Fresh Kills Landfill

Fresh Kills (from the Middle Dutch word kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel") is a stream and freshwater estuary in the western portion of the New York City borough of Staten Island. It is the site of the Fresh Kills Landfill, formerly New York City's principal landfill. The watershed (basin) of the Fresh Kills drains much of the wet lowlands of the western portion of the island and flows into the Arthur Kill around the Isle of Meadows. Its co-tributaries include the Rahway River, Morses Creek (New Jersey), Piles Creek, and, via Newark Bay, the Passaic River and the Hackensack River. The channel around the north end of the Isle of Meadows is sometimes called Little Fresh Kill and the southern channel is called Great Fresh Kill. The stream has two major branches. The north branch is Main Creek. The south branch is Richmond Creek, which drains much of the central part of the island, with its headwaters near Historic Richmond Town, on the southern end of the terminal moraine of the island. The system of streams provides recreational kayaking and wildlife viewing in the preserved wetlands. Since 2006, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation has been implementing the master plan developed by landscape architecture firm Field Operations to transform Fresh Kills Landfill into Fresh Kills Park. Covering 2,200 acres (8.9 km2), nearly three times the size of Central Park, Fresh Kills Park will offer a variety of public spaces and facilities for varied activities including nature trails, mountain biking, community events, outdoor dining, sports fields, kayaking and canoeing. In addition, the park's design, ecological restoration and cultural and educational programming will emphasize environmental sustainability and a renewed public concern for our human impact on earth. Renewable energy is planned both for use in capital projects and for large-scale demonstration and public benefit. Photovoltaic cells, wind turbines and geothermal heating and cooling are components of current capital projects. While the full build-out will continue in phases for the next 30 years, the first sections of parkland to be developed opened in early 2010, and the park is expected to be complete by the 2030s.

Freshkills Park is a public park being built atop a former landfill on Staten Island. At about 2,200 acres (8.9 km2), it will be the largest park developed in New York City since the 19th century. Its construction began in October 2008 and is slated to continue in phases for at least 30 years. When fully developed by 2035–37, Freshkills Park will be the second-largest park in New York City, after Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, and almost three times the size of Central Park in Manhattan. The park is envisioned as a regional destination that integrates 2,200 acres of open grasslands, waterways and engineered structures into one cohesive and dynamic unit that will host a variety of public spaces and facilities for social, cultural and physical activity, learning and play. Sections of the park will be connected by a circulation system for vehicles and a network of paths for bicyclists and pedestrians. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) is managing the project with the New York City Department of Sanitation.

Richmond Creek is a major stream in Staten Island, New York City. Its upper drainage basin includes the remote forested hills in the center of the island. It empties into the Fresh Kills.Its source is Ohrbach Lake, located on the grounds of the Pouch Camp, maintained by the Boy Scouts of America. From there, it enters the Greenbelt, crossing underneath the intersection of Manor Road and Rockland Avenue. It enters the Egbertville Ravine, then emerges from the ravine and flows along the east side of Lighthouse Hill. There, it skims the western edge of the Richmondtown neighborhood and through Historic Richmond Town. South of Richmondtown, it emerges into a wide floodplain that has been designated as part of Staten Island's Bluebelt, a region of protected wetlands. It flows under Richmond Avenue south of the Staten Island Mall, and flows into the Fresh Kills alongside the former Fresh Kills Landfill and the developing Freshkills Park.In colonial times and in the early 19th century, the creek was used to operate up to 11 mills in the center of the island. One such mill is being restored along the creek in Historic Richmond Town. In late 2017, a family of beavers moved into the creek, cut down over 100 trees, and contributed to local flooding. DEP destroyed a small dam, but the beavers repaired it overnight. The beaver, the state mammal, enjoys protected status, complicating efforts at population control.

Aspen Knolls Estates is a private community in Staten Island, New York City. It contains 944 single-family town homes and is located in the neighborhood of Arden Heights on the island's south shore, near the intersection of Arthur Kill and Woodrow Road. The development of the community was originally for Navy Housing. Plans for this community began in the mid-1980s following the closing of the Saint Michael's orphanage (1982) with some of the land set aside for a church. The church also maintained a convent for the Presentation Sisters on the east side of the property. The church, now closed, and its grounds are surrounded on three sides by the Aspen Knolls Estates community, and by Arthur Kill Rd. on its fourth side. The Aspen Knolls Estates community was originally meant for housing of Navy families. However, due to Base Realignment and Closure, the housing contract was terminated in November 1994 after the closure of the Staten Island Homeport in Stapleton. With the community already planned, its builders decided to go through with construction and sell the homes to regular citizens. Construction began in 1995 and was finished in early 2006. During this time period, people moved into the community as each house was finished being built. The community today has over 4,000 residents. Surrounding two sides of this development (alongside the rear of homes lining Ilyssa Way from Arthur Kill Road to Woodrow Avenue.) is Arden Woods, with almost 200 undeveloped acres of forest and wetland, including some hiking trails.

