Revenue, Play Drops At Trump's Ferry Point Golf Course

Trump Slump.  Revenue and play were down during the second year at Trump Golf Links At Ferry Point Park.   In 2015 the de Blasio administration quietly allowed Trump to dramatically raise fees - already the highest in the City - before the taxpayer built course even opened.   

The golf course collected zero dollars in broadcasting or sponsorship revenue according financial documents submitted to the city and obtained by NYC Park Advocates.    

Bronx

By Geoffrey Croft  

The public played thousands of fewer rounds of golf at Trump Ferry Point while the Mayor Bloomberg-era gift to Donald Trump facility continues to raise prices, already the most expensive public course in the city by multitudes.  

Revenue fell more than a million dollars, dropping 13 % in its second year of operation according to financial documents obtained by NYC Park Advocates.   

The tax-payer built luxury course grossed $ 7, 046, 215, compared to $8,072, 529 the previous year, a decrease of one-million, twenty-six thousand, three hundred and fourteen dollars, during the second of Trump's sweetheart deal with the City of New York.  

The public played 26, 127 rounds the second year compared to 28, 291 the previous year, a decrease of 2, 164 rounds.   

Revenue from greens fees dropped from $ 3.8 million the first year to 3,380.333 the second year, an 11 percent decrease.

Public play and revenue decreased  at the taxpayer-funded Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point Park in the Bronx during its second year of operation.

Revenue from the banquet business plummeted, decreasing from $837,000 to $444,000, or 47 percent.  The snack bar had a 26 percent decline.

Trump is still continuing to make out like a bandit in the Bronx at the taxpayers expense.   

Trump Golf Links At Ferry Point Park is required pay the city nothing through the first four years of his 20-year contract.

Ferry Point is the highest grossing municipal golf course for the second straight year due to the sky-high prices.     

In 2015 the “progressive” de Blasio administration quietly allowed Trump to dramatically raise fees - already the highest in the City - before the taxpayer built course even opened.   

Trump is allowed to charge more than four times what other city public courses are allowed to.  Trump is also permitted to increase green fees annually according to his agreement which he has done again.  

Greens fees during the week are now $146.00, and $175.00 on weekends compared to  $144.00 during the week and $172.00 respectively in 2015 during the first year of operation.   By comparison the highest rate for greens fees charged at other city public courses during the week is $ 41 dollars, and $ 51 on weekends. Non-residents pay an additional $8.00 dollars.  

Non-residents playing at Trump get bilked even further. Prices for a round of golf during the week is now $ 201.00, and  $ 227.000 on weekends compared to $194.00 and $ 219 dollars respectfully in 2015 during the first year of operation.  The original contract signed by Donald Trump's Ferry Point Partners for green fees in 2013 allowed him to charge $100 for a round of golf  (Monday-Thursday), and $125 on weekends and holidays.  

He was also allowed to charge non-residents $25 more on weekends without the approval of Parks or the city.  

Rates for military personnel were raised $ 4 dollars per round this year.  Active military are now expected to pay the “discounted”  $ 94 dollar rate.  

Juniors (under 16) during the week are being charged a whopping $ 60 dollars compared to the city-wide rate of $ 7.75.  Non-residents pay $ 93 dollars.   The Trump rates are high above the $35 for juniors specified under his original contract. 

During the golf course's first two years seniors were penalized even more - they were charged almost five times more than at other “municipal” courses.  They had to cough up  $ 140 dollars for a round compared to $ 24 dollars city-wide.  The “discounted” rates for seniors is not available on weekends and holiday’s.  

Trumps’s original contract stipulated that seniors would pay $55 dollars.     

The high prices continue to keep seniors away.  Play fell from 1,706 rounds to 1,535,  a decrease of 10 percent.   Seniors accounted for just 6 % of rounds played - teeing off only 1,535 rounds out of 26, 127 during the course’s second year of operation. 

On average seniors usually make up nearly 40% of the demographics according to the National Golf Foundation statistics.  

Trump slashed senior prices for the current 2017 season after the disastrous revenue the first two years.  This year seniors still have to cough up a whopping $ 94 dollars for a round compared to the city-wide rate of  $ 25 dollars. The “discounted” rates for seniors ia not available on weekends and holidays.    Trump’s original contract stipulated that seniors would pay $55 dollars.

Seniors who don't live in NYC get bilked even further - they are required to pay $ 136 a round. 

