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=Pennsylvania Avenue and Fountain Avenue Landfills=

The Pennsylvania Avenue Landfill (also called the Pennsylvania Landfill, Penn Landfill or PAL ), and the Fountain Avenue Landfill (alternately the Fountain Landfill, FAL, or the Spring Creek Landfill ), are two adjacent former garbage landfills located along the Jamaica Bay coastline in Spring Creek, Brooklyn. The two landfills, which occupy around 400 acres of land, are located on adjoining peninsulas at the south ends of Pennsylvania Avenue and Fountain Avenue respectively. Closed by 1985, the two sites have since been turned into natural restoration areas, called Penn Park and Fountain Park respectively, part of the Gateway National Recreation Area.

The landfills were originally intended as temporary operations for land reclamation, in order to provide a southern extension of Spring Creek Park.

Description
The Pennsylvania and Fountain Avenue Landfills are located on adjacent peninsulas at the south end of the Spring Creek neighborhood, along the north shore of Jamaica Bay. The Pennsylvania Avenue site is located directly south of Starrett City at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue, between Fresh Creek and Hendrix Creek. The Fountain Avenue Landfill is located south of the Gateway Center shopping complex, between Hendrix Creek and Old Mill Creek. Both landfill sites are bounded by the Shore Parkway stretch of the Belt Parkway at their north ends. Both landfills are 130 ft tall, and are 110 acres and 297 acres in size respectively.

Until their closing, the two landfills were among the major facilities handling city garbage. The Fountain Avenue site received refuse from Brooklyn and Queens, including residential waste, street sweepings, construction and demolition debris, and asbestos and ash from incinerators. The Pennsylvania Landfill initially handled similar materials, but was later used primarilly to dispose of sewage sludge and waste oil. Illegal dumping.

The peninsulas which host the landfills are man-made, extended into Jamaica Bay past their natural extents as a result of landfill operations.

Pennsylvania oil pool and. PCBs.

Capping. Grassland.

History
In 1930, Spring Creek Park and the Shore Parkway portion of the Belt Parkway were proposed by Robert Moses, along with several other parks and highways. Moses planned to create several parks on wetlands by filling the land with municipal waste before developing the land into parkland. These included the future Spring Creek Park and sites in Marine Park, Brooklyn,Ferry Point, Bronx, Fresh Kills, Staten Island and Edgemere, Queens. Many of these sites would become long-term municipal landfills. In the 1930s, the Milford Street Landfill began operations, occupying much of the Spring Creek neighborhood including the current Gateway Center site. The Milford Street Landfill was closed in 1950.

Penn 1956. Fountain 1961 or 1963.

By 1967, it was estimated by sanitation commissioner Samuel J. Kearing that the city's landfills only had "about eight years" of capacity remaining. By 1970, the Fountain Landfill was handling one-sixth of the city's garbage. In 1972, the Gateway National Recreation Area was established by the National Park Service around Jamaica Bay. The two landfill sites were included in the Gateway Area in 1974. As part of the creation of the preserve, the Department of Sanitation was contractually bound to close and cap both landfills by 1985.

By 1974, plans emerged to eventually turn the landfills into parks. The Pennsylvania Avenue Landfill was closed in 1979, at a time when it was receiving 1,000 to 2,000 tons of municipal waste every day.


 * In 1981 it was discovered that beginning in 1974, a DSNY supervisor was paid $100-per truck to allow the dumping of toxic waste at four of the city's landfills including both Pennsylvania Avenue and Fountain Avenue. The other two sites were the Edgemere Landfill in Queens, and the Brookfield Avenue Landfill across from Fresh Kills in Staten Island.
 * 1983 water test nickle.
 * PCBs.
 * Starrett City health issues. Protests.

The Fountain Avenue Landfill was closed in December 1985. In its final year of operation, the Fountain site received 8,200 tons of city garbage daily, more than any facility except Fresh Kills. Afterwards, much of the city's garbage was diverted to the Fresh Kills and Edgemere Landfills, as well as to incinerators.

