Sergey Kadinsky

Written Works

Storm Sewer Hides Underground Stream

October 16, 2008

A section of this story was published in the Queens Courier. Below is the full version.

They emerged in the most puzzling manner, shirtless out of a storm sewer drain. The three teens were arrested for criminal trespassing. Located at Underhill Avenue and Fresh Meadow Lane, the 12-foot-wide drain is large enough to fit a car, and transports more than the excess storm runoff. It is a link into the watery past of Queens.

Schiller Milfort, 16 of Hollis, Marvin Ottley, 17, of Bellaire, and an unidentified 15-year-old-boy were hoisted from the sewer on Oct. 15, facing criminal trespassing charges. The Daily News dubbed them the “Ninja Turtle imitators.”

“They were curious,” said Flushing resident and urban planner Paul Graziano. In 2001, Graziano was the Green Party candidate for City Council, proposing the restoration of Kissena Creek, from a natural spring at the Kissena Park golf course, westward towards the Queens Botanic Garden.

“Fresh water is sitting below the ground,” said Graziano. “This is one of the few places to daylight because it is in a park.” In recent years, examples of local wetlands restoration included Sherman Creek in upper Manhattan and Udall’s Cove in Little Neck. For now, talk of doing the same for Kissena Creek and the much larger Flushing River remain the province of dreams.

Since 1982, stream’s centerpiece, Kissena Lake had its spring source diverted by sewers, and its water currently comes from the upstate-based water supply. Graziano expressed dismay at the arrangement. “The spring-fed fresh water is colder and more basic.”

When asked whether the daylighting of the storm sewer would be seen purely as a throwback to history, Graziano touted its benefits. “It would provide a constant flow of water, reversing [environmental] damage. People can enjoy that.”