A Year Sooner Than Expected?
Last Thursday, when this mysterious floating object appeared in riverfront park, Gossips was told by DPW superintendent Rob Perry that it was "taking samples of the river bottom for the 2014 remediation."
It seems that the 2014 remediation--Phase 2 of the coal tar cleanup in riverfront park--may be starting now. (Phase 1, done in 2004, was the upland remediation; Phase 2 is the underwater remediation.) Spotted on the waterfront this afternoon was this vessel, which Gossips takes to be a hydraulic dredge.
You can check the accuracy of my identification of this floating contraption, learn how it works, and maybe get more comfortable about its presence on our waterfront by visiting the Clearwater website, where you will find a webpage devoted to environmental dredging.
It would be nice if they docked the smaller one a few feet further out on the dock. It is crowding the kayak dock a bit.
ReplyDeleteI can pass along to them to move it out a bit on the dock to give kayak users more space. Also the Powered Spud Barge drilling rig is taking core samples for mapping of the actual proposed dredging activity so they can determine depth and total area of the actual required dredging to commence at a later date. I would hope that while they dredge, they would dredge out the other 2 south slips where the car crusher used to be and the 4th one so that in near future they can be utilized for other potential users, possibly the Half Moon Ship, etc.
ReplyDeleteDredging the Lockwood slip would certainly take the pressure off of Falkenheimer's business to "leave sufficient room on the dock for the docking of another large vessel," as specified in his lease.
ReplyDeleteBut first we should remove the currently seed-laden waterchestnuts from the Lockwood slip. The city has attempted it before, but only done it incorrectly according to the Director of the NYS Office of Invasive Species Coordination. The way the DPW did it actually spread the plant!
As a consequence of the state's intervention, now the DPW won't do it all. I guess it's their method or nothing.
And because no one else seems to care either way, I suppose that residents are properly internalizing the lesson the city intends. This is typical of course, but still incredibly lame ...
And by the way, the job is too big for one person. I've already tried.
I spoke to the drill company and I moved the work boat out 25' to facilitate better access and more room for the Kayak users of dock. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteIt will help, thanks SW.
DeleteAn aside: without even meaning to, you just proved that you would be a far worthier Harbor Master and/or Dock Master than the individual we now have for the job.