Trump’s sweetheart deal doesn’t end there: The taxpayers are also responsible for paying his water and sewage bill facility which runs more than $ 1 million dollars annually.   Trump was reimbursed $1.05 million in water and sewage costs for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015. Last year the city estimated he would be reimbursed another $1.09 million for fiscal year 2016. 

Despite repeated requests the NYC Department of Environmental Protection refused to provide updated figures. 

Not a single elected official complained about the terrible deal for tax payers until Donald Trump’s presidential campaign began to pick up steam.

The publicly funded project cost close to $ 230 million dollars, the most expensive municipally built golf course in the nation. 

Trump is required to invest $10 million to build a clubhouse which is required to begin this year. The facility is expected to bring significantly more revenue to Trump.

http://www.trumpferrypoint.com/golf-rates

York City Golf Course Rates - Excluding Trump Ferry Point Golf

Golf Rates. https://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/golf  New golf rates effective April 1, 2017. Rates are for NYC residents with valid NYC Resident Golfer's Permits. Additional non-resident fees of up to $8.00 apply. The fees above, excluding the rate for Juniors, are inclusive of a $4.00 surcharge.

In October, the City denied Trump’s request to extend the agreement for an additional twenty years.

The city also denied Trump’s request to further expand the golf course into parkland.  His plan would have encroached public access to the long-delayed19.5 acre waterfront park. 

The Trump proposal called for an equal-sized land swap exchange with waterfront views he claimed were needed for expanding the 17th and 18th holes to make the course attractive for a potential PGA major tournament, such as the U.S. Open.

If the city agreed Trump would have created passive parkland near the course that he would maintain and be named after him, The Donald J. Trump Athletic Trail.   (You can’t make this stuff up.)

Trump Links representative also claimed the Parks Department’s new park would be dangerous due to flying golf balls and their alternative plan provided a safer alternative.   (Can’t make this stuff up either.)

Last month it was revealed that police were investigating several recent criminal incidents which have occurred on the property including cutting down trees and anti-Trump graffiti.

Background

The original contract signed by Donald Trump's Ferry Point Partners for green fees in 2013 listed $100 for a round of golf  (Monday-Thursday), and  $125 on weekends and holidays.  He was also allowed to charge non-residents $25 more on weekends without the approval of Parks or the city. 

Since then the sky-high green fees have skyrocketed even further. 

In 2007 Mayor Bloomberg decided the city’s tax-payers should pay to build the luxurious Scottish links style (without trees) project after the Giuliani-selected original developer Pierre Gagne’s Ferry Point Partners walked away in 2006 because of rising costs. (but not before the city paid them nearly $15 million of the $43 million already spent by 2009) 

Bloomberg officials at the time absurdly claimed that rates would be affordable and comparable in price to the city’s more than a dozen other municipal golf courses.

“The intention is to keep [prices] in line with other city courses and not charge as premium,”  then Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said with a straight face in 2009.

It is highly unlikely the city will ever make back its investment considering the project’s price tag and the favorable terms Trump was given.  The city said it had hoped to recoup some of its investment by hosting PGA or LPGA events there, a prospect now highly unlikely considering Mr. Trumps’s public behavior.

The Bloomberg administration also repeatedly claimed the course would generate economic activity in the Bronx without ever providing proof.     

Under the Radar Deal 

In December 2011 the City announced they had negotiated a 20-year license agreement for the operation of the Ferry Point Golf Course to the Trump Organization. 

The Parks Department dumped a press release announcing the proposed deal with Trump on a Friday, the day before Christmas Eve. The financial arrangements were conspicuously absent in the announcement. The shocking terms of the proposed agreement were quietly released in the City Record the following week. 

Terms:

Trump is required pay the city nothing through the first four years of his 20-year contract. Years 1-4: No Fee. Year 5: $300,000 or 7% of Gross Receipts plus 3% of sublicense gross receipts. By the 10th year, he is required to pay $360,000 or 7% of Gross Receipts plus 3% of sublicense gross receipts. By year 20, he is required to pay the city $470,000 or 10% of Gross Receipts plus 3% of sublicense gross receipts.

Trump is required to invest $10 million to build a clubhouse which is slated to begin next year. The facility is expected to bring significantly more revenue to Trump.

The person in charge of the Trump golf deal is Ronald Lieberman, Ferry Point vice president of special projects for the Trump Organization and former head of the Parks Department revenue division until 2007 when he went to work for Trump.  

“We view this as anything but a sweetheart deal,” Lieberman said in 2012.

