EDC tried to cover up contamination at Flushing Airport

YESTERDAY, State Senator Tony Avella held an emergency press conference regarding the Economic Development Corporation’s (EDC) attempted cover-up of fuel contaminated soil. Community Board 7 began to receive reports from residents earlier today regarding a noticeable smell of petroleum throughout College Point, later to be traced to ongoing projects in the College Point Corporate Park.

As part of the ongoing wetlands mitigation project, contractors began to strip the runway previously used by the former Flushing Airport. Visible pools of fuel were then discovered underneath, which went unreported as EDC apparently advised the contractor to continue operations. Furthermore, additional liquid petroleum was found at the excavation site of the nearby 132nd Street/Linden Place extension project.

According to an anonymous whistleblower, rather than reporting the issue within the appropriate 24-hour timeframe, workers were instructed to follow protocol as though the soil was mildly contaminated by metals and use it as berm material to be used throughout the City. By failing to disclose the presence of liquid petroleum and hiding it in soil used for park space, EDC officials are potentially breaking the law, and thus willing to expose countless people to the health hazard of oil contaminated soil.

Senator Avella was able to access the site being excavated along 20th Avenue, where a construction crew was apparently mixing the petroleum with mulch and tree leaves so as to cover the smell. Despite the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) sending a spill team to inspect the issue early Monday morning, Senator Avella found that construction work was still ongoing in the mid-afternoon.

“To knowingly conceal petroleum contaminated soil and repurpose it use throughout the City is utterly disgraceful and borders criminality. EDC has shown that it is willing to expose people to a substantial health hazard, if it means preventing a delay on their project in College Point Corporate Park. Despite the efforts to conceal the truth, all of College Point could smell the foul play and reported the district wide scent of petroleum to Community Board 7. Our safety should not depend upon the diligence of the community and the conscience of a lone whistle-blower; I demand EDC to halt their project pending an investigation and answer to these allegations,” declared State Senator Tony Avella.

Senator Avella spoke with DEC following his press conference at the site and was informed that the agency was in the process of reviewing the allegation with the investigator sent to the site.

The Queens Courier has more.

Flushing Airport wetlands to be restored

From the Times Ledger:

The city is set to restore 12 acres of wetlands surrounding Flushing Airport as part of a plan to extend 132nd Street in College Point.

The city Economic Development Corporation released a public bid last week to find a general contractor to work on the project, which will restore the open wetlands that are home to many plant and animal species.

The restoration work is required by the state Department of Conservation and will also form a stable foundation for the roadway, the EDC said.

The restored wetlands will also provide a habitat for wildlife life to thrive and will filter toxins from water which drains into Mill Creek and Flushing Bay.

The Flushing Airport was once one of the city’s busiest airplane hubs before it was closed in 1984, but has since sat idle and vacant.

Part of the site, which is not protected as wetlands, came close to being redeveloped in 2004, but plans pushed by the Bloomberg administration to build a 585,000−square−foot wholesale distribution center were scuttled amid significant community opposition.

A few years later, a number of community leaders tried to convince the EDC to build a soft recreation site there. It would have included baseball fields, a driving range, an education center and nature trails, all designed with green infrastructure in mind, but the city did not approve the plan.

A spokesman said EDC continues to explore possibilities for the site.

James Cervino, a marine scientist who pushed for the soft recreation site and the chairman of Community Board 7’s Environmental Committee, said that if the land is redeveloped for industrial use, it will require a buffer zone around it to ensure the wetlands are not contaminated.

Skeeter spraying to commence Tuesday

From the Daily News:

The city is getting a jump on skeeter season by spraying larvicide in several Queens, Bronx and Staten Island neighborhoods next week to stave off the West Nile virus.

Helicopters will spray larvicide on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to reduce the mosquito population in marshy and non-residential areas between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Specific locations include: Pelham Bay in the Bronx, Alley Creek, the abandoned Flushing Airport, Dubos Point, Edgemere Park in Queens and several areas of Staten Island.

Bloomberg wants to replace soccer stadium parkland with Flushing Airport

From the NY Post:

Parkland is “not the only thing people need,” Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday as he defended plans to build a soccer stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

“It’s not irreplaceable,” the mayor said of the 13 acres in Flushing Meadows that soccer promoters are trying to acquire for a 25,000-seat stadium.

