good news!

Federal judge approves Onondaga County using green technology to reduce Onondaga Lake pollution
By Tim Knauss / The Post-Standard (Syracuse)
November 16, 2009, 7:32PM

Onondaga County's plan to use trees, vegetated roofs, rain gardens, permeable pavement and rain barrels - instead of three new sewage treatment plants - to reduce sewer overflows polluting tributaries of Onondaga Lake was approved Monday by U.S. District Judge Frederick Scullin. In this file photo from August 2009, the sun rises over the lake. Syracuse, NY - Onondaga County got the final go-ahead Monday to scrap plans for three new sewage plants — including one in Armory Square — and instead reduce sewer overflows with trees, vegetated roofs, rain gardens, permeable pavement and rain barrels.

U.S. District Judge Frederick Scullin on Monday signed a new consent order between U.S. District Judge Frederick Scullin the county, the state Department of Environmental Conservation and Atlantic States Legal Foundation, a nonprofit group that sued the county in 1988 to stop its pollution of Onondaga Lake.

The new agreement replaces a court order that required the county to build a series of sewage plants along tributaries of the lake. The parties to the lawsuit — along with environmentalists and neighborhood activists who opposed building sewage plants — hailed the new consent order as a breakthrough that could change the face of Syracuse.

“Just imagine half a million more trees in our city,” said Joseph Heath, an attorney representing the Onondaga Nation, who helped hammer out the agreement.

DEC officials have said Onondaga County will likely set an example for other New York communities in how to use “green infrastructure” to handle urban runoff.

County Executive Joanie Mahoney laid the groundwork in 2008 when, just three weeks after taking office, she halted plans for a controversial $128 million sewage plant in Armory Square, where site work had already begun. Mahoney, the DEC and Atlantic States then sought permission from Scullin to hammer out a deal that would emphasize green measures.

Mahoney said she hopes the new plan will revitalize the community by cleaning its waterways in environmentally friendly ways.

“This is truly changing the prospects for Syracuse and Central New York,’’ Mahoney said. “And it’s probably going to be among the biggest accomplishments that I’ll have in this job, to get the federal court to change the direction we’re in.’’

Instead of a sewage plant along Onondaga Creek in Armory Square, the county will build a 3.7 million-gallon underground storage tank there to hold sewer overflows until they can be processed at the county’s Metro sewage treatment plant. The Armory Square tank will be installed by December 2013. Two additional storage tanks will be built along Harbor Brook, also by 2013.

Through a combination of storage tanks, new sewers and green infrastructure, the county is expected to prevent at least 95 percent of storm runoff from reaching waterways by 2018. The sewage system now captures about 85 percent each year, or 400 million gallons less.

The new court order gives the county until 2011 — roughly three extra years — to demonstrate its ability to restrict phosphorous emissions into Onondaga Lake. The order also calls for new scientific studies examining phosphorous in the lake.

Tim Knauss can be reached at tknauss@syracuse.com or 470-3023.

© 2009 syracuse.com. All rights reserved.

8th Annual Onondaga Creek Clean Up

Saturday, September 12th & 19th
and this year it will be COMPLETELY COMMUNITY RUN!
That mean it’s up to us to get the job done!

We need volunteers to:
- clear trash/debris on the Creek banks and in the water.
- bring canoes to haul our "treasures"

We'll get dirty, we'll get wet, and we'll make our city a better place to live!

SIGN UP TODAY!

Bob Graham 396-2944 or bob153g@msn.com
Steve Seleway 345-2727 or selent@msn.com

Readers' Page for August 19, 2009

Trees, rain gardens key to controlling sewage overflow

Posted by Readers' Page August 19, 2009, Categories: Letters
Angela Madonia/The Post-Standard

CORNELL COOPERATIVE Extension workers and volunteers work on a rain garden in Skaneateles last summer.

To the Editor:

The Partnership for Onondaga Creek fully supports the county's efforts to use green infrastructure, sewer separation and storage to avoid having to build any more swirler plants. In response to Peter E. Moffa's Aug. 12 letter, Mr. Moffa is missing the point.