Isle of Meadows is a 100-acre (0.40 km2) uninhabited island in the New York City borough of Staten Island in the United States. It is located along the western side of Staten Island, where Fresh Kills empties into the Arthur Kill. The island is owned by the city of New York. It is now a nature preserve providing important meadow and salt marsh nesting habitat for herons, ibises, and egrets, and is not open to the public.

Oceanic H&L Co.No.1 INC is a volunteer fire department located in the Travis neighborhood of Staten Island in New York City. It works in cooperation with the New York City Fire Department. Oceanic was formed April 17, 1881. The firehouse was moved by horse from its original location at 29 Meredith Avenue in 1902 to its current location at 4010 Victory Boulevard.Typically the department responds in addition to the initial assignment dispatched by the FDNY. The department is fully trained and operational with the apparatus and equipment they have. Therefore, when they arrive on a scene first, or when needed, they will implement their operations alongside FDNY as applicable. Oceanic currently operates three pieces of apparatus, Engine 1, a 1997 Seagrave (formerly FDNY Engine 40), and the Brush Unit, a 1959 Dodge M37/1975 Scat. Brush Unit, a 1993 M35A3WW (with winch) AM General.Eastern Surplus modified the apparatus by shortening the chassis and removing one of the rear axles, converting the unit to four wheel-drive. It is equipped with a skid with a 24-ton winch, 75 GPM pump, 300-gallon water tank and 12-gallon foam tank. This Brush truck was part of a 100,000.00 grant 50,000.00(truck) and 50,000.00 (building maintenance) provided by Assemblyman Michael Cusick. Oceanic is the oldest of the two currently existing volunteer fire companies in the county. Richmond Engine Co. 1 was founded in 1903. They are dispatched by the FDNY Staten Island Communications Office and operate on the FDNY Staten Island frequency. Oceanic has a roster of 38 Active members headed by Captain James Wakie. Metropolitan Fire Explorer Company was founded in 1976. They are located on the grounds of Seaview Hospital in Willowbrook. While Metro Fire operates two fire engines, they respond primarily to rescue calls, search and rescue, event standbys, and perform fire patrols.

Travis is a residential and industrial neighborhood in west-central Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City. It is bounded on the north by Meredith Avenue and Victory Boulevard, on the east by the William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge, on the south by the Fresh Kills, and on the west by the Arthur Kill. Some local geographers classify Travis as being part of the island's West Shore, while others reckon it as a Mid-Island neighborhood.

Richmond Avenue is a major north-south thoroughfare on Staten Island, New York. Measuring approximately 7.0 miles (11.3 km), the road runs from the South Shore community of Eltingville to the North Shore community of Graniteville.

Mid-Island is frequently applied to a series of neighborhoods within the New York City borough of Staten Island. Under the definition most commonly adhered to, Mid-Island comprises all of the communities whose ZIP Code is 10314, plus Sunnyside within ZIP Code 10301, along with the western slope of Todt Hill. Mid-Island communities thus include Graniteville, Bulls Head, Willowbrook, and New Springville, Sometimes the localities situated along the Arthur Kill between the Staten Island Expressway and the Fresh Kills — Bloomfield, Chelsea and Travis — are said to be on the island's West Shore; otherwise they too would fall within Mid-Island as their ZIP Code is 10314. Like all of Staten Island except for the North Shore, farms dominated the Mid-Island region until the 1960s, when new home construction began to rise sharply. The opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in 1964 did much to stimulate this construction, but the effects of this phenomenon were first seen most profoundly on the East Shore, not spreading inland until nearly the end of the decade. In addition to starting somewhat later, the population boom experienced in Mid-Island also exhibited some important demographic differences from that which took place to the east, as in Mid-Island Jewish transplants (from Queens as well as Brooklyn) tended to predominate, in contrast to the heavily Italian-American influx experienced on the East Shore. These demographic differences are not present today with mostly Italian-Americans dominating the area. The ZIP Code 10314, which covers much of the Mid-Island area has the largest percentage of Asians of any ZIP Code on Staten Island, at 13.3% Non-hispanic Asian.The Mid-Island region's character was transformed dramatically in 1973, when the Staten Island Mall opened in New Springville, on a site that was originally used as an airport. This led to the Richmond Avenue corridor, from New Springville to Graniteville, becoming the island's liveliest commercial strip, spawning much traffic congestion in the area; even during midday hours on weekdays, traffic is typically moderate to heavy along Richmond Avenue and Victory Boulevard, which intersects Richmond Avenue in Bulls Head. Besides the Staten Island Mall, other prominent landmarks found within Mid-Island include the former Willowbrook State School (now a campus of the City University of New York), St. Francis Seminary (on the property of which the highest point on Staten Island is located), and the former New York City Farm Colony adjacent to Sea View Hospital and Home, a city-run nursing home. Most of Mid-Island lies within the NYPD's 122nd Precinct, headquartered in the East Shore community of New Dorp, a considerable distance away; however, in 2005 the city approved plans to build a fourth police precinct on the island (which presently has three), with the new precinct's station house to be built at 974 Richmond Avenue, near Forest Avenue and the Baron Hirsh Cemetery. The MTA has the Yukon Avenue Bus Depot in New Springville.

