Fountain Avenue (Brooklyn, New York)

Fountain Avenue, located in Brooklyn, New York is a site off of the Belt Parkway, specifically named "Exit 15 Erskine Street". The area is mostly composed of landfill and has areas of swampland-like forest growth. Various nature groups, city groups, etc. are concerned with the development of this area. [cite web|date=April 2, 1999| url =http://web.archive.org/web/20011119122810/http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/press/99-19pr.html/ | title = "City Makes Improvements to Pennsylvania and Fountain Avenue Landfills"| publisher =D.E.P. News | accessdate =1999-04-02]

History, Ecological concerns and other writings

Various tests of the Fountain Avenue area and landfills were conducted in 1985 and 1986. [cite web|date = 1984-1985| title =Jamaica Bay Research and Management Information Network|url =http://nbii-nin.ciesin.columbia.edu/jamaicabay/stakeholder/city_dos.html| accessdate=2007-10-25]

A Press Announcement was released, dated December 4, 1998 by Congressman Vito Fossella. The announcement stated that Fossella "laid out a compelling argument for deauthorizing the property as part of Gateway National Recreation Area and restoring it as a temporary waste disposal site only for trash generated in Brooklyn". [cite web|date =December 4, 1998|title =Fossella Formerly Begins Process to Reopen Fountain Avenue Landfill|url =http://web.archive.org/web/19991009174319/http://www.house.gov/fossella/Fountave.html| accessdate =1998-12-04]

Bill Farrell, writing for the New York Daily News, summarized the condition of the area during a 2003 article: "The malodorous, toxic and visual nightmare reviled by drivers along the Belt Parkway will soon be transformed into convert|400|acre|km2 of parkland along Jamaica Bay." [cite web|date =July 30, 2003|title = Waterfront dump may grow up to be park |url =http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3112|accessdate =2003-07-30]

A February 12, 2004, the New York City Sanitation filed a request to operate a yard waste composting facility. [cite web|date =February 12, 2004|title = State Of New YorkDepartment Of Environmental Conservation Notice Of Public Hearing| subtitle =Applicant: New York City Department of Sanitation ("DOS"), 125 Worth Street, New York, New York 10013 Application No. 2-6105-00666/00001|url =http://www.dec.ny.gov/enb/12220.html|accessdate =2004-02-12]

BergerWorld reported in its 2nd Quarter 2006 report: "Berger, teamed with URS, is assisting the New York City Department of Environmental Protection in the $160 million, convert|297|acre|km2|sing=on Pennsylvania & Fountain Avenue Landfills (PAFAL) closure project in Brooklyn, NY, one of the largest closures ever undertaken in the state of New York" [cite web|date =May 1, 2006|title =BergerWorld: 2nd Quarter 2006 Ecological Restoration|url =http://www.louisberger.com/berger/world/2006q2/pfal.php|accessdate =2006-05-01]

The landfill was mentioned in July 10, 2007 as undergoing a $20 million ecological restoration with the Pennsylvania landfill. [citeweb|date=February 7, 2007|title=A Forest Grows on a Brooklyn Landfill|url=http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/73332|publisher= WNYC|accessdate=2007-10-15] The area is also under discussion by local government to be considered for more development.Fact|date=October 2007 [cite web|date=December, 2006| url =http://brooklynrail.org/2006/12/local/spring-creep/| title = Spring Creep| publisher =The Brooklyn Rail | accessdate =2006-12-01] City Line Park was mentioned as being redesigned and transformed under a $1.5 million renovation launched this day. [cite web|date =July 10, 2007|title = Once a Pumping Station Now a Park to Be Renovated|url =http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/once-a-pumping-station-now-a-park-to-be-renovated/|publisher =The New York Times| accessdate =2007-07-10]

Ecological concerns were later expressed for the area on a "New York Habitat Restoration" webpage. [cite web| date =2007|title =New York Habitat Restoration| url =http://www.newyorknature.net/Restoration.html|accessdate = 2007-10-26]

Reputation

Fountain Avenue has been infamously known as a dumping ground for bodies of the Mob. [citation|date= October 6, 2004 |title= Sometimes, Mob Victims Have Plenty of Company |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/06/nyregion/06mob.html?n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FOrganizations%2FF%2FFederal%20Bureau%20of%20Investigation%20 |publisher= New York Times |first= William |last=Rashbaum |accessdate=2007-10-15] In the 1930s a group known as Murder Incorporated used the area as a dumping ground for bodies. Later Roy DeMeo disposed of his many victims there before he was murdered and dumped in the same area.citation|date=March 12, 2006|title=Student Is the Latest Victim to End Up in Swampland |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/nyregion/thecity/12murd.html?_r=1&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/K/Kurutz,%20Steven&oref=login|first= Steven |last=Kurutz|publisher= New York Times|accessdate=2007-10-15] The most recent find of a body was that of Imette St. Guillen, who was murdered on February 25, 2006. [cite web|date =February 27, 2006| title=John Jay co-ed found brutally murdered|publisher =7Online.com New York|url =http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/nyregion/thecity/12murd.html?_r=1&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/K/Kurutz,%20Steven&oref=login|accessdate=2006-02-27] [ cite web|date =February 5, 2007| title =New York City Gridskipper|publisher =| url =http://gridskipper.com/travel/new-york/infamous-new-york-murders-231665.php#top|accessdate= 2007-10-25]

References

External links

* [http://www.idealist.org/en/org/92688-309 Fountain Avenue Community Development Corporation]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20011119122810/http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/press/99-19pr.html City Makes Improvements to Pennsylvania and Fountain Avenue Landfills]
* [http://nbii-nin.ciesin.columbia.edu/jamaicabay/jbwppac/JBAC_Mankiewicz_032206.pdf PowerPoint Presentation]

Movie and Other references

* [http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809761637/info Fountain Avenue (2006)]
* [http://www.alberthammond.net/music-song.page?ah.id=72|Song reference to a different Fountain Avenue by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood]