Rain Barrel Distribution Do-Over… Sort Of

I confess, come Saturday I shall be refreshing the North Shore edition of SI Live, waiting in curious anticipation to see how the impending weekend rain barrel distribution at the College of Staten Island works out for residents of “The Forgotten Borough” (although, for those of us enduring a third consecutive Bloomberg Administration, that could easily refer to all of the boroughs except for Manhattan).

As some of you may recall, last month there was a rain barrel distribution in nearby Marine Park, and what was touted as a NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) free giveaway of items that normally run up to $200, as part of its efforts to encourage citywide stormwater management, eventually turned into a messy debacle that was, according to YourNabe, no barrel of laughs.

“Residents hoping to participate in the program — designed to help homeowners store their house’s rain runoff so it could be used later to water plants and front lawns — were stunned by the mismanagement of the April 16 distribution: fewer barrels were brought to the park than expected and the 55-gallon containers were given out earlier than the advertised 9 am start time, many said.”

The barrels, intended for those living in a single-family or attached two-family home, are supposed to collect accumulated rain water, which can then be used for gardening purposes once a hose is attached to the bottom, but angry residents walked away empty handed from the event that was supposed to save them $70 to $200, the going rate for barrels at your average big chain home improvement box store.

And so… we wait… at least until we get to read all about it when SI Live publishes the story, unless the rain barrel distribution goes over so smoothly that it does not even merit mention. Did the DEP learn a lesson from their botched Brooklyn event? And if so, why should Staten Islanders of the supposed “forgotten borough” get all the free rain barrels? Don’t we rate? Or are we Brooklynites merely sacrificial lambs in this crazy rodeo we call life? Because, if so, some of us may have to resort to using our regular garden hoses to water our lawns this summer.

Just sayin’, DEP.