Forest Hills resident Josh Sailor expressing his frustrations over flooding to DEP reps Ed Coleman, Mark Lanningham and Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz. Forum Newsgroup photo by Ryan Lavis.
David Alkalay has run his yoga and wellness center on the lower level of Metro Plaza in Forest Hills for over 30 years. And like many residents and businesses in the area, he has seen his share of rainwater spill off the City’s streets and flood his ground level studio over the years.
After his insurance picked up the bill to repair the store from two previous storms, Alkalay said he may not get coverage this time – estimating his damages to be around $70,000.
“The insurance company is giving me a hard time, and I don’t blame them. This is the third time this has happened,” he said. “$70,000 is too much for my business to absorb.”
The storm this past September left his yoga studio covered in fecal matter and sewage. He already spent $14,000 having the place disinfected and aired out – money he said he’ll never see again. There are also giant holes in his walls and serious damage to a $15,000 bamboo floor he had installed.
Alkalay, along with hundreds of other sodden residents, were present for a community meeting held Thursday evening to address the flooding issue. City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz and Community Board 6 invited DEP representatives to hear the people’s problems.
Flooding along Metropolitan Avenue. Forum Newsgroup photo by Ryan Lavis.
But the forum quickly turned into a shouting match between frustrated residents and the officials they thought were there to offer solutions.
“What are you going to do to stop this from happening again,” Alkalay asked the two DEP representatives at the meeting held in the Forest Hills Jewish Center. “What can you do to help me keep my business open?”
To start, Edward Coleman, assistant commissioner for the Bureau of Water and Sewer Operations at the DEP, read from index cards filled with facts about New York City’s sewer system. As he shuffled through his cards, community members grew impatient.
But Coleman continued to read off a list of straight facts about the sewer’s inner workings. And when the facts didn’t do what Coleman wanted them to, community members became increasingly agitated and lashed out with their own points of view – evaporating any hope of a civil discourse as the waterlogged mob demanded answers.
“We just really want to know what can be done so my house doesn’t flood next time this happens,” one man shouted out to a cheering audience.
When people continued to shout over one another, Councilwoman Koslowitz asked that they form a line to ask specific questions. Within seconds about 30 people assembled before Koslowitz, Coleman, and the other DEP representative on hand, Mark Lanningham.
Ron Green, who lives in an apartment building along Yellowstone Boulevard, said that his entire apartment had been flooded several times since 2007. He said his entire floor was ruined, along with furniture.
After having his home flooded three times this summer, Green said he stuffed a towel in his toilet bowl, placed sandbags on top of the seat and then sat on it in a desperate attempt to stop water from overflowing. When it didn’t work, Green said he was “covered in crap from head to toe.”
“It’s going to make us sick,” he continued into the microphone. “The sewer spraying fire hoses of shit into our apartments is not acceptable.”
But Coleman and Lanningham continued their spiel, suggesting that people call 311 if they have problems. A chorus of laughter ensued.
“With all due respect, 311 doesn’t work,” Koslowitz said. “For these kinds of problems, 311 does not work.”
During his lesson on sewage, Coleman said that drainage pipes in the area can handle storms that drop 1.5 inches of rain per hour, a standard set before 1960. They noted that that those types of storms only happen once every five years, inciting another round of jeers from the crowd.
When it became increasingly clear to everyone attending that these DEP officials had no real solutions, Councilwoman Koslowitz asked what she could do to put the wheels in motion on a project that could alleviate the problem. And once again, the DEP’s response was met with a grumbling chorus.
“As a single councilwoman, there is no single thing that you can do to ensure there will never be flooding in your district,” Lanningham said.
Lanningham continued, saying that there are changes and capital projects constantly implemented for the sewer system, noting that none are scheduled for the affected area.
“Not in your district at this moment…there is not what we see as a critical feature that causes this flooding,” he said, drawing the loudest heckles of the night.
In the days following the meeting Councilwoman Koslowitz said that DEP workers came to many of the affected areas to clean out catch basins, which can clog and cause flooding during a major storm. She said that she is also in the process of looking into legislation she can propose to help her constituents with this problem.
“The answers that were given at that meeting were unacceptable, and basically left people feeling like they have no alternative,” she said. “I had that meeting because I wanted the DEP to see the outrage of the community. But no one went home and felt that there problems were relieved.”
By Ryan Lavis
