Archive for December, 2007

NYC DEP manages to simultaneously cover up figuratively AND literally

Published
by
Jon
on December 28, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Via the Bridge and Tunnel Club:

Fact is, DEP seems to be hoarding its olfactory facts:

From The Daily News of December 3rd, Matthew Lysiak reports in “DEP dumps pine deodorizer to cover smell from Brooklyn pipe project” that
For more than a year, residents of one Brooklyn neighborhood have been complaining about a stomach-churning smell wafting from the site of a former sewer pipe project.

The city’s response? Tossing nylon socks filled with pine deodorizer into the catch basins.

That hasn’t stanched the stench. In fact, locals say the scent of raw sewage is even more noticeable now.

“I think that adding the pine made the existing smell even more potent,” said Aaron Green, 27, one of the Bay Ridge residents who is sick of the stink.

The stink has been hovering over a stretch of Fort Hamilton Parkway between Marine Ave. and 99th St.

The odor cropped up in the summer of 2006 after the completion of a $6.9 million project to combine the underground sewer pipes there, residents say.

As complaints mounted, the community board notified the city Department of Environmental Protection, which began dumping piney perfume onto the site.

“It seems to have improved the situation,” said Community Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann.

Not everyone agrees.

“The minute I walk out of my car it hits me,” said Arlene Ross, who lives a few sniffs away. “Whatever they put down there didn’t make it better.”

DEP spokeswoman Mercedes Padilla adamantly refused to say what is causing the smell or how the agency plans to stop it.

Told of the neighborhood complaints, she said more pine socks would be put in the catch basins over the next few weeks.

Pressed further, she said the DEP would eventually install filters.

“We are aware of the odor and we are monitoring the situation closely,” Padilla said.

Via the Bridge and Tunnel Club.

UPDATE: In order to avoid prolonging this - and the inevitable Hamlet references (”something rotten in the …,” etc.) - we’ve put a call into the office of Borough President Marty Markowitz - so perhaps we’ll be able to clear the air. So to speak.

UrbanDecay.ca - terrible beauty

Published
by
Jon
on December 28, 2007
in Art, Decay and Urban Planning
. 0 Comments

Urban Decay is a website - principally a gallery by an unnamed urban planner living in Toronto. He or she has been traveling North America for years observing - and taking beautiful photographs. We here reproduce sample just of a few of the New York City photographs, but plan to look again soon.

brooklyn37.jpg
Manhattan10.jpg
bronx13.jpg
bronx31.jpg
brooklyn2.jpg
brooklyn6.jpg
bronx1.jpg
bronx8.jpg

Without meaning offense - it seems the following ought to be said: on domestic issues, by any one of a number of issues (public health, risk allocation, energy consumption per dollar of GDP) - our neighbors to the north are way ahead of us. We need to be sending our municipal managers there - or get them coming down here and teach us a thing or two.

Assuming, of course, that we’re inclined to learn. End rant.

Cross-posted at Popular Logistics. 

“Ideo Selects” at the Cooper-Hewitt

Published
by
Jon
on December 26, 2007
in Design and Museums
. 0 Comments

This bandage - in a shape designed to be useful in more than one configuration - was covered with language-free instructions for use. From the amazing (and amazingly wide-ranging) “Ideo Selects” exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt.

[singlepic=219,320,240,,left] If you’re in or going to be visiting New York, the Cooper-Hewitt is at 2 East 91st Street - that’s at Fifth Avenue on the East side (just east of Central Park). Their number is 212.849.8400 - hours and directions here. To be candid - I love the Cooper-Hewitt - but I’m not sure why - as part of the Smithsonian, a publicly funded museum, it charges admission. But one suspects this is more a legislative/executive branch decision - the Smithsonian museum system, alas, not described in the constitution as a coequal branch (but it might be an improvement). (Local sophisticates are asked to forgive us for giving directions to the out-of-towners).

