Showing posts with label NYC Park Advocates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NYC Park Advocates. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Fashion Week Packs Its Bags While Community Waits For Park Restitution Plan



February 22, 2015.  Coming Soon - A Public Park.  Fashion Week, and other events like this are now prohibited from returning to Damrosch Park according to the far-reaching court ordered settlement reached in December.  The park, much of it destroyed to make way for private events, must also be restored.   The defendants however have not produced several key court mandated items required under the agreement. The Parks Department and Lincoln Center were supposed to appear on Monday night at CB 7's Parks Committee meeting but the item was removed from the agenda because the city and the arts group were not ready.  (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates)  Click on images to enlarge 


February 19, 2015. Damrosch Park Convention Center.  For years the Bloomberg administration allowed Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) to rent out the entire 2.4 acre Damrosch Park to various private clients including Fashion Week (above) which they did for up ten months of the year.   These actions constituted an illegal alienation of Damrosch Park in violation of the New York State Public Trust Doctrine and other laws.     

"IMG Fashion Week shall vacate the premises and remove all tents and other Fashion Week equipment from the park," according to the settlement, which was ordered by Supreme Court Justice Margaret Chan.


Manhattan 

By Geoffrey Croft

Thursday marked the last day that the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week could ever be held in Damroach Park.   

Since then crews have been dismantling the massive tents that have illegally occupied the 2.4 acre public park for the past 5 years.

The runway exodus did not come voluntarily. It is part of a settlement agreement reached with the de Blasio administration after area residents and environmental groups were forced to sue in order to get the park back.

The semiannual function was part of a series of private events that Lincoln Center For The Performing Arts (LCPA) was allowed to host in a deal it struck with the Bloomberg administration.   Lincoln Center had been renting out the park for private events for up ten months of the year.  They are also allowed to keep the money and divert it from the City's General Fund.   



















On Thursday people filed into the Fashion Week tents in Damroach Park for the last time. 


By Sunday an aluminum frame was all that remained from the main entrance to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week located at Damrosch Park's Northeast side. 


Private events in Damrosch Park will now be the exception not the rule according to the far-reaching settlement reached in December between plaintiffs. 

In May 2013 plaintiffs, including NYC Park Advocates, Committee for Environmentally Sound Development, the founder of Friends of Damrosch Park and other individual neighborhood park users were forced to sue over the illegal use of Damrosch Park for non-park purposes in an effort to restore the park and return it back to the community.

One clueless fashion designer,  Nicole Miller, speculated a few days ago that the controversy was over area residents not being able to get taxis.

While the tents are being permanently removed plaintiffs and community representatives are still waiting for the Parks Department and Lincoln Center to comply with several key issues in the stipulation agreement more than two months after it was signed in December. 

• LCPA was supposed to provide CB7 and Plaintiffs with a copy of its annual January submission to the Parks Department listing proposed special events in Damrosch Park.  To date nothing has been received. 

• Planning for the Landscape Plan was supposed to begin in January 2015 but that has not been done as Lincoln Center is still looking for a landscape contractor.   LCPA and the Parks Department  are required to consult with and solicit comments from the Community Board prior to the spring 2015 planting season. During this period, LCPA will also, as part of its overall community relations program, consult with and solicit comments from a range of community organizations in the Lincoln Center neighborhood as well as with the plaintiff organizations, CESD and NYCPA.

The Parks Department and Lincoln Center were supposed to appear at Monday night's CB7's Parks Committee meeting but the item was removed from the agenda because the city and the arts group were not ready.  The reason -  Lincoln Center is still looking for a landscape contractor - three months after the settlement agreement. 



Over the weekend crews began dismantling the massive tents that illegally occupied Damroach Park for the past 5 years. 




Neighborhood groups are supposed to have meaningful input before spring planting begins, to date this has not occurred.  The next Parks Committee meeting is on March 16th.

"I am concerned any delays will leave planters with makeshift plantings thereby allowing for ongoing abuse by trailers and tents next season,"  said plaintiff Cleo Dana of Friends of Damrosch Park.

•  Under the terms of the settlement Lincoln Center will also be required to produce the secret  "sublicense" agreement between Fashion Week and Lincoln Center which lays out the financial arrangements. Lincoln Center received a $ 17.2 million dollar payday over five years which was diverted from the City General Fund.