First, it is important that everyone understand that green infrastructure is not going to solve the combined sewer overflow problems single-handedly, nor has that been proposed. Green infrastructure will, however, delay and reduce the volume of "peak flow" -- the point that overwhelms our current system. It makes it possible to design further "gray" capacity -- such as underground storage -- to capture the increased volume of water in our sewers and send it to the Metro treatment plant after the peak has passed.

We taxpayers have invested a lot of money in Metro's upgrades over the past decade. The reduction in ammonia and phosphorous that was formerly getting into Onondaga Lake and mucking up the ecosystem is applauded. It is important to understand that Mr. Moffa's swirler only treats for bacteria, and poorly at that. All of the phosphorous and ammonia pollution continues to go into Onondaga Creek.

Thankfully, the Midland sewage plant is at "50 percent capacity" as Mr. Moffa says, so it doesn't overflow very often, and most of the sewage goes on to Metro for full treatment.

The 12-foot-in-diameter pipe -- big enough to drive a bus through -- that he wanted to put alongside Onondaga Creek to "complete" the project, resulting in the disruption of 60 more homes, is currently on hold, in favor of green infrastructure.

Rain gardens, street trees, green roofs and other green infrastructure designs not only reduce runoff and pollution, they help beautify our community. Their simple presence helps educate people about how we can care for the watersheds we live in. As shown by Sustainable South Bronx's projects, installing green infrastructure can provide good jobs and pride in our community, both of which are badly needed in Syracuse.

Swirlers cost more than $120 million apiece. There are three more planned, according to the Amended Consent Judgment: one in Armory Square and two on Harbor Brook in Environmental Justice communities. Let's invest that money in ways that are of benefit to a community, instead of a stigma.

So, we must say, Mr. Moffa, that your design and the placement of the Midland plant in a residential community stink. We should know; you built it in our neighborhood.

Lindsay Speer, Richard Vallejo, Vernell Bentley, Elmore Davis, Tarki Heath, Louise Poindexter, Joanne Stevens and Aggie Lane

hydrofracturing drilling for natural gas in Central NY

This is an important water issue that a lot of people don't know about. You can listen to a radio piece about it on WRVO:
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wrvo/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1535101

green jobs for Syracuse

On May 20 at the Spa at 500, with help from Hanah Ehrenreich of CNY Works, the Partnership for Onondaga Creek held a city-wide meeting on green jobs and green job training. Thirty-seven people, representing educators, agencies, organizations, and contractors attended the meeting.

Check out the updates at the website for the Partnership here:
http://onondagacreek.org/

Partnership for Onondaga Creek Celebration

In August, several Armory Square business owners sponsored a party for the Partnership for Onondaga Creek and their allies for the work they have done to prevent a sewage plant from being built in downtown Syracuse.
Lula Donald speaks about the accomplishments of the Partnership for Onondgaga Creek in the Southside.

Coming soon

I'll be presenting UP THE CREEK! twice this fall, please mark your calendars to hear about progress on this project.

Saturday October 4, Public Memories | Visible Memories Conference, Syracuse University
http://publicmemories.syr.edu/

Thursday October 16, Oral History Association Conference, Pittsburgh, PA
http://alpha.dickinson.edu/oha/org_am_pittsburgh.html

WAER coverage

58 sec MP3

Back in April, UP THE CREEK! was featured on WAER, the Syracuse NPR affiliate. I've finally gotten around to posting the tape from their interview with project participant Ralph Cady.

alternatives to the sewage plant downtown

Read an update in the Syracuse Post-Standard about the new green infrastructure plans to replace the sewage facility that was planned for downtown Syracuse:
http://tinyurl.com/44kfqn

Download the student sound walks

The student walks for Armory Square and the Southside are ready for listening! Download the files below or visit the venues to check out a CD player. You will be guided by a narrator on a short walk around the neighborhood. It will take around 10-15 minutes. Stand in front of the building before pressing PLAY on your MP3 player. Be careful when crossing streets and enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

COLORS OF THE CREEK

This walk starts in front of the Redhouse Art Center in Armory Square, downtown.
MAP: http://www.theredhouse.org/directions

This link will download a .zip/archived mp3 audio file to your computer:
http://fereshteh.net/creek/Downtown.mp3.zip
The artists have created a set of images for you to take on your walk. You'll need to make an appointment at the Redhouse to pick up the envelopes from the staff there.