The landfills were declared a superfund site around 1990, and in 1991 the New York City Department of Environmental Protection assumed responsibility for the cleanup of the landfills. 1995. In December 1998, it was proposed to remove the Fountain Landfill's designation as part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, and reopen the site as a landfill in order to facilitate the impending closure of Fresh Kills Landfill. The plan was supported by Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Staten Island borough president Guy Molinari, and Manhattan Congressman Vito Fossella. The plan was criticized by Brooklyn borough president Howard Golden.

By 1999, members of the local communities complained of joyriders driving motorcycles and ATVs on the surface of the landfills, damaging the soil on top of them. In response, jersey barriers were installed around the landfills.

Initially planned to begin in late 2000. Construction March 6, 2002, March 27, 2002. Trees. Capping of the landfills was completed in 2006.

From Fountain Avenue page
Various tests of the Fountain Avenue area and landfills were conducted in 1985 and 1986.

A December 4, 1998 press announcement by Congressman Vito Fossella stated that Fossella "laid out a compelling argument for deauthorizing the property as part of Gateway National Recreation Area and restoring it as a temporary waste disposal site only for trash generated in Brooklyn".

Bill Farrell, writing for the New York Daily News, summarized the condition of the area during a 2003 article: "The malodorous, toxic and visual nightmare reviled by drivers along the Belt Parkway will soon be transformed into 400 acre of parkland along Jamaica Bay."

On February 12, 2004, New York City Sanitation filed a request to operate a yard waste composting facility. The application was completed on March 2006.

BergerWorld reported in its 2nd Quarter 2006 report: "Berger, teamed with URS, is assisting the New York City Department of Environmental Protection in the $160 million, 297 acre Pennsylvania & Fountain Avenue Landfills (PAFAL) closure project in Brooklyn, NY, one of the largest closures ever undertaken in the state of New York"

The landfill was mentioned on July 10, 2007 as undergoing a $20 million ecological restoration with the Pennsylvania landfill. The area is also under discussion by local government to be considered for more development. City Line Park was mentioned as being redesigned and transformed under a $1.5 million renovation launched this day.

Ecological concerns were later expressed for the area on a "New York Habitat Restoration" webpage.

Fountain Avenue has been infamous as a dumping ground for bodies of the Mob. In the 1930s a group known as Murder, Inc. used the area as a dumping ground for bodies. Later the DeMeo crew disposed of many victims there. The most recent find of a body was that of Imette St. Guillen, who was murdered on February 25, 2006.

Transportation
The park and landfill are served by the and  bus routes, which operate on Beach Channel Drive at the south end of the Edgmere Houses. The Q22 operates across the Rockaway Peninsula between Far Rockaway to the east and Roxbury to the west. The Q52, which terminates at Beach 54th Street, travels north via Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevards through Broad Channel to "mainland" Queens. The closest New York City Subway station is the Beach 60th Street station of the IND Rockaway Line, located to the southwest of the park at Beach 59th Street near Rockaway Beach Boulevard.

Etymology
The name Edgemere is derived from an Anglo-Saxon term, meaning "edge of the sea". The term Rockaway is derived from a word in the Algonquin Native American languages. Several meanings have been given, including "sandy place", "the place of laughing waters", "the place of our own people", or "neck of the land". This was the name of the Lenape tribe, who were a subset of the Canarsee (Canarsie) tribe, that occupied much of the area around Jamaica Bay.

Early history
Prior to the creation of the landfill, the site of Edgemere Park consisted of numerous separate islands within a much larger Little Bay between Dubos Point to the west and Bayswater Point to the east. It was originally known as "Little Bay Marsh". Norton Basin (also called Norton's Creek) originally was connected to the Atlantic Ocean by a creek called the Wave Crest Inlet, which separated the western peninsula from the mainland. The area around Jamaica Bay including the Rockaways was characterized by marshland. As late as 1872, the neighborhoods of Edgemere and Arverne were populated by cedar trees.