“In fact, there’s an old airport, Flushing Airport, which is going to be turned into a park. So the total parkland would be the same,” added the mayor.

“On balance there’s an enormous amount of new park land,” he said. “But it’s not the only thing people need. A lot of people want a stadium to enjoy soccer.”

Right. So build it in Central Park. The tourists would love it!

From Patch:

In a fashion that could only be described as "typically Bloomberg," New York City's mayor has managed to yada yada the building of a stadium on public parkland in Queens.

Bloomberg talked about the plan to build a soccer stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park during a press conference on Monday, saying essentially that the part of the park where they're planning on putting it is kind of crappy, so whatever.

"Keep in mind, that end of the park is not...it has seen its better days," Bloomberg said. "There's not a lot of money to fix it. This will improve that area. The new parkland will be great parkland."

This will be familiar to Queens residents as the same justification for the city's attempt to takeover Willets Point, which has been ongoing since Citi Field was just a gleam in the mayor's eye.

Insecticide spraying this week in Queens

To control mosquitoes, the Health Department will apply larvicide by helicopter to marsh and other non-residential areas of Staten Island, the Bronx and Queens on Monday, June 11, Tuesday, June 12 and Wednesday, June 13; between the hours of 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. weather permitting. In case of bad weather, application will be delayed until Tuesday, June 12, Wednesday, June 13 and Thursday, June 14 during the same hours. While three days are allotted for this activity, the application may be completed in less time. The areas to be treated appear below. These are marshy, natural areas, which are common breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Due to their size and inaccessibility by ground vehicles, these areas will be treated with larvicide from a low-flying helicopter.

A Blimp Lands In Flushing

"When I was little my grandfather told me about a "Goodyear Blimp" that floated over his house on weekends. As I had not heard the word "blimp" before, and knew from TV commercials that Goodyear made automobile tires, I could only comprehend that he was describing some kind of a giant automobile tire floating above his house. Oh, that Grandpa - he was always pulling my leg.

Goodyear at that time had started using nearby Flushing Airport to dock it's aerial-broadcast blimp during the weekend games at Shea Stadium. For many local residents the big balloon was a new major attraction, and they'd visit the airport just to watch it come and go in it's amusingly lumbering fashion. Grandpa, of course, filmed it for posterity, and his movie cleared up any confusion I had over Goodyear blimps and tires.

Flushing Airport has been out of business since the 1980's. Half of it is now a swampy mess, while the other half has been developed into - what else? - a shopping complex." - Robert Martens, April, 2011

Flushing Airport becomes bird sanctuary

From 10000 Birds:

At one time there was an airport in northern Queens called Flushing Airport. It was shut down in 1984 due to frequent flooding, a fatal plane crash in 1977, and the growth of LaGuardia Airport. The land has since started to return to something approaching a wild state. Unfortunately, developers are hungrily eying the 70-acre parcel despite some local opposition and the fact that it is a wetland that provides excellent habitat to a variety of birds (to say nothing of mammals, insects, etc). The old runway in particular is excellent shorebird habitat, and the open wet woodlands growing up from, for lack of a better word, fields, elsewhere on the property shelter nesting Warbling Vireos, Orchard and Baltimore Orioles, Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, Tree Swallows, Song Sparrows, and other species.

What will become of Flushing Airport?

From the Queens Chronicle:

The future of the old Flushing Airport remains in limbo as community leaders and the city cannot agree on its future use.

The 26-acre site is the last undeveloped property in the College Point Corporate Park and the city’s Economic Development Corp. promised a year ago to study the area for future use and review the results with Community Board 7.

In April, EDC officials attended a meeting of the College Point Corporate Park Task Force, which includes several CB 7 members, for an update. The task force has been pushing for soft recreation at the airport for years, but EDC Vice President Tom McKnight said it would be too costly to develop the site for that use only.

Area residents, civic leaders and the community board say ballfields, miniature golf or a driving range would be a good use for the site and not create traffic backups along 20th Avenue. The airport, which closed in 1982, is bounded by 20th Avenue, the Whitestone Expressway service road and Linden Place.

