By RICHARD FITZSIMMMONS

Nearly every month, your newspaper features negative articles and editorials against the siting of the Croton filtration plant and related parks projects in the Bronx. I would like to present a different view to your readers.

The Norwood News has noted the recent building boom in the northwest Bronx. Do you really think that developers would break ground on all these apartment houses if they thought no one would buy them because they thought these neighborhoods were going to be devastated by the construction of the filter plant? In fact, Bronx construction workers who are paid prevailing wages on projects like Croton help drive the local housing market. They spend money in Bronx stores and they spend their healthcare dollars in Bronx hospitals like Montefiore, the sponsor of this publication.

Some people seem to feel that the loss of a driving range is simply unacceptable. I, too, enjoy golf, but it makes little sense to claim that a driving range is more important than a project that best protects our water supply and puts local people to work.

Years ago, the NYS Department of Health and the US Environmental Protection Agency concluded that water from the Croton system must be filtered in order to meet federal public health standards. It was only after extensive analysis that it was determined that the best way to ensure that this water remains safe to drink is to filter at the Moshulu site.
Residents of some Bronx neighborhoods rely exclusively on Croton drinking water. It would be irresponsible to build the plant at a different location where the water’s purity could not be assured.

The savings that the city will realize by building under Mosholu will benefit parks in many Bronx communities including Norwood, Bedford Park and Woodlawn, where my office is located. Once the plant is completed, the city will restore the driving range and will invest $43 million to make Van Cortlandt the kind of park our neighborhood deserves. There will be employment opportunities for many Bronx residents. This is a win-win situation for everyone.

The city has made a correct choice to build under a Bronx park, as it has built many other water facilities under parks such as Central Park. In each case, the park areas are restored to the point where few people know or can detect today what is going on underground.
The neighborhoods were not ruined in the process.

Members of my union worked on the City Water Tunnel No. 3 in the north end of Van Cortlandt Park and this project didn’t wreck Woodlawn. In the same way, construction at Mosholu will not ruin Van Cortlandt Park. My members risk their lives every day building and rebuilding this city. The only lives at risk when we do our work are the lives of construction workers, not residents of nearby communities. My local alone has lost 28 workers in since 1970 when we began building the water tunnel. The headquarters of the Tunnel Workers Union, Laborers Local 147 (known as the Sandhogs) is on Katonah Avenue in Woodlawn, not far from Van Cortlandt Park. We are a Bronx-based union and have been in this great community for over 20 years now. As part of this neighborhood, I can assure you that we will work safely and will take state-of-the-art measures to minimize impacts on the community. And I agree with those who oppose this plant that the DEP must be held accountable to their commitments regarding traffic, noise and air quality as the project moves forward.