Environment Impact Assessment or Environment Impact Study and the 33 Expressway

Recently, I attended a press conference and public meeting hosted by the Eastside Parkways Coalition, a group that is advocating for the complete restoration of the Expressway near Humboldt Parkway as opposed to building a tunnel over it.

The meeting was well attended, with several families who still live on Humboldt Parkway, in attendance. They spoke eloquently and many complained about the noise that will be generated by blasting and drilling into the rock bed to widen and deepen the 33.

Many of them spoke of health issues they or some of their family members have been experiencing for decades.

These illnesses include a higher than normal rate of asthma, cancer, COPD and other respiratory problems. Some of them asked if an Environmental Impact Study or Assessment was done? To my knowledge it was stated that only an Environmental Impact Assessment or an EIA was done. There is a difference in both procedures even though they look and seem to be almost the same.

An Environmental Impact Assessment documents the need, benefits and or consequences of a particular project or development, while an Environmental Impact Study is a statement of the current project, the impact of the project on the environment, whether it has been positive or negative. The environment portion of the study would include the high rate of illnesses in the area and the increase in noise and pollutants that are or will generated by the proposed project. Another way of looking at this is to say: an EIA defines the Purpose and Need of the project. A need that is driven by the 70,000 plus cars that are using the 33 during the morning and afternoon peak hours. An EIS takes into consideration: will the proposed project have a negative or a positive result on the already existing conditions or will more persons be affected by the proposed project?

Some in the environmental field have suggested that there is another choice in addition to building a tunnel or leaving it the way it is now. And that choice, some have designated Option10, calls for the restoration of Humboldt Parkway by filling in the Expressway to the way it was before shortsighted politicians gave the order to dig it up! These environmental specialists and preservation leaders are supporting the restoration that would cost only a fraction of the amount of the Tunnel and would definitely improve the health and well-being of people in the area. The hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings could then be used to address the other pressing needs of the 33 Expressway.

p until now, the homeowners in the Impacted area on Humboldt Parkway have felt locked out of the process or that their opinion did not matter. I want to thank the Eastside Parkway Coalition for hosting the meeting to give residents and homeowners a say on an issue that affects them, good or bad, the most.

Whatever the decision the NYS Department Of Transportation makes, I hope they are reminded of the oath those in the medical field take: First Do No Harm! It is too bad those who made that fatal decision to uproot long established neighborhoods and destroy Olmsted’’s Parks and Parkways masterpiece had thought about the harm that they were unleashing on a city and a people that did not deserve it.