East Side Coastal Resiliency report mysteriously
appears with unreadable redactions
BY DEAN MOSES
A much sought-after ghost
study of the East Side
Coastal Resiliency (ESCR)
that mysteriously could not be
traced has suddenly been released
to the public, but it is almost unreadable
due to heavy redactions.
East River Park Action has been
pulling at the threads of the East
Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR)
project for about three years now.
The organization—consisting of
concerned Lower East Side residents—
are opposed to this $1.4
billion plan that would reconstruct
approximately 57 acres of coastal
parkland from East 25th Street to
Montgomery Street.
In 2018, the rationale for moving
forward with the ESCR project,
rather than a less invasive one, was
said to be based on a “Value Engineering
Study.” The East River
Park Action group fi led a Freedom
of Information Law request but
was told in January by the City’s
Department of Design and Construction
(DDC) that they did not
have this report on fi le. East River
Park Action is a strong opponent of
the ESCR project since the reconstruction
will remove over 1,000
trees, which will subsequently be
replaced after construction, and
pack the land with about eight to
ten feet of fi ll to help elevate the
park, making it fl ood-resistant.
Hurricane Sandy devastated the
Lower East Side in 2012, and in
response community leaders and
city planning agencies had several
discussions on how to prevent such
large-scale coastal fl ooding in the
area. Originally, a far less expensive
plan was discussed for several
years but was discarded in favor of
the ESCR in 2018. The reasoning
for this shift was based on a study
that would showcase the pros and
cons of this project as well as other
pertinent information, which was
announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
However, according to a tweet
by Kirsten Theodos, who shared
the report over social media the
majority of its pages are blacked
out, making it unreadable.
“The new City plan will destroy
57 acres of coastal parkland, fell
nearly 1000 mature trees and
eliminate the only large outdoor
greenspace residents on LES for
Graffiti reading “Save East River Park” is scrawled beside the
FDR drive.
recreation and wellness. The City
plan is twice as expensive, provides
no interim fl ood protection during
the many years of construction, &
requires unprecedented ecological
destruction of the largest municipal
park on the LES impacting the
residents of the predominantly low
income, BIPOC neighborhood,”
Theodos wrote in a tweet.
As stated on NYC ESCR project’s
website, the plan is set to
create “boundaries of this project
correspond with the natural “pinchpoints”
in the 100-year fl oodplain:
areas where the land is higher along
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
the coastline, making it easier to
close the system off from water
entering from the north and south.
The project design integrates fl ood
protection into the community
fabric, improving waterfront open
spaces and access, rather than walling
off the neighborhood.”
According to the DDC, “The
documents show that the City’s
design – approved by the City
Council – is the best alternative;
it adds the benefi t of protecting
East River Park itself from future
fl ooding. This project will protect
vulnerable New Yorkers from
Chinatown BID/Partnership leader speaks out
after witnessing violent neighborhood stabbing
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
The leader of the Chinatown
BID/Partnership is well
aware of how the Chinatown
community needs to have
its guard up following a recent
stabbing in the neighborhood —
and how important it is to fi nd a
way to heal.
According to the NYPD, at
6:20 p.m. on Feb. 25, 23-yearold
Salman Mufl ihi approached
a 36-year-old man walking on
the sidewalk at the intersection of
Worth Street and Baxter Street.
Mufl ihi allegedly approached the
victim from behind and plunged
an 8-inch kitchen knife into the
victim’s back before fl eeing the
scene.
The victim was taken to Bellevue
Hospital, where he still
remains in critical condition.
Mufl ihi was taken into custody
that same night after reportedly
turning himself in.
Wellington Chen (l) speaks out following recent anti-Asian
crimes in Chinatown.
Chinatown BID/Partnership
Executive Director Wellington
Chen was in the area that night,
walking around Chinatown and
the surrounding area to see
how restaurants were doing in
the neighborhood and taking
pictures. Chen ended up being a
witness to this crime, though at
the time Chen did not realize that
it had happened.
“Within minutes the victim
and I were side by side. I saw a
man come running up the block
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
— he was sprinting — and got
to the victim and sort of shoved
him. I thought they knew each
other, they were both relatively
young guys and this young man
dashed up to him like a human
cannonball and tapped him on
the back,” said Chen. “The victim
turned around and in that time,
the attacker was already across
the street and mid-block. The
whole thing happened so fast, I
made nothing of it.”
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task
Force was initially brought in to
investigate, however, the indictment
from the Manhattan District
Attorney did not have any hate
crime charges. Many New Yorkers,
community leaders and members
of the NYPD rallied around the
District Attorney’s offi ce calling
for the charges to be amended to
include hate crime charges.
“Who carries an 8-inch knife
around in their pocket? The law
in New York is not to carry more
than a 4-inch knife,” said Chen.
“The fact that you carried a knife
that large, it can only mean one
thing: it was premeditated.”
As a result of the uptick of
hate crimes, the Chinatown
BID/Partnership is working with
a crisis management expert who
told Chen and the team that this
is history repeating itself.
“I don’t believe this is a refl ection
of the police or security in
the city,” said Chen. “We’ve been
warned that this is unavoidable.
extreme weather and rising sea
levels, while improving an iconic
public space for generations to
come. It’s a global model and we’re
proud to deliver it.” They also
stated that they were not involved
with the redactions and that would
be under the purview of the City.
Laura Feyer, Deputy Press
Secretary for the NYC Offi ce of
the Mayor, shared that those who
request a FOIL are allowed to
appeal some of the redaction but
stated that East River Park Action
has not done so yet. She also
explained that FOIL responses
include details for the redactions,
which can be for privacy concerns.
“Please note, however, that
OMB is redacting certain responsive
information as follows: (1)
inter-agency or intra-agency materials,
which are not: (i) statistical
or factual tabulations or data; (ii)
instructions to staff that affect the
public; or (iii) fi nal agency policy
or determinations, pursuant to
New York Public Offi cers Law
§87(2)(g); and (2) information
which, if disclosed, would constitute
an unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy, pursuant to New
York Public Offi cers Law §87(2)
(b),” she said, sharing the standard
for FOIL redaction regulations.
More at amny.com.
Unfortunately, after this type of
thing, we have to fi nd the devil.
And in this case, the Asian community
is the Bronx Zoo tiger.
They say we have to hit you, and
we don’t know why. Most of us
have never been to Wuhan, many
of us were born here. Every Filipino,
Singaporean, anyone with an
Asian face got dragged into this.”
In an effort to help New Yorkers
support the Chinatown community,
Chen and the Chinatown
BID/Partnership teamed up with
Schneps Media to host a words
of kindness campaign in an effort
to bring comfort and warmth to
the hearts of struggling businesses
and residents in Lower
Manhattan amidst the COVID-19
pandemic. Named Warm Hearts
NYC, the neighborhood is asking
for readers to submit a sentence
(or paragraph) of up to 25 words
of encouragement that they believe
would lighten the lives of
business owners during this dark
period in their lives.
“This is calling on our common
humanity, putting a message out
will save a life,” said Chen.
4 March 4, 2021 Schneps Media
/amny.com