The following letter was sent to city agency officials (DDC, DOT and DEP) yesterday jointly signed by Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder, Councilman Eric Ulrich and State Senator Joe Addabbo and Borough President Helen Marshall.
March 6, 2013
David Burney, Commissioner
Department of Design and Construction
30-30 Thomson Avenue
Long Island City, NY 11101
Project # HWQ1182A
Dear Commissioner Burney,
We are writing to respectfully request your attention to the
sudden and unexpected delays regarding the capital project scheduled to elevate
the streets on West 11th, 12th and 13th Road in Broad Channel, Queens.
As you may know, despite the initial plans to immediately
proceed, we were recently informed that this project may be postponed,
potentially leaving hundreds of residents without appropriate protection from
rising waters. Broad Channel residents deserve a comprehensive plan and
immediate implementation to fix their flooded streets and protect their homes
against impending danger.
Community leaders and residents have invested their time and
effort organizing meetings, gathering signatures and working closely with the
Department of Transportation, the Department of Environmental Protection and
your design team to gather a consensus on the most efficient and effective
design. Extensive work and progress has been made over the last several years
and any delay would be unacceptable.
We all agree, if there is one lesson to be taken from Hurricane
Sandy, it is that we cannot afford to delay. Street elevation is needed now
more than ever to allow residents to continue to rebuild and recover without
the fear of additional flooding. This project will bring a strong sense of
relief for those residents who have been plagued by tidal flooding for decades,
in addition to the catastrophic event of Sandy.
I respectfully request your agency work with whomever
necessary to immediately expedite the new plans for elevating the roads at West
11th, 12th and 13th Road in Broad Channel. Our residents and families have been
through so much and we owe it them to expedite their recovery and finally allow
them to rebuild in a way that will assure them a safe home for many years to
come.
Thank you for your time in reviewing and responding to this
request.
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Additionally, I received the below email from Dan Mundy earlier today regarding this issue.
Here is an update on
where we are at this time regarding the street raising project. [Above] you
will find a strong letter of support from all of our elected's,
Assemblyman phil Goldfeder , State Sen Joe Addabbo, Boro President
Helen Marshall and Councilman Eric Ulrich.
We thank them for getting this
strong response out within hours of hearing of the possible delay to the
project. In addition Councilman Ulrich reports that DDC
commissioner Burney has looked into this and has indicated that DEP
now states that they indeed have decided that there are changes to the
sewer and sanitary lines that they have identifed that are necessary--
note no mention of any changes to the surface design that we worked
so hard to develop-- and that they do have to modify the sub surface
design. He is reaching out at this time to DEP to find out what
type of time frame they are requiring to make these modification.
We have
stressed that this project needs to be kept on its current time frame and
that while a small delay MAY be understandable, ie a month, the concept of a
year delay is unacceptable..
The Commissioner's assistant Joe Sodvere spoke with me today
and anticipates getting back in touch at the end of next week to relay
to us the assessment of the time frame envisioned. At that time we will
know whether it is a small delay and basically on track or if we are being told
that it will be put off for a long duration and if that is the case we will
seek the help of our elected officials to convene a meeting at the Borough
Presidents office to attempt to resolve this issue.
Dan Mundy
As always we will keep you advised of all developments as they occur.
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