Golf legend Jack Nicklaus got paid $ 1.25 million for design services and taxpayer-subsidized luxury travel perks according to the City’s agreement including "private aircraft, helicopter, and other expedient methods of transportation." 

Trump’s sweetheart deal doesn’t end there:  When his payments to the city do kick in his minimum annual fees are be much smaller  than those paid by the city’s other golf concessionaires — his percentage of gross receipts will also be less, according to several licensing agreements reviewed by NYC Park Advocates.

The 18-hole golf course in Brooklyn’s Marine Park, for instance, compensates the city as follows: In each operating year, the licensee shall pay the city license fees consisting of the higher of the minimum annual fee. (Years 1-5: $325,000; Years 6-10: $475,000; Years 11-15: $575,000; Years 16-20: $675,000)

In Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, the golf course’s 20-year agreement calls for the city to collect, in years 1-5, the greater of $300, 000 or 17 percent of green fees and cart rentals and 10 percent of merchandise, snack bar/grill, and other revenue, plus 35 percent of resident ID card fees. by the years 16-20: The greater of $550,000 or 20 percent of green fees and cart rentals and 10 percent of merchandise, snack bar/grill and other revenue, plus 35 percent of resident ID cards. 

Private Uses. 

Trump is also allowed to completely close the golf course to the public on any day for private tournaments and outings, league play, and junior or youth programs. Requests to close the facility "shall not be unreasonably withheld" by the Parks Department, according to the terms of the agreement. He would also be allowed to use up to 20 percent of starting times Monday through Friday for private tournaments and outings. 

To further maximize his earning potential, during the hours and days the golf course is not ordinarily open to the public Trump is entitled to conduct special events in any banquet or other catering facility. Listed banquet events include weddings, civil unions, renewals of vows, bridal/baby showers, birthdays, family reunions, and afternoon teas, to name just a few.

In addition to the golf course concession, the city is also required to build Trump a waterfront park snack-bar concession called “Donald’s Joint.”

Déjà vu

"It's a mess ... There was a contract entered into long before our administration ... It turns out it was a terrible contract. But that doesn't mean you go criticize the guys that did it because, for all I know, I would have done the same thing. Maybe at that time it appeared to be a great contract.”  -  Mayor Bloomberg infamously stated on November 23, 2007.

19.5 Acre Waterfront Park

The community’s long promised 19.5 acre waterfront esplanade park is still nowhere to be found.   

   

Originally scheduled to open in 2013, today the area is filled with weeds, its topography appears just as it did more than six decades ago when Robert Moses built the crescent shaped waterfront in anticipation of building an actual public park at the site and smaller golf course. 

The public is supposedly able to track progress on agency projects on its online Capital ProjectTracker website created to “ increase transparency.”  However the project is also nowhere to be seen. 

What little reference there was to the project was removed from the website long ago. 

Sign of the Times. Enter At Your Own Risk. Near the long promised waterfront park's future entrance at Emerson & Schurz Aves.

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

Read More:

Trump Golf Course Struggles in Bronx, Where Many Can’t Afford to Play

New York Times - June 2, 2017 - By Winnie Hu and Emily Palmer 

Trump luxury golf course built on NYC trash dump sees drop in business  

CNBC - June 2, 2017 - By Mike Juang

Fewer golfers play at Trump’s New York club, revenue declines

New York Daily News - June 1, 2017 - By Megan Cerullo 

Business sags at Trump’s New York golf course as players stay away

Washington Post - May 1,2017 - By Drew Harwell and David A. Fahrenthold 

Trump’s public golf course blames bad weather for sad revenues

New York Post - June 1, 2017 - By Rich Calder

Trump Scores $ Big At "Public" Golf Course At Taxpayer Expense
A Walk In The Park -  June 13, 2016 - By Geoffrey Croft 

Trump’s Ferry Point Golf Course Taxpayer Debacle Opens

 A Walk In The Park - April 1, 2015 

Mayor Cuts Ribbon On $ 200 Million Trump Sweetheart City Tax-Payer 

Funded Ferry Point Park Golf Deal

A Walk In The Park - October 16, 2013 -  By Geoffrey Croft

Donald Trump In Sweetheart City Tax-Payer Funded Golf Concession Deal
A Walk In The Park - January 9, 2013 - By Geoffrey Croft