The area around Jamaica Bay including the Rockaway Peninsula was initially inhabited by the Canarsie and Rockaway Native American groups, who were often referred to erroneously as the "Metoac" or "Mantinecocks". The Rockaway primarily controlled the eastern and southern shores of Jamaica Bay in present-day Queens and Nassau County, while the Canarsie controlled the northern and western shores in modern-day Brooklyn. In 1685, the Rockaway Peninsula was sold to English Captain John Palmer by two tribal chiefs, Tackapausha and Paman. Palmer was said to have purchased the land for "31 pounds, 2 shillings". The land was considered to be "barren", consisting of meadow and marsh used for grazing. At the time, the peninsula stretched from the modern Rockaway Turnpike west to the modern Wavecrest neighborhood, making up the greater Far Rockaway area of Queens and what is now Five Towns, Nassau County (then called "Rockaway Neck"). The peninsula would later be extended west to Rockaway Point by the natural accretion of sand from tidal action.

In 1687 Palmer sold the land to English settler Richard Cornell, whose family would later found Cornell University. In return, Palmer received land in "Madnan's Neck", now Little Neck, Queens and Great Neck, Nassau County. Cornell had previously purchased what would become Flushing, Queens. Cornell constructed a house overlooking the Atlantic Ocean known as the "Cornell house" or "Cornell homestead", said to be the first permanent structure in the area. The house was located in the vicinity of Central Avenue (Beach 20th Street), Beach 19th Street, and Empire Avenue in modern Far Rockaway. This is the location of the contemporary Hebrew Institute of Long Island at Beach 17th Street and Seagirt Boulevard. The family also created a nearby burial ground on Caffrey Avenue and New Haven Avenue.

After the partition of the Cornell property in 1809, in 1830 John Leake Norton purchased land from the Cornell family, consisting of Edgemere and Far Rockaway. Norton formed the Rockaway Association with several prominent New Yorkers, and the association constructed a hotel on the former site of the Cornell house called the Marine Pavilion. The pavilion was opened on June 1, 1833. Although it burned down on June 25, 1864, the hotel catalyzed the development of the Rockaways into a resort town. The Far Rockaway Branch Railroad of the South Side Railroad of Long Island was opened in 1869 between Valley Stream and Far Rockaway, and was extended to the Seaside House in Rockaway Park in 1872. The New York, Woodhaven & Rockaway Railroad opened their line from Brooklyn and "mainland" Queens to Rockaway Park in 1880. The Ocean Electric Railway opened a streetcar line via the Far Rockaway Branch tracks in 1897.

Up until the 1880s, the Edgemere and Arverne areas were largely undeveloped and were among the last be developed on the peninsula. Edgemere, originally called "New Venice", was developed by Frederick J. Lancaster beginning in 1892, with the Hotel Edgemere opened in 1894. The Arverne neighborhood was developed by Remington Vernam. The Arverne Hotel was erected in 1888. A rail station in the neighborhood at Gaston Avenue was opened in 1888, and a second at Straiton Avenue in 1892. The Wave Crest Inlet, also called Wave Crest Lake, was filled in in 1911 in order to further develop the Edgemere neighborhood.

Creation of the landfill
In 1916, the New York City Waterfront Company acquired 359 acre of land on the north shore of the Rockaway Peninsula in Arverne and Edgemere, including the area around Little Bay. The land was located north of the former Amstel Canal, now Amstel Boulevard and Beach Channel Drive. The property was previously owned by Remington Vernam. The land, which consisted of salt marshes and beach, was to be filled in in order to construct bungalows; part of the site was already filled by dirt dredged from Jamaica Bay. In 1920, the New York City Board of Estimate planned to create Amstel Boulevard on the former canal right-of-way between Beach 35th Street and Beach 71st Street, where it would connect with Hammels Avenue and eventually feed in Beach Channel Drive. The route would cut across the New York City Waterfront property. All three roads now make up modern Beach Channel Drive.

