President’s Message
This month's Civic meeting will be held on Thursday, October 26th at 7PM at the VFW Hall. Come down and get caught up on what is going on in your neighborhood!
Buy Out Properties in Broad Channel, also known as the Build-it-Back Acquisition program, will be discussed at this Civic Meeting. HPD will give a presentation on what will happen to these properties after the homes on them are demolished. The Civic Association has worked for three years to develop a protocol that has been approved by BIB reps in which adjacent neighbors will have an opportunity to put in bid for the property. The properties cannot be built, on but homeowners who are adjacent and who obtain these properties will be able to use them for recreation, storage etc. It is highly recommended that any homeowners who live immediately adjacent to these properties come down and listen to this presentation!
Sunset Cove - The Civic Association and the Jamaica Bay Ecowatcher's have been working for 9 years to see the former Schmitts Marina at the end of West 19th Road converted into an ecological park after the land was seized by the Federal government for environmental violations. The two groups worked with Councilman Ulrich to have the land moved over to the Department of Parks from DCAS where it could have been developed. They then worked to secure funding and were successful in obtaining the largest Department of Interior Grant (4.9 million) that was awarded, out of the 11 states competing, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Following that were funds they obtained from the DEC and the NY Rising Project and from our elected officials, including $1,000,000 from Borough President Melinda Katz, $175,000 from Senator Addabbo, $100,000 from Assemblyman Goldfeder and $200,000 from Councilman Ulrichs Participatory Budget. All told the two local groups obtained 6.5 million for the construction of the park featuring restored wetlands, a tidal creek, upland forest, a protective storm berm (which would double as an elevated walking trail thru the area), an eco-dock for school children to use, and an elevated boardwalk that would take visitors out over the wetlands to an open area viewing platform which would serve as an outdoor classroom. While we were assured this funding would be adequate when the bids went out in May, funds would prove to be 7 million dollars short of the minimum bid.
The Broad Channel Civic Association and the Ecowatchers immediately lobbied our elected officials and Borough President Katz, Senator Addabbo, Assemblywoman Amato, and Councilman Ulrich were extremely helpful in pushing hard with the Mayor's office to fund the gap that existed. On October 6th, we held a press conference at the site with representatives from numerous agencies and the Mayor's office where Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen told all in attendance that they were so impressed with the potential of this project that they were immediately making the needed funds available. Thank you to Mayor DeBlassio and to all mentioned who worked to make this happen. This exciting project will break ground this coming spring!
Jamaica Bay Task Force Meeting - Will be held on November 2nd at the Wildlife Refuge at 6:30PM. This is an excellent venue to come out and learn what is going on in and around Jamaica Bay. Oyster studies, wetland restoration and upcoming environmental projects will all be discussed and all are welcome to attend.
Street Raising Restoration work - At the last Civic meeting it was reported that DDC had suddenly notified the community that contrary to previous plans that had been agreed to, the resumption of work on the street project on West 11th, 12th and 13th Roads would face a major delay of over 6 months due to a procurement issue. We find this unacceptable and have had tremendous support on this issue from Senator Addabbo, Assemblywoman Amato and Borough President Katz. As a result, we will be getting an update from a DOT rep at the meeting as to where this issue stands now and are hopeful that this time frame will be greatly reduced.
Quote of the Month --“A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.”
—James N. Watkins.
Respectfully submitted,
Dan Mundy Jr.
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