Comptroller Liu Investigating Ferry Point 

Park Golf Delays Cost Overruns

A Walk In The Park - September 30, 2012 - By Geoffrey Croft 

High Levels Of Methane Gas Repeatedly Found At Ferry Point Golf Course

A Walk In The Park - September 23, 2012 

Trump Picked To Run Ferry Point Park Golf Money Pit Boondoggle

A Walk In The Park - December 24, 2011 - By Geoffrey Croft

Bronx River Rivals Gowanus Canal In Fecal Bacteria

“The numbers are consistently high. Even without the rain, the numbers are very high.”  - 
New York City Water Trail Association



Fecal bacteria in the Bronx River rivals the Gowanus Canal.  After heavy rains, the borough's namesake waterway gets especially filthy. Swimming is out. Boating is OK.  

Bronx

The Bronx River is full of crap. 

New testing reveals that the Westchester-to-East River waterway now has levels of fecal bacteria to rival the notorious Gowanus Canal, a federal Superfund cleanup site, according to an article in the New York Daily News. 

Testing by the New York City Water Trail Association says the levels of enterococcus, a fecal bacterium, is especially bad after heavy rainfall, when New York’s antiquated sewage and storm drain system dumps excess wastewater into area rivers.

“The numbers are consistently high,” said Sam Marquand, who has been collecting samples near Hunts Point Riverside Park. “Even without the rain, the numbers are very high.” 

Marquand and other volunteers have been collecting samples from across the city since May. Two points along the Bronx River — the Hunts Point Riverside Park and the newly opened Starlight Park — have unusually high amounts of bacteria.

“It’s not just regular runoff,” a worried Marquand said. “Stuff is just ending up in the river without being treated and there is no way of knowing right now where it's coming from.”  

 

A boom that catches garbage in the Bronx River catches plenty.  

The high levels of enterococcus make the river unsafe for recreational activities like swimming under normal conditions. But the numbers jumped 13-fold after heavy rains, such as in the last week of June. 

Only the infamous Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn has more bacteria. 

The good news? You shouldn’t be swimming in the river anyway, but boating is all right, said Rob Buchanan, founder of the New York City Water Trail Association. 

“Boating is actually a very good way to use a polluted waterway,” he said. “It gets the public invested and gets people interested in protecting the waterway.” 

The Department of Environmental Protection says it has stepped up efforts to curb trash and sewage problems in the river, including efforts to reduce storm water overflows. 

Waterway advocates hope that more testing could force the city to reevaluate the sewage system around the Bronx River. "People are out there swimming in the river everyday and they should know what they're up against” Marquand said. 

"People need to be aware of these things so we can change them." 

Read More:

Report: Bronx River is almost as bad as the Gowanus Canal for fecal bacteria 
New York Daily News -  July 4, 2013 - By Denis Slattery

City Suspends Burning of Hurricane Sandy Debris In Floyd Bennett Field After Pollution Levels Exceeded Air Quality Standards

Locations of the eight monitors in Floyd Bennet Field in Brooklyn surrounding the air curtain burn device.  The media were denied access to the operation.  Since monitoring began on December 28,  EPA air monitors showed  the 24 hour standard had been violated on four days -  January 9, 28, 29 and February 5.  Air curtain incineration was shut down on February 14th.   

Brooklyn

By Geoffrey Croft

After repeated problems with smoke and high levels of air pollution, New York City has suspended the burning of downed trees and vegetative debris remaining from Hurricane Sandy," a coalition of environmental and health groups said in a statement today.

A federal contractor had been burning the debris in open air burners at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.  

Despite objections raised by environmental and public health advocates, the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) granted a variance from its own air pollution regulations last December to allow the burning to take place in so-called "air curtain burners." 

The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) also issued a letter saying that for this operation it would not enforce the state's ban on open burning.  Under the conditions of the city's variance, the burning could have continued through mid-April. 

The group had called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for overseeing debris management from Hurricane Sandy, to aggressively pursue non-incineration options for the wood waste, which can be chipped and used for mulch and other purposes without emitting harmful pollutants.


On February 1, 2013,  the coalition sent NYC Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Carter Strickland  a letter informing him of the group's "strong opposition to the use of Air Curtain Burners (ACBs) at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. 

"As you must be aware, to date there have been two exceedances of the 35 μ/m3 health-based 24-hour NAAQS for fine particle (PM2.5) recorded by the monitors EPA has set up to monitor the impact of the air curtain incinerators in use at Floyd Bennett Field," the letter stated. 