Staten Island Mall is a shopping mall in New Springville, Staten Island, New York City, opened in 1973. It is the only indoor shopping mall in the borough. It is the largest retail center on the island and is the site of the island's third-largest public transit hub after the St. George Terminal and Eltingville Transit Center, with numerous bus routes that connect to the periphery of the mall area. It is the second largest shopping center in NYC. The anchor stores are Macy's, Dave & Buster's, Barnes & Noble, Ulta Beauty, AMC Theatres, Primark, Lidl, The Container Store, and JCPenney.

The William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge (WTDWR) is an 814-acre (3.29 km2) wildlife refuge straddling the New Springville and Travis sections of Staten Island. The park was named in honor of Staten Island native William T. Davis, a renowned naturalist and entomologist who along with the Audubon Society started the refuge with an original acquisition of 52 acres (210,000 m2). Additional acreage was acquired in increments and the park is today 814 acres (3.29 km2). Beginning in 2010, the adjacent 223-acre (0.90 km2) North Park section of Freshkills Park (the redevelopment of the Fresh Kills Landfill) has undergone preparation to serve as an expansion of the wildlife refuge. This refuge is the sixth largest park in New York City out of a total of 1,700 parks; it is only 30 acres (120,000 m2) smaller than Central Park. The United for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center is located at the William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge near the intersection of Travis and Richmond Avenues. The center seeks “to care for sick, injured and orphaned wildlife and return them to the wild.” The center is sponsored by the New York City Parks Department and serves as a holding facility for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Injured animals convalesce at the facility and are eventually returned to the wild. The refuge is at the confluence of Main and Springville Creeks, two tributaries of Freshkill Creek, a tidal creek which is connected to the Arthur Kill. Within the refuge there are expansive salt marshes with low marsh bordering the creeks and flooding twice daily with the high tide and a more expansive area of high marsh which floods occasionally during exceptionally high tide. In the low marsh, saltmarsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) is the dominant species while saltmeadow cordgrass (Spartina patens) is found in the high marsh. There are degraded areas of the marsh in which the common reed (Phragmites australis), an invasive species, has supplanted the native cordgrass; this generally occurs in the high marsh zone where the soil is saturated but infrequently inundated. In addition to the salt marshes there are forested uplands and a swamp forest and small spring-fed ponds. Marine life: The marine life present in the refuge includes the fiddler crab (Uca pugnax), ribbed mussel (Geukensia demissa), clam and oyster. Bird species: Over 117 bird species have been recorded at the William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge, including sharp-tailed sparrow (Ammodramus caudacutus), and wood duck (Aix sponsa). Among the species of raptors which frequent the park are red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) red-shouldered (Buteo lineatus), and rough-legged (Buteo lagopus) hawks and osprey. There are also various species of owl such as Barn (Tyto alba), great horned (Bubo virginianus), and short-eared (Asio flammeus). The Great blue heron hunts fish along the tidal marshes. Mammals: Muskrats (Ondatra zibethica) live along the marshes; there are also raccoons, eastern grey squirrel, chipmunk, and a few species of field mouse.In addition to the invasive common reed, some sections of the refuge especially along Travis Ave. are overrun by Japanese knotweed. The fresh-water New Springville Creek, which originates in the Greenbelt, flows into the park. The creek is subterranean for most of its length, having been enclosed in pipe.In the east of the refuge was the burial site for six people murdered and dismembered by the Bonanno crime family associate Thomas "Tommy Karate" Pitera, who was sentenced to life in prison in 1992.

Eltingville Transit Center is a park and ride transit center that is located in Eltingville, Staten Island. It is located at the intersection of Arthur Kill Road and Richmond Avenue, at the end of the Korean War Veterans Parkway. The transit center was completed in 2004. Amenities include schedules, maps, free parking, and vending machines for soda, snacks, and MetroCards. The center is halfway between the Eltingville Staten Island Railway station and the Staten Island Mall, another (de jure) transit center, including the adjacent Yukon Depot.