•  As per the Stipulation Agreement LCPA was supposed to provide a cell number of an emergency contact person who would immediately respond to complaints in Damrosch Park. That never happened either.

A Fordham University student said that sound from Fashion Week could be heard throughout the dorms.

Cleo Dana said the noise on opening day of Fashion Week on Thursday, February 12th was deafening.

"The decibel level was outrageous." she said.  "My China was rattling on my table on the 26th floor a block away.  And as usual residents had no recourse.  It makes sense that they would have provided (the contact) before the event, but they didn't. These people don't care." 

Past complaints including noise,  illegal parking,  idling trucks,  and park destruction were routinely blown off by city officials.  

"When I complained in the past I was told it was a Mayor's event, parks rules do not apply," she said. 

"Neighbors are tired of calling 311and the 20th precinct with no results. I longer call 311, it's  a waste of time."

For weeks Cleo has been pressing various Parks Department officials to get answers, but those efforts have been fruitless.  


No more Mercedes-Benz allowed in the park. 


Attendees of Fashion Week in the seized parkland. 


On February 4th she wrote to Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver's Chief of staff Margaret Nelson.  Nelson represented the Parks Department at a City Hall meeting between plaintiffs and defendants in December where she identified herself as "our future liaison contact," Dana said. 

Cleo wrote Nelson saying that she attended a Community Board 7 meeting weeks ago to inquire about the status of outstanding issues regarding the settlement agreement. At the meeting CB 7’s Parks Committee Chairman , Klari Neuwelt, assured her that, as per Plaintiffs’ request,  the “Landscape Plan” will be on the Committee’s Feb. 23rd Agenda. 

She asked Silver's chief of staff to "Kindly confirm that the Plan will be presented," along with providing Lincoln Center’s proposed special events for 2015. 

A couple of days later, on February 6th  Nelson responded saying,   "I will look into these requests and get back to you next week." 

She never did. 

A few days later Steve Simon, Chief of Staff for Manhattan Parks Commissioner Bill Castro called to say that Lincoln Center was “looking” for a landscape contractor and would not be able to present at the February 23 Parks Committee meeting.  

"The Plaintiffs and the community are understandably disappointed that two months after our Settlement Agreement, Lincoln Center is still looking to hire a Landscape Consultant," Cleo wrote to Steve Simon.

"We had assumed that Lincoln Center would present the preliminary mandated “Landscape Plan” at the February Community Board 7 Parks Committee meeting so that Plaintiffs and community organizations could have meaningful “input” before the forthcoming planting season.  As Fashion Week packs up for good, we need to know that serious planting will commence this spring to cover the rubble and barren planters left behind;  temporary cosmetic ”flowering plants”  as in past summers which can then be covered over by trailers and tents later in the year are not acceptable.

May I remind you that the Community Board has not yet received a "copy of its annual January submission to the Parks Department listing proposed special events in Damrosch Park for the coming calendar year” as also stipulated in our Settlement Agreement."


Dispite several requests seeking comment the Mayor's press office refused to acknowledge the requests and the Parks Department press office said they were too busy. 

Sign of the Times. 


February 19, 2015.  The Parks Department owned parking garage that Lincoln Center keeps 100% of the proceeds from remains covered from the tents.   




February 22, 2015.



The skeleton remains of Fashion Week are revealed as crews break down the tents.


The park's lone sign provided support to a Fashion Week tent.  On Sunday a worker leaned on it while colleagues removed equipment from the event.



