MIT did a great study on the Harlem River Waterfront:  Bronx:  Meet Your Waterfront Plan

http://bronx.mit.edu/meet-your-waterfront-plan

http://bit.ly/aJ07am

Story from the NY Daily News on the link above and below:

Yankee Stadium parking stalls out after developer shows signs that it may default on bonds

Juan Gonzalez - News

Friday, September 10th 2010, 4:00 AM

The developer of the Yankee stadium parking system is on the verge of defaulting on $237 million in tax-exempt bonds issued by the city's Industrial Development Agency.

So many fans are shunning the network of 9,000 stadium parking spaces that revenue for the first half of 2010 was only $4.8 million - half of what was projected - according to a stunning financial disclosure by Bronx Parking Development.

The firm, which is independent of the Yankees and has existed for only three years, warned bondholders in an Aug. 18 letter that it currently has "insufficient funds" from operations to pay a $6.8 million interest bill due Oct. 1, and another $6.8 million due next April. And despite an additional $100 million in city and state grants it received on top of IDA bonds, Bronx Parking has failed for three years to pay its annual rent tab of $3.2 million to the city. It also has yet to pay any property taxes for the 21 acres of publicly owned land it is leasing to operate the parking system.

So why have these garages been such a fiasco? After all, the Yankees won a championship their first year in the new stadium and the team is currently exceeding its own revenue projections.

According to Bronx Parking, the garages have suffered from several unforseen problems:

More than 800 fans are heading on game days to the Gateway Shopping Mall five blocks from the stadium, where they pay only $10 to park instead of the stiff $23 self-parking fee ($35 for valet service) at the stadium garages.


A new Metro North station has lured many fans (about 5,000 per game) to ride the train.


The Yankees prepaid for only 190 parking spaces this year for their season ticket holders instead of the 900 spaces they prepaid last year.


The firm's announcement sparked an immediate drop in the trading value of its bonds. It also sent city officials scurrying to come up with a solution to what could be the biggest default of an IDA bond that anyone can remember.

"If these garages are only at 60% of capacity after a World Series victory, you know it can only get worse from here," said one city official with direct knowledge of the project's finances. "There's just too much unused parking around the stadium."

The Bloomberg administration selected Bronx Parking in 2007 to build and run the garages after the Yankees demanded a minimum of 9,000 spaces to stay in the Bronx. The firm is subsidiary of a Hudson County nonprofit, Community Initiatives Development Corp. The parent firm defaulted on two previous bonds for projects in Syracuse and Monroe County. The firm's chief executive, William Loewenstein, did not return calls for comment. A spokesperson for the Yankees declined to talk about the garage problems.

The only way Bronx Parking will be able to meet its next two interest payments, the firm said in its letters to bondholders, is by drawing $4.5 million from a bond reserve fund. That would push the fund below its legally required level and trigger a time clock on a possible default.

One thing Yankee fans can be sure of: parking rates at the stadium will rise sharply next year.

Even with that increase, Bronx Parking does not expect to generate enough money to replenish the reserve fund, and that would mean "an event of default," its letter to bondholders said.

"The bonds are not a general obligation of the city or the IDA in any way, shape or form," said David Lombino, a spokesman for city's Economic Development Corp., and would not "necessarily affect IDA-issued bonds going forward."

Experts familiar with the stadium project are not so optimistic.

"If these bonds default, it will spook investors against any other IDA," said one lawyer involved in negotiations on the original deal.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2010/09/10/2010-09-10_stadium_parking_stalls_out_developer_may_default_on_bonds.html#ixzz0z9We8D43

The follow up letter is below. State_OPRHP_02162010_sitevisit ff up 05102010

• LETTER TO THE FEDERAL AGENCY FROM BCEQ

1.1  FEB 2010 Letter sent to the NPS Director  BCEQ NPS YS 02192010

1.2 MARCH 2010 Response to the BCEQ letter  USDOI_Reply_Letter_3-16-2010

• LETTER TO THE STATE FROM LOCAL ACTIVISTS

2.1 FEB 2010 letter to OPRHP from Karen and Joyce  State_OPRHP_02162010 a

2.2 MAR 2010 response  State_OPRHP_02162010 answer 031310

2.3 MAR 2010 clarification to OPRHP from K & J State_OPRHP_02162010 response 033110

2.4 APRIL 2010 response  NYS OPRHP response to 033110

it was about one hour ago, so

12:30 pm on March 31, 2010

“Examining Harlem River Water Quality: Imputs, Effects and Solutions”

Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at Manhattan College, Leo Engineering Building