Task force co-Chairman Chuck Apelian said members are unanimous in their support of the recreational use and the clean- up of any contamination on the site. “We told EDC to convert it as a park,” Apelian said. “They said it’s very expensive to do.”

Part of the area is wetlands. McKnight had said earlier that nothing may be feasible because of the soil and bedrock.

CB 7 Chairman Gene Kelty said after the recent meeting he doesn’t see the city moving forward on any proposal for some time. “There are no concrete plans,” Kelty said. “They are not happy with us and want to keep the plans fluid for the future, while we want the area protected. There is no movement.”

You know, only in this city do we have brain freeze when it comes to land with potential to teach us something. Go to any other community, and you'll see what they have done with abandoned airfields, areas reclaimed by nature, etc.

Take a look at this place for inspiration.

Our city took an abandoned rail line in Manhattan and created a park out of it. Meanwhile they want to take a de facto nature preserve in Ridgewood and destroy it, and "don't know what to do" with this site. This is coming out of the most advanced, progressive city in the world run by a business genius? How freaking pathetic.

Halliburton eying Flushing Airport site

Dear Concerned Residents of North East Queens -

Here is my recent scientific analysis of what “may” be arriving in a neighborhood
 near you. My sources are confidential and will be kept that way.
 


My concerns are that behind the scenes in NYC, the highly probable investigation into
 the extraction of Natural Gas in Marsh/Wetland Locations is being analyzed. The value of the Flushing/CP Airport can be used for the extraction of fossil fuel 
natural gas using “Hydraulic Pressure” extraction next to the token 8 acres that were recently proposed to be given
to us by EDC. If you think strip mall development is bad, imagine a natural gas 
company setting up shop at this sensitive location!

Halliburton has its eye on 
all areas of New York City for the "potential future extraction locales". What 
should be happening is the push for the REDUCTION of chemical toxic pollution
 and use of petroleum based products used for asphalt as seen in the NY Daily
 News
.


Many people are advertising natural gas as a transition fuel, even saying trucks
 may be run on liquid natural gas. Natural gas is anything but “green” (as 
described by Sarah Palin) and it’s anything but the answer to our energy needs and concerns 
for the future. The drilling or extraction for natural gas itself releases poisons and toxins 
into the atmosphere that can build up and cause health concerns. A by-product of
 drilling is the release of methane, and chemicals used in the drilling methodology, which includes 
benzene and other toxic chemicals. The natural gas companies will not reveal
 exactly what toxins it uses during the drilling process and procedure because it considers them “trade 
secrets”. The extraction of natural gas affects the safety of water and in
some areas of the U.S. is reportedly responsible for cancer, mostly leukemia
 (from benzene). Feel free to contact me for scientific references associated with my claims.

Someone needs to tell T. Boone Pickens and every other person
 who feels that natural gas is “clean and natural” that natural gas is not the
 answer to our global warming induced climate crisis.

 
Here is a story that forced me to send out this e-mail.

The above story has been taken from a SCIENTIFIC journal that illustrates why carbon capture
and sequestration (CCS) might not work in many cases. Storage of a gas means it
 will eventually leak, as the methane in this article did. This article taken from
 Scientific American (November 2008) also enumerates the many problems of
 pollution from drilling for natural gas. Pollution is not the only problem. Natural gas explosions that level buildings 
and homes are not uncommon in the northern U.S. where people obtain their heat 
from natural gas.

All of my comments are based on peer-reviewed scientific literature and not based on any of my personal opinions or a “half-baked hypothesis”.

Dr James M. Cervino
Pace University &
Visiting Scientist
Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst.
Department of Marine Chemistry
Woods Hole, MA

Photo from Washington Post

City not cleaning up oil spill at Flushing Airport

From the Times Ledger:

College Point marine pathologist James Cervino said he was alerted to a potential oil spill in the abandoned Flushing Airport site near the corner of 23rd Avenue and 130th Street, where Triumph Paving Co. has been conducting road grading work.

When he arrived, Cervino found a goulash of oil and “horrible smelling” chemicals bubbling up from the ground where road crews were digging.

But while Cervino said the presence of such toxins is no surprise at the site, which has been the frequent victim of illegal dumping since Flushing Airport was closed in the 1980s, he said the city has not done its due diligence in cleaning up such hot spots as they are found.