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

Read More:

Fashion Week Ordered To Leave Lincoln Center - Park To Be Restored In Lawsuit Settlement  
A Walk In The Park - December 18, 2014 - By Geoffrey Croft


WABC - December 18, 2014 - By Tim Fleischer 

New York Daily News - December 18, 2014 -  By Barbara Ross 

New York Post - December 18, 2014 - By Natalie O'Neill and Julia Marsh 

New York Times - December 18, 2014 - By Robin Pogrebin   

Associated Press - December 18, 2014 -  By Leanne Italie  

Crain's New York Busness - December 18, 2014 - By Adrianne Pasquarelli 


AM New York - December 18, 2014 - By Ivan Pereira 

Metro NY - December 18, 2014

CNBC -  December 18, 2014 - By Krystina Gustafson

 New York Magazine -  December 18, 2014 - By VĂ©ronique Hyland 

gothamist - December 18, 2014 - Rebecca Fishbein  

 The Hollywood Reporter - December 18, 2014 - By Stephanie Chan

 WNBC - December 18, 2014

A Walk In The Park -  May 22, 2013 - By Geoffrey Croft 

A Walk In The Park February 15, 2012 - By Geoffrey Croft

A Walk In The Park - February 6, 2012


A Walk In The Park - September 10, 2010 - By Geoffrey Croft


A Walk In The Park - September 11, 2010 - By Geoffrey Croft




Thursday, December 18, 2014

Fashion Week Ordered To Leave Lincoln Center - Park To Be Restored In Lawsuit Settlement






























Damrosch Park Convention Center.  For years the Bloomberg administration allowed Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) to rent out the entire 2.4 acre Damrosch Park to various private clients including Fashion Week (above) which they did for up ten months of the year.   These actions constitute an illegal alienation of Damrosch Park in violation of the New York State Public Trust Doctrine and other laws.     (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates)  Click on images to enlarge)

Fashion Week, and other events like this are now prohibited from returning to Damrosch Park under a court ordered setlement.  The park, much of it destroyed to make way for private events, must also be restored. 


“Parks is thrilled to welcome Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week to its new, larger, home in Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center,”  - Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe 2010.

Thankfully the new administration does not share the same irresponsible view.


Manhattan

Fashion Week will have to find a new home after February.

Private events in Damrosch Park will now be the exception not the rule according to the far-reaching agreement negotiated between plaintiffs, Lincoln Center and the City over the illegal use of Damrosch Park for non-park purposes.   

The settlement prohibits any possibility of Fashion Week renewing its contract with Lincoln Center, as contemplated in the original 2010 agreement.  A five-year renewal would have allowed the fashion show to stay until 2020.  Fashion Week's permanent home in Hudson Yard's Culture Shed is still years away.   

Now Fashion Week will have to find an interim home, away from city parkland,  until thier new home is completed. 

"IMG Fashion Week shall vacate the premises and remove all tents and other Fashion Week equipment from the park," according to the settlement, which was ordered by Supreme Court Justice Margaret Chan.



Where's The Park. Damrosch Park's Northeast Entrance/Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week's Main Entrance.  This event like others have been allowed to completely take over the 2.4 acre park. "I was horrified to learn about the demise of Damrosch Park. It is ironic that a family of German immigrants, who brought so much to the musical life of this city and this country have been pushed aside by a German manufacturer of flashy cars." - Sidney Urquhart, granddaughter of Walter Damrosch.



The settlement includes language to prevent commercial, non-park purpose uses in the future.

"....the City and LCPA (Lincoln Center Performing Arts) intend to further expand public access to the Park by not entering into agreements for commercial events substantially similar in natures, size and duration to Fashion Week and for which access is not generally available to the public," the settlement states.

Under the Bloomberg administration the City allowed Lincoln Center free rein over Damrosch Park with no limitations on the number of private events it could hold in the public park. 

In May 2013 the plaintiffs, including NYC Park Advocates, Committee for Environmentally Sound Development, the founder of Friends of Damrosch Park and other individual neighborhood park users were forced to sue in an effort to restore the park and return it back to the community.


The park had been taken over for up to ten months of the year by private revenue generating non-park use events according to the suit.

As a deterrent to any future events like Fashion Week the settlement contains language that allows the presiding judge, Supreme Court Justice Margaret Chan to issue a Temporary Restraining Order in the event Lincoln Center attempts to use the park for something like that again.   

Under the terms of the settlement Lincoln Center will also be required to produce the secret agreement "sublicense" between Fashion Week and Lincoln Center which lays out the financial arrangements  Lincoln Center received a $ 17.2 million dollar payday over five years which was diverted from the City General Fund.  

The public including the City's Comptroller were not privy to the agreement on the public park.  All future sublicense agreements for special events must also be produced.   