For our readers concerned with disaster preparedness, there are (at least) four other items in the Ideo show that are worth a look, and in at least one case, of substantial historical significance:

Continue reading ‘“Ideo Selects” at the Cooper-Hewitt’

Brooklyn Man Is Killed in a Fast-Moving Fire - New York Times

Published
by
Jon
on December 26, 2007
in Fire
. 0 Comments

Kareem Fahim and Nate Schweber report in today’s Times:

A 56-year-old man who neighbors said had been a heavy smoker died in a fire at his apartment in Brooklyn that might have been started by a lighted cigarette, the authorities said. Continue reading ‘Brooklyn Man Is Killed in a Fast-Moving Fire - New York Times’

Neighbors doing cool things: Joel Johnson

Published
by
Jon
on December 26, 2007
in Food, Neighbors, Neighbors doing cool things and Ultralocal
. 0 Comments

Joel Johnson, the gadget czar at BoingBoing parallel Gadgets site - we’d assumed he was ine Bay area.  But he lives up the hill - (in the lowest flood-risk zone - we’ll leave it at that), where he also has his own blog.

His most recent post announces that his sister Rachel has  opened Lemons in the Kitchen, a gourmet raw food restaurant in Kansas City. We’ll try to keep track of what’s going on at all of these sites - especially if Lemons in the Kitchen  starts a take-out service.

New York first state ever to oppose nuclear plant license renewal

Published
by
Jon
on December 25, 2007
in nuclear power
. 0 Comments

New York appears to have become the first state to oppose renewal of a nuclear power plant license:

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo said on Monday that the state had asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deny an application to extend the license of the Indian Point nuclear reactors, citing “a long and troubling history of problems.”

Mr. Cuomo, flanked by Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson and members of the Congressional delegation at a news conference, claimed that the nuclear plant, in densely populated Westchester County, could not be defended from a terrorist attack and that the surrounding area could not be evacuated if a major accident occurred. The state filed a 313-page petition on behalf of Mr. Cuomo and Gov. Eliot Spitzer on Friday.

N.R.C. Officials could not recall a previous occasion when a state had tried to block a license extension.

Most recently, opponents’ ire had been directed at the plant owner’s belated progress in meeting federal deadlines to install warning sirens around the plant, which is on the Hudson River in Buchanan.

The state also contends that the application to extend the plant’s license for 20 more years, which was filed on April 30 by the plant’s owner, Entergy Nuclear, failed to account for pipes, cables and fire-protection systems that have deteriorated at the nuclear reactors, which began operation in the mid-’70s.

“I believe Indian Point should be closed and it should be closed now,” Mr. Cuomo said at the news conference at the Westchester County administrative building.

Officials of the N.R.C. could not recall a previous occasion when a state had tried to intervene in a license-extension proceeding to block the extension. New York State owned Indian Point 3 from 1975 until 2000.

Citing Past Troubles at Indian Point, State Urges Panel to Deny License Extension, by John Sullivan and Matthew L. Wald.

Continue reading ‘New York first state ever to oppose nuclear plant license renewal’

Trash cans missing from Church Avenue

Published
by
Jon
on December 16, 2007
in trash
. 0 Comments

We’ve noticed that there no longer seem to be any public trash cans on Church Avenue. Does anyone have any idea what’s become of them?

Scott Whittle - watch this space for more

Published
by
Jon
on December 6, 2007
in Birders and Neighbors
. 0 Comments

We’re pleased to add our neighbor Scott Whittle to our blogroll - he’s an outstanding photographer in more than one context (the link here is only to his wedding photography -watch this space for more), and a serious birder.

Caton Avenue  has it on good authority that Mr. Whittle will soon make an attempt to break a certain New York State record, which we hope to be able to cover in some detail.

Peach Bottom nuclear power plant whistleblower fired

Published
by
Jon
on December 5, 2007
in Energy, evacuation and nuclear power
. 0 Comments

You’re asking - what’s he on about now? Where is this place? Answer: not far enough in case of an accident. 

Peach Bottom is a nuclear power installation about 90 miles from Philadelphia, less than 100 miles from Washington, D.C., and less than 200 miles from New York City:

normal_peach_bottom_ifr.jpg”Parts of York County are within the ten mile Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) of two nuclear power plants-Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station and Three Mile Island (TMI) Nuclear Power Plant. ” ((From the York County Emergency Preparedness website. )) That’s a lot of risk for one community; let’s hope their evacuation planning and preparedness are in good shape. (Link to Acrobat/.pdf file on York County website).