Garbage landfilling at Edgemere by the New York City Department of Sanitation began on July 15, 1938. The landfill replaced an incinerator in nearby Arverne. By this time, garbage incineration was considered "obsolete". The property continued to be owned by the New York City Waterfront Company. Borrow pits with depths of 64 ft and 51 ft were dug into the Norton Basin and Little Bay respectively, with the dirt extracted used to create a base for the landfill. Around 2 million cubic yards of dirt were dredged from underwater for the landfill. The alterations to the basins and landfilling activity changed their biodiversity compared to other water bodies in the area. The Edgemere Landfill was one of several landfills created under then-Sanitation Commissioner William F. Carey. In addition to replacing incinerators, the landfill replaced the practice of dumping city garbage in the ocean. This practice was banned by a United States Supreme Court ruling in 1933.

Following complaints from the local community, on July 14, 1938 Andrew J. Kenny threatened to seek an injunction to stop the dumping at Edgemere. Kenny was the president of the Rockaway Chamber of Commerce and the Queens sewer superintendent. That same day, Sanitation Commissioner Carey was confronted by local residents while inspecting the landfill site. One of the complaints was that paint on the side of houses had either peeled or became discolored due to the fumes emitted from the landfill. The fumes were thought to either come from the mud from the bay used to cover the garbage, or the disinfectants used on the waste. The next day on July 15, dumping was halted at the landfill. According to Commissioner Carey, the odors at the site were caused by the use of mud to cover the garbage, and clean sand would be used in the future. Operations resumed on October 10, 1938. Meanwhile, residents continued to oppose dumping at Edgemere, citing fires and rat infestations. During a tour of the Edgemere Dump on February 11, 1939, Commissioner Carey claimed that it was "four and a half times more expensive" to dispose of waste through incinerators than to bury it in landfills. He also spoke of the benefits of landfilling, including reclaiming marshland and eliminating mosquitoes.

On March 28, 1939, Sanitation Commissioner William F. Carey and Health Commissioner Dr. John L. Rice were indicted on charges of violating the New York City Penal and Sanitary Codes, specifically of "unlawfully dumping raw garbage and maintaining a public nuisance" and of "dumping under or on top of water, or on land, any refuse in which...offensive and unwholesome material is included." The charges were based on the operation of city-run "garbage graveyards" in Queens. The five dumps in question were the Edgmere Dump, the Lefferts Dump at Lefferts Boulevard and Sunrise Highway (Conduit Avenue) in South Ozone Park near the future site of JFK Airport, Bergen Landing, and the future sites of Juniper Valley Park and Baisley Pond Park. The owners of the Edgemere and Lefferts landfills were also named in the indictment. Carey and Rice, both cabinet members under Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, surrendered to the Long Island City Courthouse and were released without bail.

A change of venue was granted on May 18, 1939 and the trial was moved to the Bronx. On May 31, the trial was postponed until October of that year. Around this time, dumping was resumed at the Edgemere Landfill. On June 19, 1939, the indictments were dismissed by Justice Isidor Wasservogel. As a consolation, a board of four health experts and a sanitary engineer was appointed by U.S. Surgeon General Thomas Parran Jr. to arbitrate the conflict and to investigate the operations of the five landfills. The board included Eugene Lindsay Bishop and Kenneth F. Maxcy. In addition, Carey announced that dumping at Edgemere would end on June 25 and cease until the fall. The charges were dropped by District Attorney Charles P. Sullivan due to a lack of individuals to testify in the trial.

On September 21, 1939, the arbitration board conducted a "secret tour" of the five landfills. At this time, the Department of Sanitation anticipated resuming landfilling at Edgemere that fall, which was opposed by local residents. In March 1940, the board released its report, which supported continued landfilling at the five Queens landfills including Edgemere as long as "sound sanitary practice is continued." The report claimed that landfilling helped control rat and mosquito populations in marshland. On June 22, 1940, the New York City Council passed a bill mandating the Department of Sanitation to begin using the available incinerators in the city. The bill was introduced by Councilman James A. Burke representing Hollis, Queens. Burke then proceeded to submit the bill to Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in an attempt to bypass the Board of Estimate. Many of the city's incinerators, including the Arverne incinerator, had been closed under the watch of Carey.

