STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The city Buildings Department (DOB) issued full vacate orders to four Mariners Harbor homes after it was discovered water damage from Hurricane Ida made cellar walls in the buildings structurally unstable.

Earlier Monday, the FDNY responded to Maple Parkway, near Spirit Lane, and evacuated a row of connected homes between 204 Maple Parkway and 188 Maple Parkway when firefighters observed significant water damage in the cellars of at least two of the homes.

DOB inspectors found “deflection at several load bearing walls in the cellars of the buildings, and it was determined that those cellar walls were no longer structurally stable,” said department spokesman Andrew Rudansky.

By Joseph Ostapiuk. Read the full article here.

The unprecedented rainfall that remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped Wednesday night made New York City’s climate vulnerabilities starkly visible, less than two weeks after Tropical Storm Henri broke previous rain records.

Boulevards across boroughs could’ve been mistaken for rivers. Yankee Stadium became a lake. Waterfalls cascaded into subway stations. 

The scenes were vastly different from those from the coastal flooding in 2012’s Superstorm Sandy, which prompted high-profile protection projects focused on waterfront areas vulnerable to storm surge and sea-level rise.

The recent deluges highlight how heavy rains have been largely left out of the equation, experts told THE CITY. 

By Samantha Maldonado. Read the full article here.

The Graniteville Wetland located along South Avenue in Staten Island has been a point of contention for residents who do not want the BJs Wholesale Club project to go forward. This project would cut down about 1,800 trees, and destroy the wetland that people living in the area, environmental conservationists, scientists, and others have stated protects the local area from flooding.

The community, which is defined by the USEPA as an Environmental Justice Community, was not consulted prior to the green-lighting of the project by the NYS DEC, and a public hearing was said to be not warranted. This is despite the receipt by the DEC of 1,700 letters, from both community members and concerned citizens, scientists, and politicians from around the country. It is also despite the fact that the Census showed a population of less than 5,000 residents in the area, making the number of letters received over one third of the number of residents.

Read the full article here.

Interviews with over a half dozen experts and Staten Island residents reveal how air pollution served as a dangerous antecedent to a coronavirus outbreak that ravaged the borough and underscores the need to improve ozone smog on the Island.

…And while the North Shore — above the Staten Island Expressway — has over half the population of the rest of the borough, it has only around 30% the number of trees compared to the Island below the expressway, giving it less green space that can improve air quality, according to NYC Parks Department data.

That total could be further diminished by the creation of a BJ’s Wholesale Club that would result in the destruction of 18 acres of woodland next to the wetlands in Mariners Harbor.

By Joseph Ostapiuk. Read the full article here.

NEW YORK TIMES: Written by: Anne Barnard. Photo by: Amr Alfiky.

A group of Staten Island residents concerned about climate change is challenging the project.

It is an unlikely centerpiece for a save-the-wetlands campaign: a patch of woods and swamps surrounded by strip malls and service roads on the densely populated, industrial northern shore of Staten Island. To nearby residents fighting to preserve it, the parcel is a bulwark against disaster. The 28 acres are part of a network of wetlands that in 2012 helped protect the area from the deadliest floods of Hurricane Sandy, which devastated New York City and killed 43 residents, more than half of them in Staten Island.

But the land’s developer has a different vision: a giant BJ’s Wholesale Club.

Read more from the article: https://nyti.ms/3qnGIVC

Over the objections of residents and public officials, the state said it will issue a permit that will allow a developer to destroy 18 acres of wetlands forest near the north shore of Staten Island in order to build a BJ’s Wholesale Club and a gas station, as well as lay enough asphalt to park 835 cars.
 
Written by Alexis Sottile. Read more from the article: https://bit.ly/39yh4GJ.

City Comptroller Scott Stringer expressed disappointment in DEC’s decision. “The Graniteville wetlands are a miracle, and they spared a community the worst of Sandy. I am deeply disappointed that DEC chose to ignore calls from Staten Islanders and allow a precious natural resource to be paved over in the name of development,” Stringer said. 

Written by Sydney Kashiwagi. Read more from the article: https://bit.ly/39yh4GJ. 

Situated between the neighborhoods of Old Place and Graniteville, this 42-acre woodlands has been growing in isolation for many decades, inside a triangle of land surrounded by strip malls and chain stores. Thousands of mature trees live here, some soaring 100 feet over the adjoining marshes of the Graniteville Swamp. Soon, more than half of this forest may be bulldozed to make way for a 28-acre development that will include a gas station, 838 parking spaces, and BJ’s Wholesale Club.

Written by Nathan Kensinger. Read more from the article: https://bit.ly/2WZ1VZS.

In this northwest corner of the Forgotten Borough, Velardi-Ward is one of dozens of Staten Islanders who have been waging a battle largely outside of the wider city spotlight, a stand against City Hall that they feel is a matter of life and death for the people who live in this part of the city.

Written by Alexis Sottile. Read more from the article: https://bit.ly/3g6IR3o.