The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) reported, on October 31: (updates to follow):

Washington, DC - Kerry Beal, a whistleblower who exposed overworked and exhausted guards at the Peach Bottom Nuclear Power Plant, was notified this week by owner Exelon Nuclear that he “did not meet the selection criteria” for continuing to work at the plant.

Beal filmed guards sleeping at the plant only after his efforts to notify Wackenhut (Exelon’s Peach Bottom security contractor) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of the regular occurrence of sleeping guards were met with inaction. Wackenhut Corporation lost its contract to provide security to the Peach Bottom nuclear plant because of the resulting publicity surrounding the sleeping guards.

Gallery of images from Nukeworker.com: 

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peach-bottom-circa-2007-ground_level.jpg
peach_bottom-artist.jpg
normal_peach_bottom_vfr.jpg

“This is the stupidest thing they could have done. Now, they’ll ensure no one else will be brave enough to come forward and try to fix problems” said Danielle Brian, Executive Director, Project On Government Oversight.
Mr. Beal’s whistle-blowing prompted USA Today to editorialize: “The Peach Bottom case is a stark example of what has to go right in the crucial effort to keep nuclear plants safe. In this case, the
plant
owner, the
security company and
the NRC
all failed. It
shouldn’t take a hidden
camera to make them do their jobs.” the plant owner, the security company and the NRC all failed. It shouldn’t take a hidden camera to make them do their jobs.”

An internal Wackenhut email released by POGO today shows that up until a few weeks ago, guards were still being forced to work more than 60 hours per week. The October 16, 2007 email from Wackenhut manager David Draghi notes: “I have revised the shift schedule…If you can afford to start giving your team members a break from 60 hours please do so.”

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission Order from 2003 sought to reign in the problem of overworked guards. But industry efforts to weaken the Order prevailed, resulting in the current situation where security officers can work up to 72 hours per week. POGO issued a letter to NRC Chairman Klein today pointing out that pending efforts at the NRC to strengthen the rules are being dragged out for another two years. Continue reading ‘Peach Bottom nuclear power plant whistleblower fired’

Rats attempt to climb social ladder; seek parity with squirrels, lobby City Hall

Published
by
Jon
on December 5, 2007
in Parks, Rats, public health and underground systems
. 0 Comments

Thomas J. Lueck (copy) and Tyler Hicks (images) of my hometown paper have reported that in the most prominent, and well-kept, public park in New York City, rats play as though they were squirrels. Notwithstanding municipal efforts to persuade them to relocate. From November 10, 2007, “Where the Rats Come Out to Play”:

The rat that was circling André Thomas’s feet was big and brazen, measuring more than a foot from the tip of its tail to a pointed snout that arched upward to the aroma of Mr. Thomas’s ham and cheese sandwich.

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The encounter might not have seemed all that unusual to many New Yorkers, who have become wearily accustomed to rats bounding along subway tracks or lurking about garbage bins, usually after dark.

But this rat sighting came as a shock to Mr. Thomas because of when and, especially, where it took place — 2 p.m. on a brilliant fall afternoon while he sat on a bench in City Hall Park, a nine-acre jewel of the municipal park system that underwent a $30 million renovation in 1999. The park is a cornerstone of the city’s efforts to revive Lower Manhattan.

“At first I thought it was a squirrel,” Mr. Thomas said as he strode away. “Isn’t this where the mayor works?”

Mr. Thomas’s rodent experience was hardly unusual. If he had looked under the park’s benches and around its meticulously cropped foliage, he would have spotted at least six other rats scurrying around, unconcerned about the humans all around.

tyler-hicks-nyt-rats-play-490-x-323.jpg

The infestation of rats in City Hall Park, clearly an embarrassment to the city, was acknowledged in interviews by senior officials of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the city’s lead agency for rodent control, and the Department of Parks and Recreation.

“It’s just a big issue down there and we all recognize it,” said Jessica Leighton, the health department’s deputy commissioner for environmental health. Adrian Benepe, the commissioner of parks and recreation, said that City Hall Park provided “a perfect set of circumstances for rats.” Continue reading ‘Rats attempt to climb social ladder; seek parity with squirrels, lobby City Hall’

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