“It seems like they are just screening the soil, shaking it, tossing it to the side and moving forward with their work,” he said. “No one blames the city for the conditions down there. It’s widely known that this stuff is there. I just don’t want it to be ignored.”

Cervino alerted the state Department of Environmental Conservation of the spill last week.

More of Bloomberg's "green" NYC!

Homeless man fatally assaulted at Flushing Airport

Cops: Man found in College Point woods dies at hospital
BY DANIEL EDWARD ROSEN | Special to Newsday

A homeless man was found beaten, left in the woods and later died in the hospital in Queens Sunday afternoon, according to New York City police. The unidentified Hispanic male was discovered at 1:12 p.m. in the woods along 20th Avenue in College Point by police responding to calls of a male who had been assaulted, according to a police spokeswoman.

Police found bruises on the man's body, although they were unsure if they were the result of the assault, according to a police spokeswoman. The man was taken to Flushing Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. An investigation is ongoing.

I assume the "woods" is Flushing Airport.

Photo from Forgotten NY.

5 Willets Pt biz moving to College Pt - but no more

From Iron Triangle Tracker:

The city formally told Community Board 7 Monday it will not move businesses from Willets Point to the vacant Flushing Airport site, a move property owners call “discriminatory.”

As reported earlier this week, the Economic Development Corp. struck a compromise with CB 7 leadership on its future plans for the College Point Corporate Park, which includes the former airport.

The city not only agreed to permanently protect 8 acres of the 25-acre Flushing Airport site from any major development, but also added a stipulation that no Willets Point businesses would be moved to the remaining 17 acres in the future.

Flushing Airport a de facto nature preserve

From the NY Times:

A homeless man named Marty who said he grew up in College Point and twice flew out of the airport in his youth watched the geese swoop past and rattled off a list of birds he has seen there: hawks, kingfishers, an eagle and even an albino pheasant.

“The brackish water is a big part of this, to have such a variety of life,” he said, standing next to a large hole in the chain-link fence that surrounds the property.

Nature has thrived on the site since the airport’s closing. Proposals have been floated to use it for a heliport, a warehouse, batting cages, driving ranges, even a blimp port, echoing the site’s use as a docking station for Goodyear blimps in the 1960s and ’70s. None of the ideas amounted to anything, and the property remained closed. But this could change.

In the opinion of Marty, who has cultivated an interest in bird-watching, any reuse of the site, even as a park, would be troublesome. “I’m not worried about the cost; I’m worried about the animals,” he said. Then, glancing quickly skyward, he added: “Look, look, look! There goes a crane over there! They eat frogs, rats.”

CB7 wants Flushing Airport preserved

From the Times Ledger:

The city Economic Development Corp. floated its plan to relocate five Willets Point businesses — Sambucci Bros. Auto Salvage, Flushing Towing, T. Mina Building Supply Co., Met Metals and Feinstein Ironworks — to the more than 500−acre corporate park and move asphalt plant Cofire Paving Corp. to a new location.

After a heated back−and−forth discussion on the proposal, Kelty delayed a full−board vote until later this month, citing a major gap between the board and the city.

But though only minor issues appeared to remain between CB 7 and the city over the planned moves, the city hit a stone wall when EDC Vice President Tom McKnight said the city could not commit to setting aside the 25−acre Flushing Airport site — one of the largest undeveloped properties owned by the city — for parks and recreation uses. McKnight said the city has to conduct an analysis of the site to determine what, if anything, could be built on the area.

Apelian and several board members lambasted McKnight and the EDC, contending that the analysis would ultimately turn into a proposal for a large commercial development.

City sends sanitation army to Willets Point

From Willets Point United:

It's interesting that since word got out that we were planning a cleanup this Friday, the Department of Sanitation all of a sudden showed up with their garbage trucks and sweepers and have been in a cleaning frenzy. It's a shame that the only way to get services is to embarrass the City. We're still having our cleanup as scheduled on Friday, however, because there's a lot they missed.

And in other news, CB7 is threatening to nix the Willets Point relocations to College Point unless the Flushing Airport is preserved for passive use.

