This should answer your questions.
>From Save the Putnam Trail (http://www.savetheputnamtrail.com/): The Putnam Trail is a jewel, a treasure of nature in New York City. The NYC Parks Department is planning major changes to the trail: § Increase the width from 8 ft. to 15 ft. § Destroy and remove 1.5 acres of trees and natural brush § Pave 10 ft. of this new width with asphalt. Funding was for improvements only, not for asphalt paving. The City got a $500,000 Federal Earmark secured in 2005 by Congressman Eliot Engel and a $950,000 Federal Earmark secured by Congressman Anthony Weiner to improve the Putnam Mayor Bloomberg committed $960,000 of city funds to improve the trail. The total cost of this project will be at least $2,410,000. None of this funding required asphalt pavement to improve the trail. Original federal funding (SAFETEA) discourages using funding in a way that harms city parks. The resulting design represents a major departure from the character/history of the park in an area deemed wetlands and city wildlife preserves. The local community does not support it. The Parks Dept. never bothered to get an Environmental Impact Assessment. Theres no way of knowing how asphalt will affect the wildlife preserves or impact global warming. Theyve used a categorical exclusion allowed for rail-trails, even though the Putnam Trail runs through Forever Wild preserves. Parks does not have approval of CB8, CB7 or CB12 Bronx for their design. All of those community boards surrounding the park never gave their approval. Parks does not have a NYSDEC permit to construct in wetlands yet Parks has been telling people that theyve already put the project out to bid. If they do not start construction by June 2013, their approval from the Public Design Commission expires. They got approval from PDC by telling the commission that asphalt was federally mandated, which is false information. Rep. Engel confirmed in 2011 that funding was for improvement only. In para. 5 of this article, Engels office is reported as saying that funding was for fixing up the trail. <http://riverdalepress.com/stories/Save-the-Putnam-Trail-asks-Engel-for-acti on,49477> Click here for article. Rep. Engels office gave a similar response to SPT in 2012: Congressman Eliot Engel got $500,000 to rebuild the Putnam Trail and make it even more available for the people of the City. 400 trees will be chopped down to make way for 1.5 miles of asphalt. NYC Parks has been telling community groups since 2009 that asphalt was federally mandated. This is false information. Parks officials appeared at community boards making this claim, recorded in CB meeting notes listed below.* NYCParks told the Public Design Commission that NYSDOT or FHWA mandated pavement. Our community grassroots group made a FOIL request to find out if this could be confirmed and NYSDOTs 3/26/2013 responded this way: There is no record on file from FHWA or NYSDOT requiring asphalt pavement of Putnam Trail in Van Cortlandt Park, in the Bronx. The administrator of the park is also president of the VCP Conservancy. There is no check on what the parks dept wants to do. Paving the trail renders hundreds of mountain bikes invested in by residents useless. Community cyclists oppose paving. The trail is already bicycle greenway. The trail does not have to be paved with asphalt to make it bicycle greenway. If it were improved with a permeable surface that preserved trees and wildlife, it would remain a multiple-user greenway. Stone-dust trails are resistant to puddling, erosion, and tire-rutting. Theyre permeable so they cause less root damage to surrounding trees and plants. They are 100% ADA-compliant. Theyre accessible to road and hybrid bicycles, wheelchairs, strollers, and are recognized as such around the country. <http://www.americantrails.org/photoGalleries/cool/3-ADA-Accessible-Trail-Su rface.html> Click here for accessible trails and surfacing considerations, plus photos <http://www.americantrails.org/resources/accessible/Crotched-Mountain-access ible-trail-training.html> At Crotched Mountain in Greenfield, New Hampshire, sustainable trails are also accessible trails. Click here for article by Peter Jensen It took The (Daily) News just 35 minutes last week to find 16 cyclists breaking the 25-mph speed limit in (central) park. <http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/daily-news-exposes-central-park-bike-ch aos-blind-marathon-runner-richard-bernstein-struck-speeding-cyclist-article- 1.1137413> Read article. (Note you have to answer 2 questions to read the full article. This passage is in paragraphs 10-12) Also the injured athlete is suing the city, <http://gothamist.com/2012/09/13/blind_man_hit_by_central_park_cycli.php> here. The speed limit in Van Cortlandt Park: 15 mph Parks is claiming that stone-dust trails are more expensive than asphalt to maintain. In a study of 100 rail trails, the yearly costs are the same ($1500/mile/year). See the study <http://www.railstotrails.org/resources/documents/resource_docs/maintenance_ operations_report.pdf> here, pg. 6. Also the fact that parks is planning to run snow-plows and other heavy equipment over the trail which will cost thousands of dollars a year. A less wide stone-dust trail would be less costly. Residents have proposed creating a Friends of the Putnam Nature Trail, to maintain a less wide more natural trail thats accessible to everyone. The city is committed to protecting green spaces, through its PlaNYC 2030 and Forever Wild Preserve programs. Paving in woodland does not live up to these programs. Parks claims it doesnt have maintenance funds to maintain a stone dust