Access Denied.  A private security guard prevents the general public from entering a private event held in Damrosch Park on May 9, 2013, one of dozens of events held annually inside the public park.  Additionally, the Bloomberg administration also allowed Lincoln Center to divert all the consession revenue from the City's General Fund. The revenue from the city's July 2010 license agreement with LCPA collected totaled more than $32 million dollars over a four year period alone. 

The park's planting beds with magnificent azaleas were all destroyed for private events. Plantings are required to be restored under the settlement. 


Not Open To The Public - Entrance By Invitation Only. Never again are events like this allowed to seize this public park.

The Mercedes-Benz Star Lounge inside what is supposed to be a public park.


Public Park? The convention center-like atmosphere inside Damrosch Park for Fashion Week.



The City and Lincoln Center are required to restore much of the park including replanting trees and flora destroyed to make way for Fashion Week.  The City famously allowed Lincoln Center to illegally destroy 57 trees to make way for the semi-annual fashion event.    

The settlement also requires the installation of an additional Parks Department sign near the northeastern entrance of the park for the first time.  Defendants even went so far as to remove the only sign indicating it was a public park. City rules must also be posted in the park for the first time.


"Damrosch Park belongs to the City of New York not Lincoln Center," said Geoffrey Croft, of NYC Park Advocates, a plaintiff in the suit.

"The days of the Bloomberg administration's irresponsible policy of handing over public parks as cash cows for private groups and businesses are hopefully numbered.  We hope this settlement signifies a dramatic shift in policy and that parks across the city will finally be protected."

"It was outrageous and illegal," said Olive Freud president of the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development, a plaintiff in the case.

"It is environmentally unsound and harmful to the quality of life to allow a private for-profit organization to usurp a public amenity.  In our densely populated City of concrete and tall buildings the most important thing is to protect and cherish our public parks and open spaces. They are precious. 
Communities should not be afraid to fight.  This should be an example for the rest of the city. 

What Lincoln Center did was illegal and they should have been required to pay our legal fees, they made millions from this," she added.  


The Bosque. Since the park's opening in 1969, the granite benches - part of noted landscape architect Dan Kiley's (1912 - 2004)  original garden design -  have been an integral part of the park. They were removed for Fashion Week and area residents want them returned.  (Photo: Darial Sneed)


The granite benches were permanently removed and replaced by couches for an outdoor smoking and drinking area during Fashion Week.


"Almost 5 years ago I woke up to the sound of power saws and watched helplessly as our beautiful neighborhood Park was destroyed by the monstrous Fashion Week," said plaintiff Cleo Dana, Chair of Friends of Damrosch Park.

"We were devastated.  It was a gross injustice perpetrated on us by a misguided administration that valued mega-corporations’ profits over the public’s right to its own parks.   We are thrilled at the current settlement and that the Park will be rebuilt. It can never be the same but it will be wonderful to have the community sharing space together again."


The Parks Department and LCPA are also required to create a plaque - to replace the one mysteriously lost - to honor the contributions of Walter Damrosch and other members of the family to the city's musical life. 

"I was horrified to learn about the demise of Damrosch Park," said Sidney Urquhart, a granddaughter of Walter Damrosch, who attended the park's dedication on May 22, 1969 with several other members of her family.


"It is ironic that a family of German immigrants, who brought so much to the musical life of this city and this country have been pushed aside by a German manufacturer of flashy cars. (Fashion Week is sponsored by Mercedes Benz)

"As a fourth-generation member of the Damrosch family, I am so gratified that this beautiful little park that was created to honor their achievements and then woefully neglected and misused, will now be restored to its former glory."

Lincoln Center has denied the existence of the memorial flagpole with its bronze plaque honoring five members of the Damrosch family.



March 2010 months before 56 trees,  including all of the ones shown above,  were  destroyed in order to accommodate Fashion Week. The Parks Department then later tried to cover up the reason for the removel of the trees. Below a plywood platform replaced the trees which enabled event tents to be erected. 


The planting beds were replaced by a plywood platform. The NYCHA Amsterdam Houses can be seen directly behind the bandshell. 


