Fresh Kills Park in Staten Island (Built on top of former Dump)

[BugsyPal]

Originally Posted by NyWriterdude

They pump methane out of landfills and former landfills and sell it as natural gas. It might be the gas you're using on your stove.

Re: swimming all of the waters around NYC have been used as dumps. If you have been swimming anywhere in the tri-state area, don't even talk about feeling unsafe at the prospect of going to FreshKills. It's a lot of work, but environmental contamination can be and is cleaned up. If not, we'd all be dead by now, because there was a time when there were no laws concerning things like air and water pollution, or food contamination, or environmental standards for homes, etc.

I think it's a wonderful idea the city was able to remediate Staten Island's environment like this. But this is not the first time ,as Flushing Meadows Park and JFK are both built on top of DUMPS.

So is much of Rikers Island, Battery Park City, FDR Drive....


In fact much of lower Manhattan/Wall Street area west of Greenwich Street, and east of Water Street is built upon landfill. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2...ste-in-numbers


This explains the various odd things like parts of ships, boats and other such things found while digging up ground for World Trade Center, making repairs around Canal Street, etc....


Bellevue Hospital was once right on the East River waterfront, which explains all the rats historically and still do roam that place.


FDR Drive was largely built on landfill based upon the rubble of bombed out WWII England and (IIRC) some other European cities. The rubbish was simply loaded onto ships and sent across ocean....


Rikers Island was greatly enlarged by using infill from garbage including ashes from coal burning furnaces/boilers. Both had horrible consequences. The place used to have "glowing fires" from the phosphorus contained in all that ash waste. Rikers was also *heavily* infested with rats from all that garbage being dumped. At one point city used pigs, hired shooting parties and a whole host of efforts to control rats. None of them really succeeded and things didn't change until city stopped sending garbage to Rikers, and cleaned up the place.


It also explains why so much of lower Manhattan (again south of Canal Street) floods easily during hurricanes or other bad storms.


Mother Nature *knows* where she is sending water, she has done so for thousands of years before NYC existed. Just because man built up land where it wasn't previously isn't going to stop water from going where it always has done.

[dannik508]

I've been there and walked the paths that they had open at the time. One of the paths is a rather long one. It has a rather empty landscape now but that will change as trees and plants take hold. The methane is captured at some points and I didn't notice any smell. There are some pretty nice views from some of the higher spots. It is pretty big and I remember thinking at one point that it looked like the midwest. It think it will be nice in the future.

[NewToUES]

Cancer rates in Staten Island are significantly higher then the rest of the city. They can't pin it on the dump but it is suspected. Both of my parents were diagnosed with cancer as well as multiple other extended family members.

[NyWriterdude]

Originally Posted by NewToUES

Cancer rates in Staten Island are significantly higher then the rest of the city. They can't pin it on the dump but it is suspected. Both of my parents were diagnosed with cancer as well as multiple other extended family members.

I'm sorry about your family. The thing is big parts of the city had serious industrial pollution (East River Brooklyn and Queens, Masepth), parts of the West side of Manhattan, not too mention all the other areas of the city that were build on top of landfills (the other neighborhoods we've mentioned).

Cancer is triggered by multiple risk factors so it's hard to tell.

Of course the city would not be too quick to admit the dump would be a factor, because if it could be proven there would be civil lawsuits. Garbage by itself doesn't cause cancer, but particular contaminants do so if companies dumped industrial waste in the dump that gave residents cancer they too could be held liable. There have been lots of lawsuits concerning industrial pollution of Newton Creek separating Brooklyn and Queens.

[Mr.Retired]

Originally Posted by NyWriterdude

FreshKills was the city's municipal dump, which Staten Island residents finally got the city to close a number of years ago. Now they're building a huge park on top.

Have any of you been to this park yet? Or do you intend to go?

The place use to smell like sour milk on some days if you caught the trade winds just right.
Like the old saying goes, time heals all wounds? Well time also heals stinky old dumps.
Nice job.

[Mr.Retired]

Originally Posted by BugsyPal

So is much of Rikers Island, Battery Park City, FDR Drive....


In fact much of lower Manhattan/Wall Street area west of Greenwich Street, and east of Water Street is built upon landfill. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2...ste-in-numbers


This explains the various odd things like parts of ships, boats and other such things found while digging up ground for World Trade Center, making repairs around Canal Street, etc....


Bellevue Hospital was once right on the East River waterfront, which explains all the rats historically and still do roam that place.


FDR Drive was largely built on landfill based upon the rubble of bombed out WWII England and (IIRC) some other European cities. The rubbish was simply loaded onto ships and sent across ocean....


Rikers Island was greatly enlarged by using infill from garbage including ashes from coal burning furnaces/boilers. Both had horrible consequences. The place used to have "glowing fires" from the phosphorus contained in all that ash waste. Rikers was also *heavily* infested with rats from all that garbage being dumped. At one point city used pigs, hired shooting parties and a whole host of efforts to control rats. None of them really succeeded and things didn't change until city stopped sending garbage to Rikers, and cleaned up the place.


It also explains why so much of lower Manhattan (again south of Canal Street) floods easily during hurricanes or other bad storms.


Mother Nature *knows* where she is sending water, she has done so for thousands of years before NYC existed. Just because man built up land where it wasn't previously isn't going to stop water from going where it always has done.

Spoken like a true Historian