As DEP Assuages Sinkhole Fears, Residents, Businesses Concerned – And Inconvenienced

By on August 9, 2012  Featured story, News
Aug 092012
 

Okay. This is the last straw.

After getting the latest on Bay Ridge’s  rather stinky sinkhole situation from Home Reporter’s Denise Romano and Helen Klein yesterday, there was one small detail I happened to notice toward the end of the article. Something you could say touched a nerve.

After recounting how the 79th Street sinkhole had been repaired, followed by the usual quotes from concerned residents and elected officials, as well as the assurances by the DEP that everything is copacetic, there was one item that rather upset yours truly. Continue reading »

Nothing To See Here: DEP spokesperson says sinkholes no cause for alarm

By on August 7, 2012  News
Aug 072012
 

After the ever informative Paula Katinas wrote a piece on the website Bay Ridge Life documenting residents’ worries over two sinkholes that have opened up in as many months – including concerns that City Councilman Vincent Gentile expressed regarding the life span of our 100 + year old sewer infrastructure, DEP officials are all like “pffffff… dude, you worry too much.”

So with a gaping hole being repaired on 79th Street, and another on 92nd Street that last we checked was still being worked on, officials are taking a page out of Stevie Wonder’s song book by asking residents not to worry ’bout a thing.

“There is no need to worry,” DEP spokesperson Ted Timbers told Bay Ridge Life. “It’s just a coincidence.”

It is of course probably understandable if homeowners remain just a wee bit… uptight about the very ground beneath them giving way at any moment.

Meanwhile, Timbers says the exact cause of the 79th Street hole is still being investigated.

But don’t worry. They have Kevin Bacon on speed dial.

79th Street Sinkhole Blamed On Busted Supercentenarian Sewer Pipe

By on August 2, 2012  News
Aug 022012
 

A huge sinkhole that opened up yesterday on 79th Street between 5th Avenue and 4th Avenue is being blamed on the failure of a 50 inch sewer pipe that dates back to 1900.

The large cavity nearly enveloped a car as it opened up a 20-foot section of asphalt, according to CBS 2.

1010 Wins reporter Joe Montone spoke with Annette Flood, who says she parked her car near the site of the sinkhole shortly before the ground gave way. Continue reading »

CB 10 Meets Tonight At Shore Hill Community Room!

By on June 18, 2012  Events
Jun 182012
 

Tonight, Community Board 10 will hold its monthly General Board Meeting.

The event, which is open to the public, will take place at the Shore Hill Community Room [9000 Shore Road], beginning at 7:15 p.m. The agenda [via CB 10's website] will include:

  • Presentation – Update on Owls Head Pollution Plant by Assistant DEP Commissioner Vincent Sapienza.
  • Public Hearing – In the matter of an application made to NYC Board of Standards and Appeals for the property located at 701/745 64th Street which seeks to secure a special permit allowing a reduction of the required accessory parking spaces for the two buildings at the Premises under Section 36-21 ZR for uses in parking requirement category B1 in Use Group 6 and ambulatory diagnostic or treatment facilities in Use Group 4 at the Premises.
  • Police & Public Safety Committee: SLA On Premise Renewal Application for City 9316 Inc., d/b/a Fushimi, 9316 4th Avenue; SLA On Premise Renewal Application for No Quarter, 8015 5th Avenue; New SLA Application for Taro Restaurant Inc., 7109 13th Avenue.
  • Traffic & Transportation Committee: DOT 86th Street Reconfiguration Project; Update on refurbishing of the bridge over the Belt Parkway at 69th Street as presented to the Committee by DOT.
  • Ad Hoc Committee on Street Namings: Presentation of proposed changes to current CB 10 Street Naming Guidelines.
  • Zoning & Land Use Committee: Presentation of completed PFI (Parking Fairness Initiative) Document.
  • Environmental Committee: Spectra Pipeline and the possibility of radon in natural gas from Marcellus Shale entering the NYC water supply.
  • Parks Committee: Update on Eco Dock Plans for the 69th Street Pier as presented to the Committee by Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance; Update on final plan for local schools to help maintain local parks on an ongoing basis.

Continue reading »