The CD is available for check out by appointment or drop-in.

Redhouse phone: (315) 425 - 0405

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SOUTHWEST SOUND WALK

This walk starts in front of the Southwest Community Center.
MAP: http://tinyurl.com/5p6wu6

This link will download a .zip/archived mp3 audio file to your computer:
http://fereshteh.net/creek/Southwest.mp3.zip

The CD is available for check out from the public library on the 2nd floor the community center.

SWCC Library phone: (315) 671-5814
Monday-Friday 10:00 - 5:00
closed Saturday and Sunday

No sewage plant in Armory Square

Good news: The county legislature decided to stop construction on the sewage plant downtown. They will be pursuing green infrastructure options instead. Read more about it in today's Post-Standard newspaper! LINK: http://tinyurl.com/5oeers

Coming Soon!

On May 9th, we will post MP3s of the sound walks created by students for Southwest and Downtown. Add us as a friend on MySpace or Facebook to get the latest updates!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Onondaga_Creek/580374815
http://www.myspace.com/315water

MayFest photo

Syracuse University sophomore Eduard Tabaku and Fereshteh Toosi
at the UP THE CREEK! table in the SU Dome on MayFest.

MayFest: April 22

As many of you know, Syracuse University students have been working to produce their own version of a sound walk for Onondaga Creek. SU holds an annual MayFest in April for sharing such projects, and this year it falls on Tuesday the 22nd. We invite you to come out to campus to hear student productions in progress.

The students will be available to answer your questions in the Dome from 9 AM to 3 PM, where you can hear the first version of two group projects on a boombox. Also, a short radio piece by Stef Quam and Eduard Tabaku will be featured at the The Division of Student Affairs Civic Engagement and Sustainability Council showcase from 10 AM to 4 PM in Room 304 of the Schine Student Center.

For more information and a schedule of the days activities go to:
http://mayfest.syr.edu/

swimming UP THE CREEK!

Today I visited several spots along Onondaga Creek with teens who are working for Cornell Cooperative Extension's Onondaga Earth Corps. We were lucky to see some fish, maybe carp or suckers, trying to swim upstream in the current that runs under the bridge at Kelly Brothers Memorial Park. Watch the video below!

We also saw a beaver at the headwaters of the creek at Tracy Lake in Tully, sycamore trees, and found a dead deer that one of the corps members had spotted on his walk to school.
Sadly, people are still dumping along the creek. At Kirk Park, we found this collection of highly toxic electronics. Many of the teens in the corps have worked on clean-up along the creek. On the trip today, they took photos and wrote down their observations as research for a sculpture they'll be building out of found objects from the creek. Watch for the unveiling of their art work at Beauchamp Library on Earth Day, April 22.

Sizdah Bedar Potluck

It was a beautiful sunny day, a perfect time for the spring potluck and listening party.

6 April Potluck Party

You are cordially invited to a potluck party for UP THE CREEK! documentary arts project

Sunday 6 April 2008 at 1:00 pm
Zen Center of Syracuse
266 West Seneca Turnpike 13207

Come listen to selections from the interviews about Onondaga Creek. We will also celebrate Sizdah Bedar, “Getting Rid of 13,” a Persian ceremony for welcoming spring and saying good-bye to bad spirits from the previous year by tossing sprouts into the creek.
Please bring a vegetarian dish for this shared meal sponsored by Bread and Roses Co-op.

RSVP: 443-8796 or 315water@gmail.com

City Eagle article about the project

LINK to download the PDF of the article from the 27 March issue of the City Eagle:
http://fereshteh.net/press/pdfs/city_eagle.pdf

Fabius Street

1 min 43 sec MP3

Theresa M. used to live on Fabius Street (above). This house was next to the railroad bridge (below) behind the MOST building where the new sewage plant is being built.
Stay tuned for audio clips from Theresa and the many interviews I've been gathering in the past few weeks with Bruce and Barbara C., Joyce B., Kay L., Ralph C. and Chief Irving Powless of Onondaga Nation.

Plenty Magazine article

Want to get some general background info about the sewage plants on the creek in Syracuse?
Read this article, out today in Plenty Magazine:
http://www.plentymag.com/features/2008/02/syracuse_community_spotlight.php