2:30 pm – 4:00 pm, Main Auditorium: GENERAL MEETING

• What is the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary Program? What is an Estuary? US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Bob Nyman Director, NY-NJ Harbor Estuary Program
• What is the State of the Sewers? NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), NYC Region 2 Director Suzanne Mattei -The State of the Sewers
• What can the History of the Harlem River teach us? Sid Horenstein, Environmental Educator Emeritus, American Museum of Natural History
• What we see Google Mapping of Places of interest along the Harlem River? Jerry Willis, National Parks Service, and the Harlem River Working Group (HRWG)

4:00 pm, Downstairs Cafeteria: REFRESHMENTS, TABLING, BREAKOUTS

4:15 to 5:15 pm, Downstairs Cafeteria: BREAKOUTS

• “Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda 2010-2014” presentation and public comment, Fran Dunwell, NYS DEC
• Grass roots designed Public Participation process for CSOs, Petition and Letter Writing – Karen Argenti, BCEQ & HRWG
• Google Mapping CSO Places of interest along the Harlem River – CSO Photos – Jerry Willis, National Parks Service, HRWG

5:00 – 5:30 pm, Main Auditorium: SUMMARIES REPORTED by 5:20 pm

5:30 – 7:00 pm, Auditorium: HARLEM RIVER WORKING GROUP MEETING

7:00 – 9:00 pm, Board Room: BCEQ BOARD MEETING

By Matt Johanson

When the Yankees opened their new stadium and pinstriped stars like Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera ran onto the field for the first time, the cheers of delirious New York fans echoed for miles. But to environmentalists and residents in surrounding neighborhoods, a Bronx cheer seems a more appropriate response to the new Yankee Stadium project, which they say isn’t nearly green enough, grass notwithstanding.

A baseball’s throw from the storied old yard that housed the Bronx Bombers from 1923-2008, the new Yankee Stadium opened to fanfare this spring. While the park accommodates fewer spectators (52,325, including standing room), it boasts more concessionaires, restrooms and nearly double the retail space of the old haunts. There are also more luxury suites: 56 instead of 19, plus 410 “party suites.”

The high-rolling Yankees have long led the major leagues in financial clout, and New York’s new $1.3 billion home looks like a license to print money. Front-row seats sell for $2,500 each and some fans are committing to season ticket plans for as long as 10 years.

TO CONTINUE READING CLICK HERE:

http://www.emagazine.com/view/?4666&printview

Garage A project inconsistencies 082309

We hear that the waterfront parks (many miles from where the people live, but across from the shopping mall) will open on Thurs,  October 22, 2009.

Commissioner Adrian Benepe and Bronx Borough Commissioner Hector M. Aponte cordially invite you to attend a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for Mill Pond Park, Located at One Bronx Terminal Market, Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 11:00 A.M.

Mill Pond Flyer

Although the flyer did not mention it, there is a scheduled tennis clinic that day for anyone who wants to play on the new courts.

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Now onto the Park in the Sky, or the Park on top of the Garage!

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Tall set of stairs and a different handicapped entrance.  Are they supposed to do that?  No, you say?  But they are building a monument to ……… someone?  Who cares about the people?

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Wait till you see what is up those stairs, stairs, stairs.  By the way, it was supposed to be a berm.  Hmmmm…… almost looks like a mountain.  Would be really fun in the snow.  But watch out, you could end up in the traffic!

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Now up to the top, and I forgot to take the photo of the handicapped entrance, because I was so surprised that anyone would even think they could pass this off as a park.  And don’t they know that you can not have a separate entrance for handicapped persons?

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There is one part that is nice.  It is ………can you guess?  It is the part closest to the new Yankee Stadium.  Did I tell you that I was a Met Fan?  Have been since the beginning.

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It was a nice relief to be under an umbrella in the heat.  It was about 80 degrees, but was much hotter up on the roof.

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So, that about does it.  Oh yeah, we went looking for the berm.

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Can not figure out what they are doing, but the berm will be going the other way. So we went to see the new Metro North Station.  That is really nice.

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The site is unbelievable.  Maybe this is why the parking lots are not utilized!  There are too many of them ……….and people are coming by the Metro North.  Great idea.  And they did it so fast.  Wonder why the parks are taking so long?  Here is the big bat and the big crane.  Second one shows the GWB.

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Then finally ……

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Was going to check out the waterfront parks, but it was too far.  Next time.  Let me know what you think, thanks, Karen

http://www.waterblogged.org/dinowitz-and-community-warns-no-emergency-plan-for-bronx-sci-and-surrounding-areas-of-jerome-park-reservoir/

So, even though it is not related, the demolition of Yankee Stadium has been privately bid.  Who knows who got the contract, if they are vendex approved, if they will use certified asbestos removal contractors, and how the bid was awarded.  We thought that the old stadium was in a park; why is the EDC outsourcing this contract?

Karen