Plaintiff Harold Smith has lived in the NYCHA Amsterdam Houses directly across the street for more than sixty-five years. He remembers the tenements and the 5 and 10 cent store on Amsterdam Avenue long before Lincoln Center and the park were built.  From his apartment as a teen he watched the city raze the buildings "brick by brick" they took to build the sprawling cultural campus.  

"I feel really good, this is a victory and we don't get many of those," Mr. Smith said of the settlement.   

"The park used to be so beautiful, the trees were so full. We got pushed aside for money-making purposes.  Since Fashion Week we haven't been able to go over there."

Mr. Smith, a musician who turned professional at age 14, said he feels most concerned for the seniors, the kids and a neighbor in particular in a wheelchair who have been shut out of their own park over the years.

"The older people are going to head back in there. They are so hurt,  they have such negative feelings towards Lincoln Center,  they feel trotted on. The people around here feel very disrespected like they don't matter.  They'll believe the park is open when they see it. They don't trust them."  


Two Outstanding issues

Since Fashion Week the Big Apple Circus has also been allowed to take up the park's entire 2.4 acres for more than four months annually including the fall, one of the most desirable seasons.  Area residents want at the very least part  of the park to be re-opened during the circus. 
     
City Charter - Section 109 

Another outstanding issue not resolved in the suit is the city's policy of allowing the money generated from Damrosch Park to be diverted to Lincoln Center.  

City Charter section 109 requires that all revenue of the city be paid into the general fund. The city's policy of allowing certain groups to divert these revenues creates enormous disparities that needs to be addressed.   These types of arrangements also exist in Bryant Park and the High Line, among others.
  
The License Agreement between the City and LCPA for instance provides absolutely no compensation to the City and instead allows all of the revenue generated from Damrosch Park to go to LPCA in order to “provide a substantial revenue stream”  for them.


From 2006-2010 alone, LCPA’s Revenues and Expenses Reports show  that revenues from LCPA’s “Special Events” and “Concessions” totaled more than $29 million dollars - the garage located under Damrosch Park,  which is owned by the Parks Department,  alone grossed more than $26.7 million,  all of which was paid to LCPA and none to the City. 



The Bloomber-era Licence Agreement goes even further to protect the fiscal interests of LCPA at the expense of the City: “[The Parks Department] agrees that it shall not impose any fee, charge, or other imposition on either LCPA or Special Event Promoters engaged by LCPA in connection with Special Events held in the Public Areas.”



In addition to these amounts under a separate agreement, Fashion Week’s sponsor IMG Worldwide, is paying up to $17.2 million to LCPA to use the city park twice a year. This money is also being diverted from the city's general fund. The agreement between LCPA and IMG Worldwide, did not go through the City Comptroller’s Office.  

Plaintiffs were represented by the Super Law Group, LLC. 


A private security guard attempts to prevent the park from being photographed from Amsterdam Avenue during the setup of Fashion Week.  (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates)  Click on images to enlarge)


Read/View More:



WABC - December 18, 2014 - By Tim Fleischer 

New York Daily News - December 18, 2014 -  By Barbara Ross 

New York Post - December 18, 2014 - By Natalie O'Neill and Julia Marsh 

New York Times - December 18, 2014 - By Robin Pogrebin   

Associated Press - December 18, 2014 -  By Leanne Italie  

Crain's New York Busness - December 18, 2014 - By Adrianne Pasquarelli 


AM New York - December 18, 2014 - By Ivan Pereira 

Metro NY - December 18, 2014

CNBC -  December 18, 2014 - By Krystina Gustafson

 New York Magazine -  December 18, 2014 - By VĂ©ronique Hyland 

gothamist - December 18, 2014 - Rebecca Fishbein  

 The Hollywood Reporter - December 18, 2014 - By Stephanie Chan

 WNBC - December 18, 2014


A Walk In The Park -  May 22, 2013 - By Geoffrey Croft 

A Walk In The Park February 15, 2012 - By Geoffrey Croft

A Walk In The Park - February 6, 2012


A Walk In The Park - September 10, 2010 - By Geoffrey Croft



A Walk In The Park - September 11, 2010 - By Geoffrey Croft


Friday, June 6, 2014

Plan To Cut Into Historic Ridgewood Reservoir Has Activists Fuming - Fears This Will Lead To Development



Flood Hazzard?  The New York State DEC has classified the Ridgewood Reservoir's three basins as a "Class C" High Hazard Dam, critics disagree.  (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) click on images to enlarge


The decommissioned Ridgewood Reservoir in Highland Park is a natural oasis on the Queens-Brooklyn border. Local activists are worried that a state-mandated plan to dig out culverts in the reservoir will destroy the natural beauty of the area. Park and State officials say it is necessary to prevent flooding, activists disagree. 

