Odorama drama in Howard Beach

Queens Chronicle  

Linda Miranti decorated most of her house for Christmas already but now she does not know if she will be able to have her family over for the holidays, or if she will even be there herself, because of a strong stench that has filled her home and wafts through the air around 88th and 89th streets in Howard Beach.

Starting around Nov. 10, Miranti’s home, especially her garage and the front of her house, has had a strong odor of what she thinks is methane.

She said it gives her migraines and nausea and makes her skin itch. “I’ve never felt like this before. I’ve been so sick,” said Miranti, a 75-year-old grandmother. “Everything is an effort. I can’t live like this.”

She has been sleeping on the couch in the back of her house just to escape the smells and her son has been pushing her to stay with him but she is reluctant to leave.

Miranti’s neighbors experience it too, but it is not as bad in their houses as it is in hers. When her next-door neighbor, Barbara Smith, walked into her house, she noticed the odor right away, despite all the candles lit and cleaning Miranti has done to try to mask it.

“How do you stay down here?” Smith asked her. “I’m literally dying,” Miranti responded.

Miranti has lived in Howard Beach for 47 years and said she has never experienced anything like this. People are used to smells from the nearby bay but this is different, she said. She and Smith wonder if it could be related to the work being done near Spring Creek Park off of 165th Avenue.

Miranti has made several calls to 311 that were referred to the Department of Environmental Protection, and National Grid and the FDNY have come but no gas leaks or sewer blockages were detected.

Miranti is not alone in her persistence. Nicole Bruno lives on the next block and has been experiencing the same thing.

“I’m going on four weeks of calling multiple times, as well as most of the people on my block,” said Bruno. “They just don’t come or can’t fix it.”

“I can’t even open a window. If I do, it absorbs the whole house and you get headaches. It’s disgusting — you shouldn’t have to smell sewage,” said Bruno. “You know, all this money we pay to live here.”

 

Skeeter spraying for southern Queens

From the Queens Courier:

On Tuesday, Sept. 16, there will be West Nile spraying in parts of Queens, including along the Brooklyn-Queens border, to help reduce the mosquito population and the risk of the disease.

The spraying will take place between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 6 a.m. the next morning. In case of bad weather, the application will be delayed until Wednesday, Sept. 17 during the same hours.

The following neighborhoods are being treated due to rising West Nile virus activity with high mosquito populations, according to the city’s Health Department:

Parts of City Line, Cypress Hills, Highland Park, Howard Beach, Lindenwood, Ozone Park, Spring Creek and Woodhaven (Bordered by Jamaica Avenue and to the north; Shepherd Avenue, Fulton Street Line and Fountain Avenue to the west; Jamaica Bay to the south; and Rockaway Rail-Line, Rockaway Boulevard and Woodhaven Boulevard to the east).

Better park protection at Spring Creek

From the Queens Tribune:

City officials presented a project that aims to better protect Howard Beach from future weather events like Superstorm Sandy.

Representatives from the Dept. of Environmental Conservation attended last week’s Community Board 10 meeting to discuss the Spring Creek Hazard Mitigation Project for the first time.

During Sandy, flood waters from the storm’s surge engulfed coastal areas in Queens and throughout the City, including Howard Beach and Hamilton Beach.

The project would provide those areas with better storm protection by renovating Spring Creek Park, which is adjacent to 165th and 161st Avenues and 83rd and 78th Streets in Howard Beach. The renovation will boost up the inland protection for neighborhoods adjacent to residents’ homes, create a larger buffer between the park’s grassland and wetland and restore much of its natural habitat.

The DEC representatives touted the project as the first nature-based storm resiliency plan.

“There’s a whole new school of thought involving around how we use nature to protect us from future storms,” said Venetia Lannon, regional director of the DEC’s Region 2 office, which covers the five boroughs. “We have the ability to prove that at Spring Creek Park.”

Following the presentation, some CB10 members raised some concerns about the project, concentrated on how that area of Howard Beach would be affected by the project and how the “old” side of Howard Beach also needs to be protected from future storms.