trail. But studies show stone-dust trails cost no more than asphalt to maintain, and they cost half of asphalt trails to install. Parks is claiming they need to use asphalt to snow-plow and power-brush the 1.5 mile long trail. There is no such thing as power-brushing trails but if it did exist, it would be expensive. And second, snow-plowing is a wasteful expenditure since Westchester County doesnt snow-plow its side of the trail, leaving it to skiers, and others in winter. Cycling organizations falsely claim the trail is a major north-south route. Not so. There is no east-west access to the trail till 2 miles north of the Bronx border at Yonkers Avenue. The next east-west access point is Palmer Road, over 3 miles to the north. You cannot hop onto the trail every 200 yards or so. It is bounded by parkways blocking accessibility. Local cyclists rely on bike lanes and sharrows to get to their destinations. The park is central to nothing but the park which sits in northwest Bronx. There is no way to ride to the Putnam Trail and commute somewhere. Again, the trail is bounded by parkways and streets that dont reach it. These groups also claim that only asphalt allows them to get through the park when it is known there are many other surfaces available to them that are also more appropriate for wildlife preserves. Open space is not supposed to be designed for 5% of users, especially when alternatives dont exclude that 5%. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Elizabeth D Poole Sent: Saturday, May 04, 2013 10:10 AM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Important on Putnam Trail - comment period deadline coming up. "...all projects requiring a permit..." What permit is being sought, from whom and by whom? -----Original Message----- From: Joe Jannsen <[email protected]> To: Elizabeth D Poole <[email protected]> Cc: birdingdude <[email protected]>; nysbirds-l <[email protected]>; ebirdsnyc <[email protected]> Sent: Sat, May 4, 2013 9:50 am Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Important on Putnam Trail - comment period deadline coming up. Elizabeth, I can't answer your questions regarding the merits of the project, but as a state agency, the DEC has regulatory jurisdiction over all projects requiring a permit regardless of who's property the activity is occurring on; state, municipal, or private. Joe On May 4, 2013, at 12:26 AM, "Elizabeth D Poole" <[email protected]> wrote: Is the Putnam Trail State-owned or City-owned? The part in question seems to be entirely within Van Cortlandt Park. I'm curious to know why DEC even has jurisdiction within a City park. You have not explained why it is preferable to keep this old railroad bed, disused for nearly sixty years, in its present state instead of making it available and hospitable to many who do not otherwise get out into the woods. The trail is largely paved already from the City line well into Putnam County. -----Original Message----- From: Andrew Baksh <[email protected]> To: nysbirds-l <[email protected]> Cc: Nyc ebirds <[email protected]> Sent: Fri, May 3, 2013 6:14 pm Subject: [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Important on Putnam Trail - comment period deadline coming up. To all birders, naturalists and photographers. Please see the e-mail below and submit your opposition to the paving of the Putnam Nature Trail into NYSDEC before May 17th. I thank all of you who have stepped forward to lend your support. Sent from somewhere in the field using my mobile device! Andrew Baksh www.birdingdude.blogspot.com Begin forwarded message: From: Suzanne Corber <[email protected]> Date: May 3, 2013, 12:10:24 PM EDT To: Suzanne Corber <[email protected]> Subject: Important on Putnam Trail - comment period deadline coming up. We have found out today that the NYSDEC is taking comments on paving the Putnam Trail. The comment period ends May 17th. We're asking people to send letters AND emails to the below addresses. Express why you do not support paving and why you believe a permit should not be granted. The permit is for the following: Project Description: The applicant proposes to convert an existing abandon rail corridor into a multi-use greenway. The proposed work includes removal of old rail ties, paving of the existing rail ballast with a 10 foot wide asphalt path, reconstruction of drainage infrastructure, removal of invasive species, addition of landscape plantings, restoration of historic elements and selective removal of the chain link fence. The project site from the City line to Van Cortlandt Park South in Van Cortlandt Park Along the Putnam Rail Corridor. These are the addresses. Again we're recommending both letters and emails. Harold J Dickey NYSDEC Region 2 Headquarters 47-40 21st St Long Island City, NY 11101 (718)482-4997 <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] Thank you for the letters/emails on this important matter !! - S -- NYSbirds-L List Info: <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME> Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html> Please submit your observations to <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/> eBird! -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME> Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html> Please submit your observations to <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/> eBird! -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME> Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html> Please submit your observations to <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/> eBird! -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
