PUBLISHED BY MOSHOLU PRESERVATION CORPORATION

Mayor Trumpets Plant Victory
Says 'EIS Not Gonna Stop This'

By JORDAN MOSS

In a lively question-and-answer session with four Bronx newspaper reporters in a booth at the Court Deli on East 161st Street, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took something of a victory lap with regard to the filtration plant slated for Mosholu Golf Course in Van Cortlandt Park, which his administration has championed despite community opposition. In July, Governor Pataki signed state legislation permitting the alienation of the park for the mammoth $1.3 billion construction project. 

Though opponents of the plant take some solace in the fact that, in negotiations with the state lawmakers, the city agreed to do an environmental impact statement (EIS) on the Mosholu site, Bloomberg said, "The EIS is not gonna stop this." 

Karen Argenti, a veteran plant opponent, said the mayor's opinion of the EIS is in line with the city seeking a "mayoral override" of the city's Zoning Resolution, which would require a land use review since Parks Department land is being given over to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). (Many DEP officials were on vacation at press time and were not available to discuss the request for a mayoral override.)

"It may be that that's the way the government is going to work in the future, and if that's the case, we should dissolve the Department of City Planning and we could save a lot of money on rent and paper," Argenti said. "If you're going to override the Zoning Resolution anytime you want, then you don't need it."

Following is a partial transcript of the interview session, which also touched on the future of the Kingsbridge Armory.

Norwood News: Have you been to that site where the plant is going to be?
Mayor Bloomberg: Yeah, I've been to the park. ... I don't know if I've ever hit balls on that driving range.

NN: There are concerns...

Bloomberg: There are always going to be concerns. What do you want to do? Do you want to have $240 million for parks in the Bronx and something under a driving range where it doesn't make any difference? I'm a golfer. It doesn't make any difference whether you hit it at this level or you hit it this level [raises and lowers hand]. Let's get serious here. I mean, in the grand scheme of things this is a very super deal for the city and the alternative would have been terrible for the city. You would have had to build it up in Westchester; we would've been paying them money; the jobs would have gone and the Bronx would be without lots of parks. 

NN: There was supposed to be an announcement during the summer about what the administration wants to do with the Kingsbridge Armory.

Bloomberg: Yeah, I mean we're studying it. We fixed the roof -- it was leaking -- and if you didn't do that you would have ruined the place. I think we're much closer to coming up with a resolution. You know, it's another one of these things -- everybody's got a different idea of what to do, so give us a little while longer. [We're] certainly consulting the borough president and everybody else.

NN: Well, what about schools [in the armory]? That's the big concern with the community ...

Bloomberg: Everybody needs more schools. Whether or not this building suits schools is another thing. We'll consult a school design professional, you know...
Riverdale Press: Can we go back to the filtration plant for a minute? [Elected officials] accepted a deal that ensures that $240 million go toward the Bronx parks. Why do you think the [park] advocates were still [unhappy] with the idea?
Bloomberg: There are some people that just don't want to ever touch a park and my attitude is, if you dig it up, you put something underground and put the park back. I fail to see why that really hurts things. It would be perfect if you didn't touch a thing, but what you get out of it is so great.

NN: The focus of being opposed to it is more about the five or six years of construction and its ...

Bloomberg: I know that, and I'm sorry. We are trying to do something about asthma and God knows if there's anybody that's interested in public health it is Michael Bloomberg, thank you. I don't think at this point in my life I've got to establish my credentials in terms of interest in public health. The answer is we have to improve the water supply; we're under court order to do it. This is part of public health; we're improving the water supply. ... In the end, I think I'm sympathetic to people that don't want construction in their backyard. You've got to put up with things in order to make progress, I'm sorry.

RP: Is there any word about how this money is going to be divvied up to the different parks in the Bronx? 

Bloomberg: We're just starting, but keep in mind, it is an enormous amount of money. There are only so many parks, there's not a lot of room to build new ones. So, its kind of hard to think that any park isn't going to get some benefit. And if there's a handful that doesn't need it, OK, but they're basically all...

NN: Do you think that the parks nearest where the plant is should benefit the most from the money?

Bloomberg: No, I think the Bronx should benefit. Number one, you want to do a rational way to allocate the money. Take a look at where the need is, where the people are. That's a very rational way to do it. But the fact of the matter is, it's so much money for parks for a borough that hasn't had a lot of money, that every park is going to benefit. And I'm not going to get into a contest where you try to pit one part of the Bronx against another, one ethnic group against another, one racial group against another. I don't play that game ...

RP: Back to filtration (laughs).

Bloomberg: But it's done. 

NN: It's not done. What about the EIS? 

Bloomberg: The EIS is not gonna stop this. There's no reason to believe, as far as I know, that the environmental stuff is, you know ...[takes next question].