By Kathianne Boniello
This week some of those Bayside Venetians expressed gratitude to the city Department of Environmental Protection for working this month to correct sewer blockages in the area and relieve the potential for flooding.
After torrential storms in September, some homes sustained substantial damage, including one resident whose basement was flooded up to the ceiling. Following those storms, DEP Commissioner Joel Miele visited the area and promised to work on the problem.
Al DiBiase has lived on 36th Avenue since the 1950s and has been fighting with the city to solve the problem since then.
“I think my letters and phone calls of so many years may be coming to an end,” he said Monday. “The work they've done – I think it's definitely going to help our area.”
Henri Sathue, who has also lived on 36th Avenue for 40 years, said: “I'm pretty happy with the work they seem to have done. They have worked quite a bit. They did a lot of digging and a lot of connecting.”
DEP spokeswoman Natalie Milner said the agency had spent several weeks in January improving many of the sewer systems in the area around 36th Avenue and 201st Street.
She said a blockage in the sewer system at 46th Avenue and 162nd Street near Flushing Cemetery which had been forcing storm water to back up was removed.
Milner also said the Department of Environmental Protection added seven catch basins to the area between Jan. 8 and Jan. 15, and adjusted sewers between 36th and 38th avenues to make sure storm water in the neighborhood was distributed evenly.
DiBiase said “we're not looking for the streets to be bone-dry. What we're looking for is to take away the water before it floods our cellars.
“I believe they're coming through for us,” he said of the DEP's recent work. “They've made more changes than anyone else has.”
