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Amy Berkov’s Testimony

Dr. Amy Berkov CCNY Dept. of Biology

I’m an ecologist at the City College of New York, and a 40-year resident of the East Village. I firmly oppose the city’s preferred alternative for ESCR. I’ll start with a few words from the 12-page letter that Attorney General Tish James
submitted in response to the city’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS Appendix M, p. 367). 

p. 3-4: “…the Draft EIS’s environmental justice analysis and its treatment of impacts to open space uses, tree canopy and air quality do not meet the requirements of the federal, state, and New York City law governing environmental review. These treatments are also arbitrary and capricious in violation of federal and state administrative law requirements. 

Phased construction may alleviate some concerns about open space, but the 

Attorney General also details problems with the circumscription of area used to 

evaluate disproportionate impact on minority and low income people, the 

methods used to quantify tree replacement, and the lack of mitigation for 

potential increases air pollution during construction. 

I thank Attorney General 

James for pointing out the shaky legal grounds underpinning the city’s plan to 

destroy 83 acres of NYC waterfront park. 

In addition, if the city aspires to create a livable future for the next generation, 

the city must address these questions: 

1) If the city is convinced that ESCR Alternative 4 is the best we can do—and 

given that they have HUD funds to spend—why did they repeatedly refuse to do 

the one thing that might have convinced their opponents: assemble a panel of 

outside (impartial) reviewers? 

2) Why hasn’t the city provided temporary flood barriers in the ESCR region, which would offer some protection prior to and during construction, and while the community waits for infill to settle? 

3) Why is the city planning for >6 feet of sea level rise in the financial district (to offer flood protection through the 2100s), but only planning for 2.5 feet of sea level rise in the ESCR region (to offer flood protection through the 2050s)? 

The City maintains that their plan will offer protection through the 2100s, because they have the capacity to add an additional two feet of fill sometime in the
future. How do they reach this conclusion given that, even with this additional landfill, the project would seem to protect against only 4.5 feet of sea level rise? 

Even with a second round of destruction/construction, the project will fail to offer flood protection: 

a) if sea levels rise as predicted in the high-range estimates (4.83 feet in the 2080s, 6.25 feet by 2100), or 

b) if the Antarctic experiences rapid ice melt (6.75 feet by the 2080s, 9.5 feet by 2100). (Data from the New York City Panel on Climate Change 2019 Report Executive Summary). 

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4) How would the city add two additional feet of fill without damaging or destroying the 1442 saplings that they intend to plant, and the expensive new infrastructure that they plan to install? 

5) Why has the city left the Lower East Side Ecology Center, NYC’s premier grass-roots environmental organization, in the dark about the fate of their program (office and educational space in the Fireboat House, and compost yard in the East River Park)? 

6) Why didn’t the city follow the City Environmental Quality Review Technical 

Manual guidelines for biodiversity surveys? 

7) Why has the city failed to develop thoughtful mitigation plans for the 10 NYS 

rare animal species documented in the East River Park (especially the Golden Northern Bumble Bee)? 

Bombus fervidus is a Critically Imperiled, “High Priority Species of Greatest Conservation Need” in NYS. It appears to be doing well in the East River Park; I have seen as many as five individuals foraging together in the Ecology Center’s pollinator garden. Bumble bees avoid roads, and would not be expected to “relocate”—as the city suggests in the Environmental Impact Statement. (Photo by Melinda Billings, Stewardship Coordinator at the Ecology Center). 

The City Council should not approve the ULURP, because the city is still proposing an act of unprecedented and unnecessary destruction. If this was caused by a natural process, we would call it a natural disaster. If it was caused by anyone other than ourselves, we would call it an act of war. 

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This Lenapehoking Land

East River Park is forever Indigenous land of Lenapehoking. We  honor and respect the land of this park by advocating for its renewal as a biodiverse, healthful ecosystem. 

NYS Constitutional Amendment for Environmental Rights: "Each person shall have a right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.”

  • Home
    • Who We Are and Our Goals
  • News, History, Resources
    • East River Park News 2023/2024/2025
      • East River Park News 2022
      • East River Park News 2021
      • East River Park News 2020
      • East River Park News 2018-2019
    • History and Resources
      • History and Resources
      • Videos/Photos
        • Videos/Photos
        • Endangered Environs
      • Whaddya Want Anyway?
      • Cover the FDR
      • Legal
        • Alienated, reasons we sued, 2019
          • Alienation Lawsuit denied 8/20
          • Alienation denied, reasons for appeal
          • Alienation Lawsuit Appeal documents
          • Court orders, defied
          • Lawsuit Filed for Unredacted Value Engineering Report
      • Value Engineering
        • Value Engineering, Redacted
        • Resolved: No Value No Plan
      • Not One Sandbag
        • Not One Sandbag Part 2
      • The Rivers Beneath the Streets
    • Resiliency News from Everywhere
      • Resiliency News from Everywhere
      • East Side Coastal Resiliency Alternative Resources
  • Breathe
    • Breathe
    • LES Breathe
    • Sensors
    • Bad Air Days
    • Open Air Quality
    • Soil Foil
  • Synthetic Grass
    • Synthetic Grass
    • Synthetic Turf News
    • Research links on Artificial Turf
    • Proposed Real Grass Legislation in New York
    • Artificial Turf spills into East River, Lower East Side
    • Unnatural fields installed, East River Park, 2024
    • Temperatures of Artificial Turf, Lower East Side,
  • DONATE
  • Posts
  • ACTIONS NOW!
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