Sewage Check Valves Before Another Park Reno! Manhattan Beach Residents Upset Over Missing Storm Protection Money

Thank you for shedding more light on the question of where the Federal monies for future storm protection that were allocated to South Brooklyn communities have gone.

The Manhattan Beach Community Group and other South Brooklyn civic organizations spent months with NYRising to determine how and where the allocated funds would be spent.  We well remember the declarations made by City officials that the money would be used to install check valves in our homes to prevent future sewer back-ups during floods.

Today, seven years after Super-Storm Sandy, we still do not have check valves. The $4.5 million dollars of NYRising money has apparently been given to the Parks Department which is using it to renovate the promenade in Manhattan Beach Park.

This was never proposed by the civic organizations that met with NYRising.  The plan for promenade renovation also includes changes to the Dana Borell Memorial Garden which is near the promenade and very close to a major thoroughfare in the neighborhood (Oriental Boulevard). The proposed renovation would remove fencing from the now-enclosed garden, creating an open, grassy area that would pose a danger to children playing there.  In addition, it would desecrate a   long-standing memorial that was established in conjunction with the Parks Department years ago in memory of a past president of the Manhattan Beach Community Group.

We join you in questioning how NYRising money can be used for this purpose, while the original and carefully thought-out plan for making our communities more resilient in the event of future storms and floods is being so callously ignored.

Thank you again for heightening the public’s awareness of this situation.

Judy Baron,

President, Manhattan Beach Community Group