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WOMEN ON THE WATERFRONT
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Whether a ship captain or engineer, crane operator or shipping executive, the growing presence of women is changing the face of the New York waterfront.
In honor of Women's History Month, MWA interviewed six women working in the New York Harbor area. We share three of their stories in this issue and another three will appear in our March 21 issue. We asked them all the same five questions, and their answers are fascinating -- and far from the same. Make sure to click through to the MWA web site to read each woman's entire interview! Liz Finn, Master of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Drift Collection Vessel GELBERMAN What waterfront achievement are you most proud of?
Although we are involved with many notable, ongoing things, one event that stands out in my mind was the response of our team before, during, and after Superstorm Sandy. Even though our entire base had been wiped out by the storm surge, we had to perform our job right away. We worked from before dawn past dusk for days, clearing all the dangerous debris and wreckage so that the Coast Guard could re-open the harbor to all commercial traffic. This tempo was exceptionally difficult to maintain considering all of the personal challenges we each faced, having no power and heat at home as well as trying to find fuel to get into work each day... Read more about Liz Finn.________________________
Carolina Salguero, Founder and President of PortSide NewYork In your opinion what is the biggest challenge facing our harbors, estuaries, and waterways? The waterfront is largely designed and run by land-focused people, not water people. The result: our waterspace is not well-used and is compromised by odd rules, often hidden ones, such as "boats block the view." This means NYC is missing many economic, cultural, educational, and recreational opportunities. Planning for emergencies, natural and man-made, is also hindered by a lack of water people in the game. I founded PortSide NewYork to shift the focus more to the water part of the waterfront -- to better, more diverse, and more integrated uses of it... Read more about Carolina Salguero.
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What waterfront achievement are you most proud of?I am most proud of having the guts to follow a dream. I recall a favorite college teacher telling me it was a pipe dream when on the shores of Plumb Beach in Brooklyn I spoke about restoring the waterways around the city. Well, some dreams are hard to leave alone, and modest successes expanded those dreams, so that now I am pursuing ferry safety in the developing world ( www.ferrysafety.org) and Middle East peace by working together on shared water resources ( www.foeme.org). In New York Harbor, what was filthy has become clean thanks to the efforts of the environmental agencies in NYS, NJ and NYC; the waterways that were neglected are embraced by passenger ferries and kayaks; and the working shorelines that were derelict are acknowledged as important to the commercial ecosystem of the metro region and as paeans of authenticity, and hence now in danger of being loved to death. We lost the battle to save the Red Hook graving dock, co-led by David Sharps, but with a cadre of fabulous allies, have lived to fight another day the war to preserve the working waterfront. Being called to help start MWA is another source of gratification because of its broad connection with grassroots organizations and its consequent influence... Read more about Roberta Weisbrod.____________________________________________________
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WETLANDS MITIGATION BANKING: WHAT EXACTLY IS IT?
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The first thing to understand about NYC's first wetlands mitigation bank -- a NYC Economic Development Corporation initiative known as MARSHES (Mitigation and Restoration Strategies for Habitat and Ecological Sustainability) -- is that the "bank" itself is a distressed wetland: namely, Saw Mill Creek Marsh, a 68-acre site on the west shore of Staten Island, along the Arthur Kill.
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Saw Mill Creek Marsh is at the "A."
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Here's the fundamental premise: developers of projects that may have an adverse impact at the waterfront, and for which on-site mitigation is not possible, will be able to offset negative environmental impacts by funding restoration at the Saw Mill Creek Marsh. It's a concept used successfully elsewhere in New York State and around the country. The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance has long been a strong supporter of a wetlands banking system, especially as a way to help maritime businesses expand their operations by providing a predictable, environmentally sound way to compensate for necessary shoreline improvements. "This is a triple win for the city," said MWA president/CEO Roland Lewis, testifying at a February 27 City Council hearing on the matter. "Wetlands mitigation banking will provide for the restoration of marshland, increase the resiliency of Staten Island, and boost economic development. There are businesses driven to despair by the difficulties in keeping their water operations going and providing for environmental mitigation at the same time. This will help them to go forward -- and at the same time speed up wetlands restoration." Not everyone supports the MARSHES initiative. Because initial funding for the project will come from federal disaster recovery funds associated with Superstorm Sandy, several organizations -- including NY/NJ Baykeeper and the North Shore Waterfront Conservancy of Staten Island -- protest that... Read the rest of the story here.
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SUPERFUND PROPOSED FOR LOWER HACKENSACK RIVER
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Hackensack Riverkeeper has petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to study the lower 22 miles of the Hackensack River, from Newark Bay to Oradell, NJ, for potential listing under the federal Superfund law. From relentless industrial pollution that occurred over 200 years, the Hackensack is profoundly contaminated with toxic chemicals and heavy metals including DDT, PCBs, dioxin, chromium, copper, and mercury. There are currently five Superfund sites on the river or its tributaries, as well as hundreds of sites within its watershed identified by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) as "Known Contaminated Sites." EPA Region 2 now has one year to complete a preliminary assessment of the lower Passaic. Hackensack Riverkeeper submitted its petition after several meetings with both DEP and EPA. Both agencies agreed that some level of listing is appropriate for the river, but did not agree on the specifics. EPA favors listing the river in its entirety, whereas DEP favors extending Superfund jurisdiction from an existing Superfund site. "We filed this petition because we simply cannot wait any longer for the EPA and DEP to resolve their bureaucratic differences," said Captain Bill Sheehan, founder and executive director of Hackensack Riverkeeper. ______________________________________________________
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WATERFRONT NEWSLINKS
BX Students Brave Cold toTest River Water "A science class project has a group of Bronx kids braving the frigid Bronx River to test pollution levels. The students first had to march through the snow-covered Botanical Gardens before donning waders and getting in their field work..." News 12 Bronx, March 7, 2015
New York City on the Cutting Edge with WEDG "New York has always been a city of water, and now there's an important initiative to establish and promote best practices at the water's edge..." Real Estate Weekly, March 5, 2015
Jersey City Residents Speak Out Against Port Authority's Cross Harbor Freight Proposals "Thursday night, representatives from the bi-state agency held a community meeting at the Mary McLeod Bethune Life Center to receive feedback from residents on the environmental impact of their cross harbor freight movement plans -- many of which involve concentrating freight movement through the Greenville rail yards..." The Jersey Journal, March 3, 2015
New York City's Ferry Future "Mayor de Blasio offers a bold vision to expand commuter ferry service in New York City and to set the ferry fare at the same price as a bus or subway ride. After 28 years operating NY Waterway ferries, I can tell you: Commuter ferries work - if you do it right..." New York Post, February 23, 2015 ______________________________________________________________________________________
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