An award-winning news site covering the East Village of NYC

Maybe I'm a fool to post this, where I can sadly be attacked. And this post represents only my opinion. Tho I know there are many others who agree. Again and again, (this is a HUGE example of what I'm saying, perhaps the biggest since Robert Moses), the City takes years of collaboration, research, meetings, publications, presentations, rallies, etc. of the PEOPLE and throws it in the dustbin and does whatever it damn well pleases. The result of this approach to the waterfront/LES protection will be a mistake that doesn't even begin to show for a decade.

Can this 'project' get any worse? Lies, lies, lies from the start. Thanks, DeBlasio!

Thanks Carlina Rivera and Bill DeBlasio. Hope you're both happy with the outcome. This will be years upon years until it is complete. Perhaps in the 2030's? Why just this area of the LES was destroyed? Other parts of Manhattan weren't flooded.

I don't know how you could ever support Carlina Rivera after this betrayal. What a joke of a representative of this neighborhood.

Once again, we were sold a project that would quickly be done in a few years with very little inconvenience to us and now due to some "unforeseen circumstances" will take 10+ years to complete and go way over budget. I wish i could say we finally learned our lesson

It's not uncommon for these old structures to have pipes covered with asbestos. It was a standard building material up until the late 1970s mainly used for insulation or mixed with cement to fabricate exterior shingles. Not a safety concern to remove as long as the proper procedures are followed. As with many old structures they're hidden behind walls or buried underground and not visible on the initial inspections.

Aside from everyone predicting doom, if this is just an administrative area for the amphitheater that has some pipe insulation, the remediation should be fairly quick? These backstage areas are tiny and cramped.

Rivera fought hard to make sure that sections of the park were left open but how safe do people feel around those construction sites with potentially hazardous particulate matter blowing around?

Not uncommon for this to happen during demolition. Safety protocols are strictly enforced and the the air will be monitored continuously during the abatement process. Localized area that should not affect the larger project.

Unhealthiest "resiliency" project ever. Its rah-rah supporters only care about flood control, and not about air pollution, quality of life, access to green space, lead, asbestos, the list goes on. Or maybe they just care about political power and getting on the good side of the real estate industry so they can run and keep running for office and give away the giveaways, like our parks. The funny thing is that the politicians who supported this project didn't even pretend to care--they either went silent, pretended ESCR didn't exist, or demonized anyone who likes fresh air and trees as elitist and wealthy outsiders. A little caring would have gone a long way--keeping 42% of the park actually open instead of the joke it is now with fencing everywhere, "test pits" and many of its trees already removed; ensuring the passive lawn actually is ... a lawn instead of a dried-out wasteland surrounded by fencing (and contaminated with lead and asbestos dust no doubt); providing care and summer programming to Corlears Hook Park which instead has to beg the community for funding to show a few outdoor movies; making sure air quality monitors are working and data provided in real time; making sure tarps covered dust piles and all dust mitigation was being done; alternate bike paths and signage for those who used the greenway to commute to work or just used the greenway; noise control; and so on and so on and so on and so on. ESCR completely brutalized the community and continues to do so. It is an actively harmful project that could so easily have been done "right" if overseen and navigated by representatives who actually cared about the public good and the environment, instead of for the construction industry and the easiest/fastest way to chop down a park and pour concrete on top.

I feel bad for all those poor trees they had to cut down. Especially during one of the hottest summers we have seen in a while. Just so they could spruce up the East River Park for the real estate developers. What a tragedy.

This is why I’m moving out. This nonsense has spread to Battery Park. Southern Manhattan will be an ecological nightmare over the next few years. Hello Brooklyn where they like community, parks, and people.

Congrats Carlina Rivera, you now have a toxic wasteland as part of your record.

Why do they need to abate the asbestos if they are going to cover it all with 8-10 feet of fill? Why don't they just bury it? I get that the dust is blowing around now but they could dump dirt on it and get going... this project is going to drag on for YEARS!!

 Subscribe in a reader