FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com december 11, 2014 • The Queens Courier 3 FORT TOTTEN’S HISTORIC BUILDINGS IN DANGER BECAUSE OF NEGLECT BY ERI C JANKIE WICZ ejankiewicz@queenscourier.com @EricJankiewicz Fort Totten’s history is slowly fading away. The historic Bayside park is home to several dilapidated and historic buildings that have been sitting vacant and in need of repair, according to the Bayside Historical Society. The oldest among these is the Willets Farmhouse, built in 1829, making it the oldest building in the area. Despite the deteriorating conditions none of the buildings will be repaired anytime soon, according to city records. “We would like to see them all being used so they’re not lost to history,” said Paul DiBenedetto, president of the historic society, who said that the Parks Department hasn’t done enough work on the older buildings to preserve them. “I see the realism of it but I don’t like the fact they abandoned these buildings.” A Parks Department spokeswoman said that the farmhouse was worked on in 2013 to stabilize it but the area is completely fenced off and no one is allowed inside to check the building’s condition. A request to tour the building was denied. Abandoned NYC, a website devoted to decaying sites, published a photo tour of some of the buildings in 2012. The park has more than 100 structures that were built between 1829 and the 1960s. In 1999 it was landmarked as a historical site because many of the buildings “have a special character and special historical and aesthetic interest and value which represent one or more eras in the history of New York City,” the Landmarks Preservation Commission wrote, “and which cause this area, by reason of these factors, to constitute a distinct section of the city.” Part park, Fort Totten is also part office space for various government entities like the FDNY and the Parks Department, among many other agencies. The Parks Department is in the planning phase of a $2.1 million project to restore the roofs of two historic buildings: the Chapel and the Commander’s House, both of which were built in the early 1900s, a parks spokeswoman said. But construction won’t begin until next year, leaving the two historic buildings exposed to rain and other natural elements that will eat away at the building. Fort Totten’s history is slowly fading away. The groundskeeper for the park said that if something isn’t done soon, the buildings would be damaged beyond repair. And as winter approaches, groundskeeper Mac Harris knows that the buildings will suffer. “The roofs are not being repaired,” Mac Harris said. “The buildings are slowly being decayed.” Rep. Meng joins the fight to clean up Flushing Creek BY ERI C JANKIE WICZ ejankiewicz@queenscourier.com/@EricJankiewicz Call out the Army. Rep. Grace Meng has put out the call to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help come up with a plan to stop more than 2 billion gallons of untreated sewage from flowing into Flushing Creek and Flushing Bay every year — more sewage overflow than any other waterway in New York City has to handle. “Flushing Creek and Flushing Bay are precious natural resources, and it is imperative that we protect and clean up these critical bodies of water,” Meng said. “The pollution that exists in these waterways is unacceptable.” During heavy rainstorms, the infrastructure that processes sewage becomes flooded, resulting in untreated human waste being dumped into Flushing Creek and Flushing Bay. The two bodies of water receive the highest amount of pollutants, according to city records, out of any other waterway in the city. Meng hasn’t specified what she plans to do with the corps but there are several organizations advocating for the same goal of cleaning up the creek and bay. The city currently has no plan to reduce the sewage flow into the creek and Flushing Bay. The creek receives 1,166 million gallons per year and the bay receives 1,499 million gallons per year. Jamaica Bay, which is often thought of as one of the most polluted bodies of water in the city, receives a comparatively small dose of 317 million gallons per year. “Do you know how much human waste that is?” said Alex Rosa, a consultant for Friends of Flushing Creek, which is advocating for the city and state to reduce the amount of filth going into the Flushing bodies of water. “I’ve never calculated how many people you need to make that much waste. But I’m sure it’s a whole lot.” City environmental officials recently took a look at FILE PHOTO the problem. Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Emily Lloyd toured the overworked sewage system near the waterway with Councilman Peter Koo. But the city has yet to introduce a plan to fix the problem or say when it might do so. Calls for cleaning up the waterway come as there is increased interest in redeveloping former industrial areas along the banks of the bay and the creek. The city currently has no plan to reduce the sewage flow into the creek and Flushing Bay. THE COURIER/Photo by Eric Janiewicz
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