"DEP’s stated justification for granting a Variance in this matter was that the stockpiling of vegetative waste debris at Floyd Bennett Field and elsewhere was creating public safety risks. It is therefore unreasonable for DEP to substitute one set of public safety risks for another by only ordering the shut-down of one ACB during inversions, when the emissions from even one ACB unit may add enough additional exceedances to cause a violation of the 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. According to the conditions of the Variance, DEP may suspend or revoke the variance at any time for non-compliance. Therefore, DEP had the full authority to stop or suspend the process and failed to do so. "

The letter was signed by the New York Environmental Law and Justice Project, NY Public Interest Research Group, American Lung Association and the Sierra Club – Atlantic Chapter.

"There were some exceedances," an EPA spokesperson confirmed to A Walk In The Park today and explained that the EPA had been conducting PM 2.5 air monitoring at the Floyd Bennett Field site. 

According to the EPA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, at the request of New York City, were using two air curtain incinerators at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, NY to burn vegetative debris, largely from downed trees, gathered in the cleanup from Hurricane Sandy.

An air curtain incinerator is a self-contained system that reduces wood debris to ash. It is equipped with air blowers that circulate the air to improve combustion and minimize emissions of fine particles.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has eight fine particle monitors operating around the perimeter of Floyd Bennett Field to monitor for potential impacts of the air curtain devices. 

The major concern raised by advocates was that smoke and fine particulate matter from the debris burning would worsen air quality in an area that is already suffering from poor environmental conditions in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

These concerns proved to be well-founded.  According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which set up air monitors around the perimeter of the site, air pollution levels in the vicinity of the burners exceeded health-based national ambient air quality standards for fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) on five separate days between December 28th and February 7th.

In a letter to the DEP dated February 1st, the New York Environmental Law and Justice Project (NYELJP), together with the American Lung Association of the Northeast, the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), and the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, strongly objected to the continued use of the air curtain burners given their demonstrated public health risks.  The groups urged an immediate cessation of burning in favor of an alternative method of waste disposal such as chipping the remaining wood for reuse.

In a separate petition to the DEC, the NYELJP challenged whether the air curtain burners should have been regulated as incinerators, rather than just open fires.  DEC's open fire regulations include a prohibition on the burning of waste products, but the regulations were intended to target "burn barrels" and backyard trash burning, not large-scale debris burning operations like those underway at Floyd Bennett Field.

"The Army Corps, DEC, and DEP all acted in the interest of expedience, without due consideration for public health and safety," said Joel Kupferman, Esq., NYELJP's executive director. 

"Despite the fact that environmental and public health advocates, community members, EPA Region 2 officials and City Council members all raised numerous health concerns about the use of air curtain burners beforehand, these concerns were ignored or overlooked by all other agencies involved until it was too late, and the burning had already caused numerous exceedances of health-based air pollution standards.  We need a proper, public discussion of why the Army Corps, DEC, and DEP all relied on the fact that a "public health emergency"  was declared after Hurricane Sandy to use "emergency" exceptions to air pollution regulations that are designed to protect public health."

"It was obvious from the start that burning massive quantities of wood 24/7 with virtually no pollution control was a bad idea," said Laura Haight, senior environmental associate.  

"These air curtain burners are little more than dumpsters with fans.  The city officials wanted to believe they would work, despite evidence to the contrary, and the Army Corps didn't want to change its practices.  We hope that a lesson has been learned here."

"The combustion of this debris led to high levels of particulate matter, a major lung irritant linked to asthma attacks, heart attacks and even premature death," said Jeff Seyler, CEO of the American Lung Association of the Northeast.  

"We are glad that the city has given up on this misguided plan and that residents downwind can now continue rebuilding from Sandy without this additional air quality concern."

"Burning woody debris has never been an effective or safe way to facilitate storm clean up in NYC," said Roger Downs, Conservation Director of the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter. "We are encouraged that all parties now agree proper processing and reuse of tree limbs and vegetation, in the form of wood chips and mulch, is the best pathway forward to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

The groups had high praise for the EPA for conducting air monitoring on the site and for posting the data on its webpage.  A description and timeline of the burning can be found at:  <http://www.epa.gov/sandy/response.html>

http://www.epa.gov/sandy/response.html.  "EPA's efforts to keep the public informed about the burning operations at Floyd Bennett Field, monitor their impact on air quality, and make all data public stands in stark contrast to the DEP," Kupferman said.  "We've had to send multiple Freedom of Information Act requests to access DEP's monitoring data, and still have not received most of it."

