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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 10 ULY 23-29, 2021 BTR
Gjonaj announces waterfront
protection initiatives
BY JASON COHEN
It has been nine years since Hurricane
Sandy wreaked havoc on the tristate.
Yet, many Bronx neighborhoods
still don’t feel prepared for the next superstorm.
As a result, New York City Councilman
Mark Gjonaj, a Democrat who represents
District 13, announced on July
7 a package of legislation that would require
the city to create a fi rst of its kind
agency to protect waterfront communities
and to study burying all power
lines.
Gjonaj said that power lines are
underground in Manhattan and
pointed to the city spending millionsraising
a park along the East River
to combat future superstorms.
“Manhattan enjoys the privilege of
having their power lines buried below
ground while the outer boroughs and
our coastal communities continue to
wait to see if power outages are going
to impact them,” Gjonaj said. “We’re
actually elevating a park to protect it
from storm surges, yet homes in communities
like Edgewater Park, Silver
Beach and City Island remain exposed
to the elements.”
The fi rst bill requires the creation
of a dedicated city agency — Department
of Coastal Protection — with
the mandate of developing proactive
waterfrontdefense policies and educating
the public about available protectionmeasures.
Currently, the city
has no such agency with that type of
jurisdiction.
The second bill would evaluate
the feasibility of burying all aboveground
power lines. City offi cials mandated
the burying of powerlines after
the Great Blizzard of 1888. While the
city followed through on burying the
lines in the Big Apple, the outer boroughs
were ignored.
This bill will be the start of the
city fi nally fulfi lling itscommitment
to this particularly important public
safety issue.
Gjonaj, who expects both bills to
be heard in committee in the near future,
is tired of the Bronx getting the
short end of the stick.
“We’ve gone through too much,”
the councilman said. “I can’t think
of an infrastructure project that’s
more powerful and important than
protecting our power lines to all New
Yorkers. We shouldn’t be waiting for
another superstorm to devastate our
lives.”
One community that faced signifi
cant power outages and damage
from Hurricane Sandy was Edgewater
Park.
While the NYC program Build it
Back helped rebuild six homes in that
neighborhood, the larger issue for the
community is with the state, in particular
the Governor’s Offi ce of Storm
Recovery (GOSR).
Since 2014, GOSR has invested
more than $64 million in the Bronx including
This Edgewater Park fi rehouse unfi nished
bathroom still awaits state funding.
Photo Jason Cohen
$2.2 million allocated to renovate
the fi rehouse/community center
in Edgewater Park. Also serving as a
safe haven during a superstorm, the
co-op board wanted to upgrade the fi rehouse
using fi nancial assistance from
the state.
Deborah Roff, president of the Edgewater
Park Owners Cooperative Inc.,
told the Bronx Times that the board
agreed to renovate the bathroom and
make it ADA compliant. So, in 2019,
the co-op hired a company to demo the
bathroom with the expectation that
the state was going to fi nish the rest of
the work.
The state opened bids for the project
in January 2020, but by June 2020
a contract couldn’t be awarded because
the lowest bids were more than
50% over budget. Today, the project remains
unfi nished.
“We have been promised things
that have not come,” Roff said. “We’re
hoping the city sees the Bronx is in
need of help.”
Roff said the local fi rehouse is a
huge part of the community. As the
roads in Edgewater Park are too narrow
for the FDNY to drive on, the
smaller trucks at the volunteer fi rehouse
can be a lifeline for residents.
She stressed that people were excited
for the planned renovations, but after
two years, it seems they have been forgotten
about.
“I am not aware of a project in the
Bronx that was completed under the
New York Offi ce of Recovery,” she said.
“I think it’s just a dog and pony show.
“It’s frustrating to be one of the boroughs
that doesn’t get attention. I’m
not sure what the problem is. I’m concerned
that we will never see our rescue
center fi xed.”
Charni Sochet, a GOSR spokesperson,
told the Bronx Times that the state
is trying to resolve the project. She
said that while the bids exceeded the
available project budget and community
allotment, the agency continues to
work with the Edgewater Park Co-Op
on identifying expenses eligible for reimbursement
and options to construct
improvements to their facility.
Est. 1940
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