Rockaway Airport
On July 16, 1939, the Edgemere Airport (also called Rockaway Airport) was opened on the New York City Waterfront Company land between Beach 46th Street and Beach 54th Street. The airport was operated by Lawrence resident and commercial pilot Harry Gordon, and was said to be the first privately-owned airfield in the Rockaways. Prior to the construction of a hangar, planes for the airport were kept at Roosevelt Field in Nassau County. The airport was created for civilian training and leisure flying.

Following a lawsuit by Gordon, on December 26, 1939 city Commissioner of Docks John McKenzie was ordered by the Manhattan Supreme Court to award a permit to the airport. On July 8, 1940 after 15 months of operation, McKenzie issued a letter informing Gordon that the airport would be closed in 30 days due to not meeting facility requirements for airports in the city. Specifically, the airport failed to meet the requirements for 1800 ft-long and 300 ft-wide runways, and for an "unobstructed approach" to the airport. At this time, work commenced on expanding and developing the airport. The pilots training at the airport included members of the Women Flyers Of America. The airport would later become the headquarters of Women's Flyers Association of America.

In October 1940, the Rockaway Chamber of Commerce petitioned the federal Civil Aeronautics Administration to create a civilian pilot school at Rockaway Airport. In January 1941, Bayside resident Charles G. Meyer proposed converting his farm along Little Neck Bay into a city-operated airfield to train civilian pilots. Several wealthy residents of Bayside protested his plan, including actor and movie producer John Golden. As an alternative, Golden suggested to Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia that the Edgemere Dump be used for the airfield. On January 15, 1941, Mayor LaGuardia publicly rejected both the Bayside and Edgemere proposals, due to costs and potential hazards to Bayside residents. Meyer's farm would later become the Bay Terrace neighborhood, while John Golden's estate would become John Golden Park.

On July 26, 1941 the Civil Aeronautics Administration approved Rockaway Airport along with Nassau Airport in Hicksville, Long Island as civilian pilot training facilities. Meanwhile, Idlewild Airport (today's JFK Airport) was ordered to cease training of pilots. Upon the onset of World War II, in 1941 Gordon offered use of the airport and a supply of planes and pilots to the United States military in order to monitor and patrol the coast of Long Island during the war. In October 1941, soldiers from Fort Tilden in the western Rockaways began using the airport for ten days to conduct air raid drills. The offer to use the airport was officially accepted by Civil Air Patrol Major General John F. Curry in February 1942. Civilian flying, however, was banned by the federal government during World War II and Gordon abandoned the airport at this time. In early 1944, the airport was leased by the United States Coast Guard as a helicopter training base.

Following the war, in February 1946 Rockaway Airport was reopened by war veterans Joseph Alta and Perry Fuhr. Alta was an Army Air Force pilot in the China Burma India Theater of the war. Fuhr was a Navy test pilot. Alta had previously operated a flight school at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. Beginning on January 6, 1947, the airport was used as the receiving point for a helicopter mail service originating at LaGuardia Airport or Newark Airport, and serving both the Rockaways and Five Towns in Nassau County.

Development (Park plans and purchase of the property)
On January 11, 1946, new Sanitation Commissioner William J. Powell announced that the city would abandon the landfill system favored by his predecessor Carey and instead utilize incinerators, with half of the Borough of Queens' waste to be disposed of via incinerator immediately. On January 17, 1949, the Department of Sanitation opened a "Super Dump" in Howard Beach, located along Jamaica Bay stretching west of Cross Bay Boulevard. The new dump, proposed by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, was intended to receive most of the garbage from southern Queens and replace smaller landfills in other areas of the borough. The new Super Dump would either reduce the load on or entirely replace the Edgemere Landfill. The Howard Beach dump would operate until the completion of the South Shore Incinerator in Spring Creek, Brooklyn. Afterwards, the reclaimed land would become part of the planned Spring Creek Park.