The groups also praised New York City Councilmember James Gennaro, chair of the City Council Environmental Protection Committee, for exercising his oversight responsibility.

Other groups that opposed the burning included Citizens' Environmental Coalition, New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Coalition Against the Rockaway Pipeline (CARP), New York Climate Action Group, and the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH).

Read/View More:

City Burns Debris From Sandy In Brooklyn, Some Residents Voice Concern
CBS - November 28, 2012 - By John Slattery 

Massive tree and limb burn after Sandy
WABC News - November 28, 2012 - By Stacy Sager

Whitney Woods In Staten Island Saved From Development

The city acquired the 1.5-acre wooded parcel on May 2nd and it will be incorperated into the Staten Island Bluebelt. Up to 70 residential units were planned for the site. Visitors can access Whitney Woods in the Grasmere section of the Island from dead-end Whitney Avenue, off Clove Road, above, and from the dead-end of Whitney Avenue at its intersection with Parkinson Avenue. (Photo: Virginia Sherry/ Staten Island Advance)

Staten Island

An environmental celebration will take place on Saturday at 11 a.m. with Borough President James Molinaro, City Councilman James Oddo (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn), and officials from the city Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) gathering alongside neighborhood residents to erect a Bluebelt sign in Whitney Woods, at the corner of Parkinson and Whitney avenue, according to the Staten Island Advance.

The city acquired the 1.5-acre wooded parcel on May 2, in the successful culmination of a campaign to save the environmentally sensitive land from construction of up to 70 residential units. The move preserves the property as forever-wild open space, part of the Richmond Creek watershed that includes Grasmere, Old Town, Arrochar, and South Beach.

“We have seen too many of our green spaces on Staten Island pillaged by inappropriate development,” said Oddo. “That is why this victory is so sweet.

“We are literally preventing the potential development of 70 housing units in a pristine green space and protecting the local community by ensuring that Whitney Woods acts as a stormwater drainage and management area,” he added.

“The preservation of Whitney Woods is good news for the Bluebelt and good news for Staten Island,” said Molinaro, noting that Staten Island has many locations where development has increased flooding. “We acquired Whitney Woods, preserved the wetlands, and helped make the neighborhood much more secure from flooding,” he said.

The land was purchased for $2.735 million. Oddo contributed $1.45 million from his City Council budget, Molinaro another $985,000 from his borough president budget, and DEP kicked in $300,000.

The property is generally bounded by the bed of unbuilt Whitney Avenue from Parkinson to Woodlawn avenues, and the bed of unbuilt Woodlawn Avenue from Whitney to Leslies avenues, as well as privately owned lots bounded by Marie Street and Woodlawn and Leslie Avenues.

Visitors can easily access Whitney Woods from dead-end Whitney Avenue, off Clove Road , and from the dead-end of Whitney Avenue at the corner of Parkinson Avenue.

Read More:

Housing development denied for Staten Island neighborhood

Staten Island Advance - May 9, 2012 - By Virginia N. Sherry

City Releases Wetlands Strategy Draft

City-Wide

This draft wetlands strategy is written in accordance with Local Law 31 of 2009 (see Appendix C). Signed by Mayor Bloomberg on May 26, 2009, this law requires the City to create a strategy with the overall goals to conserve, protect, enhance, stabilize, restore, and expand wetlands and associated buffer areas in the city. The law also calls for a strategy to avoid and minimize wetlands losses and achieve no net loss of wetlands in the city; standardize and improve the management of wetlands and associated buffer areas; and balance the needs for wetlands protection with other, competing land uses that are in the public interest.

In particular, Local Law 31 and this draft wetlands strategy focus on the question of how to better protect small vulnerable wetlands parcels. New York City Wetlands: Regulatory Gaps and Other Threats found that existing Federal and State regulations protect New York City’s tidal wetlands and its large freshwater wetlands from threats related to land use and development. However, freshwater wetlands smaller than 12.4 acres are not protected by State law and are vulnerable to determinations that they are outside of the scope of Federal protection. This draft strategy advances the City’s understanding of the quantity and ownership of these vulnerable wetlands and proposes strategies that will enhance protection.

This draft wetlands strategy has been released to the public on January 18, 2012. The City will accept public comments on this draft strategy through February 18, 2012 at planyc@cityhall.nyc.gov.

Read More:

NEW YORK CITY WETLANDS STRATEGY DRAFT FOR PUBLIC COMMENT