Page 2
Spring 2013
NATURAL RESOURCES PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION
After Sandy
By John Malizia:
It’s over 100 days since Super Storm
Sandy hit the Mid Atlantic. Is every-
thing fixed? No! There is a great
amount of work and issues to get
done and solved. For instance:
•
Will our beaches on Staten Is-
land open up for the summer?
The NYC Parks has said that the
beaches are a high priority to
open by May 24th. One problem
is that the beaches need sand
and the Army Corps of Engi-
neers has not identified a source
for the sand, because of possible
pollution from oil/fuel spills, sew-
age and other chemicals
dumped into our waterways from
the storm.
•
Currently many of the coast wide
beaches are closed as well as
our S. I. boardwalks. The board-
walks are closed pending as-
sessment of the damage to the
walk and the access to the
boardwalks. The Parks Depart-
ment is assessing what material
the boardwalk should be made
out of for the future, wood (what
kind), plastic boards or concrete.
Whatever it is, it should be fire-
proof and be able to outlast a
Sandy type of storm or greater.
So this would be something we
will be expected to comment on.
•
The beaches still have to be
cleaned, these are the beaches
not used for swimming, but are
used for taking relaxing walks
and/or fishing and any other rec-
reational purposes. NRPA and
its partners will work vigorously
in the Spring to make this hap-
pen.
We always need help.
Look at
www.nrpa.com
for those
events.
•
Always look at the quality of the
water before entering either on
Parks or DEC websites.
•
Our task forces with the ACOE
are looking at ways to prevent or
minimize the flooding we had
through sea walls, sand dunes
(
with or without Christmas trees,
which have worked in NJ) and
levees. All have mixed reviews.
We definitely need something
ASAP and for the future.
•
The Parks Department and the
DEP (responsible for the Blue
Belt) are going to need help in
getting ball fields open, the Blue
Belt clean and unblocked.
NRPA and other concerned groups
will be involved in commenting and
helping in the resolution of these
issues. Again we need your help.
So regularly visit our web site at
www.nrpa.com
as well as our Face-
book page.
Hurricane Sandy and its Environ-
mental Aftermath
By Jim Scarcella
Scarcely in the history of the NE has
a Storm wreaked such havoc and
destruction of 10/29/12, with a fury
unmatched in the history of NYC.
Coming ashore with a 13 ft. storm
surge in the night with power out,
pitch-blackness, some had evacuat-
ed, many could not or would not go.
The surge, fairly gentle initially, then
building to a massive tonnage forced
cabins and other structures knocked
off foundations gouges carved in the
earth beach sand piled up every-
where trees smashed down, yachts
tossed, thrown, and smashed in a
maelstrom.
People not realizing the full power of
the water wall stayed in their homes,
some trapped in basements, some
trapped by immobility.
Sadly, 23 persons died on SI alone,
including one rescuer.
What have we learned?
Are we going to leave the coastal
flood plain to its own devices, or are
we going to continue to build where
we shouldn’t?
Members of Natural Resources Pro-
tective Association have been very
busy protecting the environment and
compiling data in the wake of Super
Storm Sandy.
We have been volunteering for Parks
and DEP and cleaning up our own
neighborhoods.
We are very interested in the pro-
posed 13-mile sea wall from Ft.
Wadsworth to Tottenville. The pro-
posal is probably partially warranted
but a full structural wall barrier for
East Shore SI is not practical or envi-
ronmentally acceptable.
For beach nourishment, who decides
to excavate some of the most im-
portant benthic parts of the estuary
and place it on the beach? What is
the ultimate goal of the beach nour-
ishment?
There is a lot going on, be part of the
discussion.
Floodplain Development
By Jim Scarcella
The Coastal flood plain of Staten
Island has been built upon over the
last 40 years. Summer bungalows
below sea level were turned into full
New Dorp Beach by Anthony Torsiello