New Yorkers form an emotional connection to trees,” said Morgan Monaco, director of MillionTreesNYC, which is part of the parks department.

In the East New York section of Brooklyn, where asthma rates are high, Marisol Rivas’s block is now graced with Kwanzan cherries, Japanese Zelkovas, honey locusts and Canada red cherries. Surveying the street, Ms. Rivas, a 40-year-old bus attendant, voiced approval of the new trees — her vista as yet unclouded by fears of what they might sow.

“It makes the block greener,” she said. “Before, it was a little gloomy.”

Read More:

As City Plants Trees, Some Say a Million Are Too Many
New York Times - October 18, 2011 - By Lisa W. Foderaro

Feds Hope to Help Jump Start Long Delayed Bronx River Greenway/Starlight Park Pedestrian Bridge

The re-building Star Light Park is finally making progress. (Photos: The Bronx Free Press)

For more than a decade the community has been denied access to Starlight Park's many ballfields, basketball courts and its waterfront while The Department of Transportation was allowed to use the much used public space as a staging area for construction equipment while repairing the Sheridan Expressway. In 2004, just after beginning the initial excavation, workers discovered remnants of a Con Edison plant which had formerly occupied the site. As expected, high levels of contaminants were found, including benzene and other toxins, which further delayed the project until the site could be cleaned up.

As part of the Bronx River Greenway, the DOT began renovating Star Light Park located along the Bronx River and the Sheridan Expressway between 172nd and 174th Streets. After years of delay, in 2010 the DOT announced it was finally breaking ground on a $17 Million project to build a new segment to extend the greenway and restore the park.

According to the Parks Department Starlight Park's amenities will include soccer/softball field, basketball court, playground for tots and pre-teens, play swings, spray shower, and a picnic area and construction of a multi-use path, plantings of various trees and plant beds. In addition it will provide access to the floating boat dock area and gangway, boat dock storage ramp and various outlook areas. A boathouse and comfort station are also in the plans. Starlight Park and the Bronx River Greenway will be connected with a pedestrian bridge over the Bronx River.

As part of the Bronx River Greenway, a proposed bridge over an Amtrak rail line is supposed to carry pedestrians and cyclists between two new waterfront parks and complete the scenic route. But the bridge project is now years behind schedule, due to a squabble between Amtrak and the state Department of Transportation, and has lost its funding. The U.S. Department of the Interior brokered a meeting last week between Amtrak and the DOT. - Geoffrey Croft

Bronx

A troubled bridge over Bronx water has greenway advocates singing a melancholy tune and the federal government scrambling to save the planned span, according to the New York Daily News.

Part of the Bronx River Greenway, the bridge over an Amtrak rail line will eventually carry pedestrians and cyclists between two new waterfront parks and complete the scenic route.

But the bridge project is now years behind schedule, due to a squabble between Amtrak and the state Department of Transportation, and has lost its funding.

The rail company and state agency have been at loggerheads since 2002, frustrating advocates who want an unbroken greenway from Westchester County to Hunts Point.

But the dam could break now that the Feds are involved. Last Friday, at the request of Rep. Jose Serrano (D-South Bronx), the U.S. Department of the Interior brokered a meeting between Amtrak and the DOT.

"I believe that the intervention of the Department of the Interior...will help solve the bridge impasse," Serrano said, calling the Bronx River Greenway the future "envy of the city."

Work on the greenway began in 2004 and is ongoing, with more than $150 million allocated to the massive project.

To complete the greenway, the DOT is renovating Starlight Park, a 14-acre tract it used as a staging ground years ago when repairing the Sheridan Expressway.

The agency broke ground at Starlight Park in 2010 and the space is slated to reopen next summer. But the greenway won't become continuous until the Amtrak line is bridged.

The span will allow walkers and bikers to reach Starlight Park and points north from the new Concrete Plant Park and Hunts Point, where street access to the Bronx River is limited.

"The greenway is going to be a wonderful addition to the landscape of the Bronx," said Linda Cox, executive director of the Bronx River Alliance. "But there's going to be a big gap until the bridge is built."

The DOT had secured funding for the Amtrak span and two bridges over the Bronx River by 2008, said Jerry Willis, a National Park Service officer lobbying for the greenway. But with Amtrak refusing to cooperate, the money was shifted to other projects.

The rail company worries about liability. The bridge project could turn up contaminated soil on Amtrak property or lead to a construction worker injury, said Amtrak spokesman Clifford Cole.

Amtrak was previously left holding the bag when a public project in Connecticut ran into trouble, said Willis.

"We are continuing to negotiate with Amtrak on a range of issues and look forward to moving ahead with the project," said state DOT spokesman Adam Levine.

The Bronx River House-Star Light Park. The proposed building be the administration headquarters for the Bronx River Alliance. It will provides office, program space including classroom and meeting spaces. The 7,000 sq. ft. structure includes a boathouse capable of storing approximately 30 canoes and 9 kayaks and will house a comfort station, according to the project's designer Kiss + Cathcart Architects. All the rain water will be captured from the roof and be used to flush toilets, wash canoes and irrigate the building's vertical green screen. There were some issues with the original contract and bidding of the $ 9 million dollar project. The new contract is expected to be re-bid shortly. (Image: Kiss + Cathcart Architects, Landscape Design - STARR WHITE HOUSE)

The stalled bridge to be built over the Amtrak rail line at 172nd St. is South/East of the bridge in the illustration above.

Read More:

Feds hope to bridge the gap: DOT & Amtrak meeting could solve impasse over Bronx Greenway plan

New York Daily News - October 17th 2011 - By Daniel Beekman

Breaking ground for a sliver of a riverside park

The Bronx Link - October 15, 2010 - by Alexander Besant and David Patrick Alexander