www.BXTimes.com BRONX WEEKLY January 26, 2020 2
Petition to keep Jerome Park Reservoir under water
BY JASON COHEN
The fi ght to keep the borough’s
landmarked reservoir fi lled with
water has continued.
After the NYC Department of
Environmental Protection dug in
on its plan to keep the Jerome Park
Reservoir basin empty, residents
and activists started a petition last
week demanding a full basin.
Some of the groups that started
the petition include Jerome Park
Friends and Neighbors, Fort Independence
Park Neighborhood Association
and Bronx Council for
Environmental Quality.
“Why are we against emptying
the North Basin of the Reservoir?”
the petition reads as the community
groups outline their reasons:
• The beauty of the Jerome Park
Reservoir is a central feature of our
neighborhood.
• Its beauty increases the property
values of homes and coops in
our community.
• A full reservoir supports our
health by cooling our air; an almost
empty basin breeds mosquitoes
and other insects.
• The plan to cover the historic
wall of the reservoir with concrete
will ruin its historic character.
“We ask . . . that the Department
of Environmental Protection
rescind their Modifi ed Negative
Declaration on CEQR 17DEP022X.
We ask that the agency consider
alternatives to draining the North
Basin, and continue to keep the Jerome
Park Reservoir’s North and
South Basins full of water.
In October, the DEP sent a letter
claiming that leaving the north
basin of the Jerome Park Reservoir
empty didn’t require an environmental
impact study.
On Wednesday, November 20,
the Community Board 8 Environment
and Sanitation Committee rejected
the DEP’s modifi ed negative
letter of declaration regarding the
reservoir.
In January 2018, DEP announced
the start of a $15 million
project to rehabilitate gatehouses,
install new, lower fencing and upgrade
security infrastructure at
the reservoir.
Work on the project began late
in 2018, will continue through 2021
and will help to ensure the longterm
reliability of the city’s Croton
water supply system.
However, in June, DEP representatives
told the committee
that the project would require the
northern basin to remain permanently
empty, so that it can be used
as an emergency storage basin for
treated water discharge from the
Croton Water Treatment Plant.
According to Anne Marie Garti,
a co–founder of the Jerome Park
Conservancy, the relationship between
the DEP and the community
has been strenuous.
The reservoir was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
in 2000.
She pointed out that the DEP is
mandated by law to conduct an environmental
study and its proposed
changes to more than 30 acres of
open space is contrary to the Croton
Water Treatment Plant and Final
Environmental Impact Statement
and all documentation received by
CB8 and the State Historic Preservation
Offi ce prior to 2019.
Also, before gaining approval
from the SPHO and CB8, DEP failed
to inform them that it intended to
keep the north basin empty.
Co-chair of the committee Robert
Fanuzzi said the committee
passed a resolution on Tuesday,
January 14 against the negative
declaration and calls for the DEP to
explain why the basin needs to be
empty.
“We’re appalled that the state
historic preservation offi ce would
sign off on a change that would alter
this historic resource,” Fanuzzi
said.
Residents have fi led a petition with the DEP to not keep the basin of Jerome Park Reservoir empty.
Schneps Media Jason Cohen
Efforts continues with slave memorial at Drake Park
BY JASON COHEN
The six-year effort to create
a memorial for slaves at Drake
Park in Hunts Point still has no
resolution.
In 2014 teachers and students
from P.S. 48 in Hunts Point determined
an area that is now Joseph
Rodman Drake Park was once an
Indian and African slave burial
ground based on a photograph
from 1910.
However, there is no monument
acknowledging the slaves
buried in the park in an area outside
the fenced-off grave. Drake
Park currently contains a fencedoff
cemetery that harkens back
to a time when wealthy slaveowning
families had mansions in
Hunt’s Point.
Later that year, former Senator
Jeff Klein announced he was
allocating $180,000 in state funding
to memorialize the slave
workers likely buried in an overgrown
patch of land there.
But nothing ever came to fruition.
However, his successor, Senator
Alessandra Biaggi, believes
she has discovered the snag and
now has the ball rolling again.
A spokesman for Biaggi explained
that the senator’s offi ce
discovered that Klein’s offi ce designated
money for the park, but
never submitted a Legislative
Intent Form to the Parks Department.
“When we learned of this we
reached out to the Senate Finance
Committee about the status of the
funds,” said a Biaggi spokesman.
Biaggi’s offi ce sent the paperwork
to Parks last week and is
awaiting its return. Once her offi
ce receives the letter, they can
then send it to the funding source,
who will then release the money,
which can be used to create the
memorial.
But, the Parks Department
doesn’t seem to be on the same
page. A spokesman for Parks said
they are actively working with
Biaggi’s offi ce, but didn’t mention
anything about the legislative
form.
According to the Parks Department,
in 2014, Senator Klein
was interested in securing a state
grant to further commemorate
the burial ground.
In order for the grant to be executed,
a consensus on what the
community and stakeholders
wanted at the site was performed.
However the cost estimates for the
desired memorial far exceeded
the scope of the proposed grant.
“We are committed to honoring
the history of our parkland,”
the Parks Department said in a
statement. “After the students
and staff of P.S. 48 rediscovered
the slave burial ground in Drake
Park, we installed an updated
historical interpretive sign to
memorialize the site’s history.
We look forward to continuing
our discussions with State Senator
Biaggi regarding the future of
Drake Park.”
While this back and forth
is taking place, local historian
Philip Panaritis and Justin
Czarka of The Hunts Point Burial
Project, applied for historical
status with the NYC Landmarks
Preservation Commission nine
months ago and will present their
case to the commission in the
spring.
After seeing no activity for
several years, Panaritis hopes
things are fi nally headed in the
right direction.
“Once (the historic designation)
is done no one can touch it,”
Panaritis stressed.
He hopes the park gets recognized
as historic and Parks and
Biaggi’s offi ce fi gures out how to
pay for the memorial.
Drake Park in Hunts Point, which a local historian is trying to have a memorial created for the slaves that were once there.
Schneps Media Jason Cohen
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