Robert Perry's Problem Is Our Problem, Too

Since I am naturally drawn to all bodies of water -- lakes, streams, rivers, ponds, marshes (love me a marsh!) -- I have been curious for several years about the stream that runs along the parking lot of Oakdale Park feeding Underwood Pond and, ultimately, our Hudson River.  The only water feeding that stream used to come from the large pipe, known specifically as Outfall Pipe #6, which funnels water from near the County DSS building located to the east of the park.

Occasionally, I would notice that water exiting the pipe had an oily sheen on its surface. I once considered getting the water tested but found the cost too much for me.  It turns out that there was some serious groundwater contamination on the DSS property leftover from a fuel depot located there in the early to mid-20th century.  After the DSS building was built, petroleum odors inside almost rendered the building unusable.  Wells were dug, and remediation efforts allowed the building to be used.  (I found this information online years ago, but I am having difficulty tracking it down now.)

After DPW allowed so much dumping last year near and above the pipe (removing nearly all of a small wetland full of phragmites in the process), and after the mudslide a few months ago, the flow of water has changed a bit.  This is what is known as disturbing a sensitive area, and any DPW Superintendent should know that this is to be avoided at all costs.  Fail to respect the natural world, and ultimately she will make you pay in more ways than one.  

Water is once again flowing from the pipe into the stream after DPW unburied the pipe, but another constant trickle or two of water have appeared recently.  In 7 years of keeping an eye on that stream near the pipe, I have never seen water that looks as foul as what I saw this morning.

The obviously polluted water seems to have resulted from Robert Perry's wise decision to dump as much dirt and debris in the Washington Street lot as possible and hope for the best.  If asked about it, Mr. Perry would no doubt claim that the discolored water is a coincidence that has nothing to do with the expanded lot that removed a wetland, caused a mudslide, and that the NY State DEC has told him to clean up.

Our DPW Superintendent does not, as far as I know, have an engineering degree, and he has a salary of over $114,000.  According to his DPW clerk, Robert "does not have an office" in City Hall, and "he doesn't work from" his own department's office in City Hall.  Last year during the heavy dumping in the lot, I asked him how many trees had been killed in the process of the dumping.  He replied with a question:  "You mean the garbage trees?"

What exactly was dumped in 
the lot last year?