For years the community fought against Mayor Bloomberg's $50 million PlaNYC proposal to clear out 20 acres of one of the basins for ballfields and develop the area for active recreation. 


Community residents instead wanted the unique area as let along as a natural oasis.

Mayor Bloomberg finally got the message and cut funding for the project.


Critics of the culvert plan say the $ 6 million dollars would be much better spent clearing out the invasive species and providing facilities for educational programing and for security personnel.

Community members and envirmentailists have long advocated for the repurposing two of the existing gate house buildings located on the basin's perimeter for use as an environmental center and a Parks Enforcement Patrol/Ranger facility.  

These funds could play a vital role in the future success of a newly reclaimed natural area! 


 - Geoffrey Croft



Invasive species strangle heathy trees and dramically reduce bio-divercity. 



Queens/Brooklyn

Local activists are fuming over a city plan to cut culverts into the historic Ridgewood Reservoir in order to stave off the threat of future flooding. They say the $6 million plan — currently awaiting state environmental approvals — is unnecessary and wasteful of money, according to the New York Daily News.  

“It would have to rain 24 hours a day for months to reach capacity,” said Geoffrey Croft of New York City Park Advocates. 

Critics also worry the project will disturb the ecosystems in the defunct reservoir. 

“Construction will destroy the natural habitats within the basins, not to mention that it is also a colossal waste of taxpayer money,” said local civic activist Christina Wilkinson said. 

“Furthermore, if this weather event actually were to occur, allowing the basins to drain into a small catch basin on Vermont Place would be pointless as the sewer system would already be overflowing.” 


The reservoir, located on the Brooklyn-Queens border, was built in 1858 and supplied water to Brooklyn until 1959. 



But the Parks Department said it will face fines by the state if the work is not done, since the reservoir is considered a flooding hazard. 

The only other solution that would satisfy the state — which would involve extensive tree removal and ongoing maintenance — is more costly and intrusive, parks officials said.

The reservoir, located on the Brooklyn-Queens border, was built in 1858. It supplied water to Brooklyn until 1959.

Former Mayor Bloomberg announced 10 years ago that the site would be transferred from the city Department of Environmental Protection to the Parks Department as parkland.

         

The long abandoned gate houses along the reservoir basin's perimeter could be repurposed and used as an environmental center and a permanent station for Parks Enforcement Patrol officers and park rangers.


The Bloomberg Administration originally pegged the reservoir and surrounding Highland Park for renovations. But the $50 million proposal to clear out 20 acres for ballfields and develop the area for recreation died for lack of funds.   




A Tale Of Two Reservoirs? The community had also requested the fences in the redesign match the historical ones but Park Department officials said that could not be done for safety reasons.  The fence around the Central Park reservoir (left) however used the exact same design as in Ridgewood (right). (Save Ridgewood Reservoir) 


The city did complete a smaller project to repair pathways and lighting around the reservoir, and make the areas more handicapped accessible. Agency officials said the flood prevention project would not change the condition of the reservoir or reduce public access. 

But concerned citizens worried that the culverts could pave the way for future development. 

“It is my firm belief that (the Parks Department) crying crocodile tears when they say that they’d rather not breach the basins but are being forced to by the DEC,” said Rob Jett, who founded the Save the Ridgewood Reservoir website.

He and others worry that the city will revive old plans to clear parts of the reservoir to build the ballfields.   


Familiar bluet at the Ridgewood Reservoir. (Photo: Steve Nanz)


 Interpretive Sign.




Read More:

Parks Officials Say State Wants Ridgewood Reservoir Basins to Be Safer
NY 1 - July 10, 2014 - By Agnes Chung 
http://www.ny1.com/content/212041/parks-officials-say-state-wants-ridgewood-reservoir-basins-to-be-safer/