Shooting the blimps

Two Goodyear blimps landed at Flushing Airport in 1964 for the NY World's Fair. I had a front row seat to watch these flying behemoths that were moored right outside my apartment window. I couldn't resist using this 1966 8mm footage to put together a fun piece with the Vejtables "I Stole the Goodyear Blimp" as background music. Now you know why I am called AirshipAl...

Cops report bear sighting at Flushing Airport

Shortly before 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 4, police were searching for a man who fled after shooting out the window of a storefront on 20th Avenue. Police from the 109th Precinct called in air support, concerned that the suspect had run into the dense vegetation that now grows over what was once Flushing Airport, It has been abandoned since 1984.

Using infrared cameras, officers in the NYPD helicopter came across something large that was roaming the grounds of the two−dozen acre site and quickly radioed what it appeared to be: a bear.

“At that time, they picked up the image, and it comes in distorted and the guy radioed over that they thought it might be a bear. Later they said it was probably a dog,” said Detective Kevin O’Donnell of the 109th Precinct. “It’s the kind of thing that you say on first reaction, but then you realize later is a little ridiculous.”

College Pt. bear scare all roar, no fur: Cops

Nonetheless, several residents of College Point told TimesLedger Newspapers over the several weeks since that they had heard that police had shot a bear in the abandoned airfield.

“One of the officers from the 109th told the story at my civic meeting,” said new 109th Community Council President Chrissy Voskerichian.

She added: “I think the entire episode only amounted to being a funny story that took on a life of its own as the story passed from one person to another. It was actually pretty funny. I’m glad it isn’t true. Bears in Flushing would not be a welcome sight.”

I'd rather deal with bears than developers.

Plan to keep Flushing Airport green

Two lifelong northern Queens residents are pushing a new vision for the long−abandoned Flushing Airport, and if they get their way, the future of the College Point site will be very green.

Historic Districts Council President and urban planner Paul Graziano and marine biologist James Cervino met with members of the city Economic Development Corp. last week to brief the agency on plans to identify a developer that would transform the 26 acres of developable property at Flushing Airport into a light recreation facility.

“We want to find someone that not only has a green thumb but has vision,” Cervino said. “We want something that empowers College Point, something that gives back to the community.”

Graziano and Cervino are hoping to find a developer who could put between $50 million and $75 million toward a recreation facility that could include baseball fields, a driving range, an education center and nature trails all designed within an environmentally sustainable framework.

“We see this as having the potential to be a model for green development,” Graziano said.

Cervino said the pair has been in talks with “a few” interested parties who would work closely with them to create something both profitable and that fits the needs of the community and local ecosystem.

Abandoned Flushing Airport sees plan for recreation center

Mr. Angry knows how things work in this city

Thursday, the plan to redevelop Willets Point comes up for vote in the largely corrupt and inept City Council. Land owners there who aren’t getting a fair shake from the EDC will face eminent domain should they lose. If Bloomberg gets his way, we’ll see yet another Flushing Airport. over 5 years after Bloomberg announced development of that site - nothing has happened. They haven’t even built an access road and only now got around to taking down the abandoned buildings in the property. It’ll be another 5-25 years before anything ever gets built there.

Willets Point: Flushing Airport here I come!

C’mon Mr. Mayor. Get Real. Willets Point will be bulldozed and sit vacant until long after you’re dead at this rate, and the Queens economy will suffer significantly as jobs are thrown away in high hopes of some mega development deal that won’t bare fruit for years to come. We need those jobs NOW, not some presumption that this deal might maybe someday create jobs far down the road.

It's that time of year again!

It's the height of breeding season for mosquitoes that carry the West Nile virus, and Queens is in the thick of it.

But take heart. City health officials say they've gotten a grip on it. At the outset of the 10th mosquito season since the deadly virus first struck New York, the Health and Mental Hygiene Department is again taking measures to keep residents from being infected.

West Nile virus fight to be ramped up this summer

All catch basins in Queens and throughout the city will be treated with larvicide three times between June and August. In nonresidential areas inaccessible by ground, the larvicide will be sprayed aerially.

In Queens, Alley Pond Park's marsh areas, abandoned Flushing Airport and Dubos Point/Edgemere Park will be treated six times by helicopter between June 15 and Sept. 15.