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Talks Focus on Bronx Golf Course

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. announced on Monday that the city had started talking with Sanford Golf Design to design and build a championship-caliber golf course over a former garbage dump at Ferry Point Park in the Bronx, potentially giving new life to a project that has been dogged by years of delay and problems. The project’s price tag has nearly quadrupled since it was proposed in 1998, to well over $80 million, by one estimate.

The proposed 18-hole, links-style Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course would be built using city capital funds, with an estimated completion by the fall of 2010. A public hearing on the proposal has been scheduled for 10 a.m. on June 26, 22 Reade Street in Manhattan. After construction has begun, the city plans to seek proposals from businesses to operate the golf course and make additional improvements, including a clubhouse and restaurant.

However, New York City Park Advocates, a community group that has often been critical of the Parks Department, quickly issued a statement criticizing the proposed deal. The group said that the city had not completed a study of the project’s environmental impact, noting that the site included a former landfill.

The project has a long and troubled history.

In 1998, during the administration of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, the Parks Department announced plans to have a developer, Ferry Point Partners, build a golf course. It would have received a 35-year lease in exchange for financing the $22 million project, which was to be completed by 2001. The 222-acre site called for a driving range, a clubhouse, two playgrounds, a banquet hall and a restaurant overlooking the East River, as well as a waterfront esplanade.

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Councilman James Vacca fuming mad at Citgo stations

This Citgo gas station, on the Southbound side of the Hutchinson River Parkway, is one of the highest priced gas stations in the Bronx.

Councilman James Vacca got the city to take action against the high prices at the Citgo stations on the Hutch.

They should pour this gas from a Champagne bottle.

A Bronx lawmaker hit the gas price ceiling over what two local gas stations on leased city land were charging motorists - and got results.

Councilman James Vacca took aim at the CITGO gas stations on the Hutchinson River Parkway near East Tremont Ave., where gas prices started at $4.49 last week. According to the American Automobile Association, the average price in the city is $4.12.

“Historically, these gas stations have been the highest in the borough by far,” Vacca said. “Even now, with the current crisis we face, they continue to be the highest. When I saw that it hit $4.49, that was the last straw.”

In a letter to the city Parks and Recreation Department, which owns the land, Vacca called on Commissioner Adrian Benepe to terminate the lease of the twin stations, which face each other on opposite sides of the parkway.

“These two stations are notorious for charging 25 to 35 cents more than stations only three blocks away,” Vacca wrote in a May 23 letter.

A listing of gas prices on MSN.com showed the two CITGO stations ranked as the most expensive in the Bronx.

Vacca’s office has been fielding numerous complaints about the prices.

“With residents of the Bronx feeling the pinch of ever-increasing gas prices every day,” Vacca wrote, “it is unconscionable that the city would tolerate flagrant price-gouging.”

In response, Parks officials said they are sending the concessionaire, Super Value, a “Notice to Cure” that states their gas prices are inconsistent with prices charged at other area stations.

The notice orders the owners to immediately adjust their prices accordingly to comply with the terms of their contract. An inspector is to follow up.

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 Brian Markey, second from right, and Owen Cahillane, right, having a party on their houseboat.

Creek-Side House Boat In The Bronx Fits Perfect Budget For 2 Young Roomates

As hosts of a small gathering the other night to watch a college football game, Brian Markey and his roommate, Owen Cahillane, hustled to get their place ready, which took a startling amount of time, considering that it has only 250 square feet of space. They live on a houseboat in the Bronx, on a finger of water that is formally known as Westchester Creek. It is close to the elbow of the Hutchinson River Parkway and the Cross Bronx Expressway, in a pocket of the city that is in no immediate danger of becoming the new Williamsburg.

Mr. Markey, 25, found the houseboat, the Pee Jay, after seeing an ad for a rental that was only a seven-minute canoe ride to the Whitestone Multiplex.

On Monday evening, to get a signal for their television, he and Mr. Cahillane, 28, turned to the neighboring houseboat, which is vacant because of an unfortunate tilting episode but still has a handsome, and functioning, satellite dish. They ran a cable from the dish through a window into their living room. By pulling as far and as hard as possible, the cable just reached the television set.

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