In November 1952 and again in January 1953, Parks Commissioner Moses proposed to the New York City Board of Estimate that the city purchase the Edgemere Landfill, keep it in operation for 15 years, and eventually develop it into a park. At the time, it was estimated that keeping the site in operation would save the city $1 million annually in waste disposal costs.

In 1955, the city began plans for a housing project in Edgemere. The plans included an adjoining park on the site of the Edgemere Landfill, which had been in operation for nearly twenty years at this time. The New York City Board of Estimate approved the park project on April 29, 1955. On October 4, 1955 the City of New York began condemnation proceedings in order to acquire the Edgmere Landfill site adjacent to the future Edgemere Houses site. The park was to be named "Edgemere Park". At the time, the property was still owned by the New York City Waterfront Corporation. Plans for the park included eight tennis courts, along with a boat basin and ice skating rink. By this time, the site occupied 264 acre. Many of the small islands that once existed in Little Bay were now joined together and connected to the main Rockaway peninsula by landfilling. However, much of the future park site was still underwater. It was referred to as "the largest remaining undeveloped area in the Rockaways". Moses developed several public housing projects on the Rockaway peninsula during this time, all of which included an adjoining park.

Construction on the other adjoining infrastructure for the Edgemere Housing Project, Public School 105 and Rockaway Beach Hospital (the future Peninsula Hospital), began in 1957. The landfill site was purchased by the city via condemnation on December 12, 1957, costing $1,496,564. The purchase of the property by the city was criticized in 1958 by Queens Borough President James J. Crisona, with Crisona believing that the city paid too much for the property. The city paid $1.5 million for the site following an evaluation by city real estate appraiser James C. Sheridan. However, the city tax rolls assessed the site at $150,000, approximately one tenth of its purchase price. Crisona noted that Sheridan's appraisal was based on the land's potential for industrial development, but claimed that it could not be developed for 20 to 30 years due to its status as a landfill. He also compared the price of Edgemere Park to that of other properties in the area, which were appraised at much lower prices. Crisona criticized Sheridan, Corporation Council Peter Campbell Brown, and Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. for their roles in the purchase. Sheridan proceeded to file a $1 million defamation suit against Crisona, while Sheridan's $22,000 commission for the job was withheld by City Controller Lawrence E. Gerosa    Shortly afterwards, in July 1958 Brown resigned from his post.

Initial park development By July 1958, the Rockaway Airport was closed and demolished to make way for the housing project. On October 16, 1958, ground was broken on the Edgemere Houses project, with Robert Moses, Borough President James Crisona, and Governor W. Averell Harriman in attendance. During the ceremony, Moses spoke about his plans for the adjoining Edgemere Park. The first portion of the park would be a 300 ft-wide "buffer between the Edgemere State Housing Project and the operations of the Department of Sanitation". The plans for the remainder of the park, which would be the "largest park on the Rockaway peninsula," included an 18-hole golf course and a marina. Moses planned to create several parks on wetlands by filling the land with municipal waste before developing the land into parkland. These included the future Edgemere Park and Spring Creek Park, as well as sites in Marine Park, Brooklyn; Ferry Point, Bronx; Fresh Kills, Staten Island; and Kissena Corridor Park in Queens.

In December 1959, the Board of Estimate allocated $144,650 to add an additional 160,000 cubic yards of sand to the Edgemere Landfill, which would extend the site up to 2000 ft north into Jamaica Bay. The Board also planned to lay out Almeda Avenue between Conch Place (Conch Basin) and Beach 58th Street (Sommerville Basin), and to lay out Beach 51st Street, Beach 54th Street and Beach 58th Street in the area north of Beach Channel Drive. These streets would eventually serve the new housing project and park. In July 1960, the Board of Estimate approved of plans to begin developing 12 acre of Edgemere Park on the north side of Almeda Avenue across from the Edgemere Houses. The park would include baseball fields and eight clay tennis courts along with landscaping and paths. Conch Playground, then known as P.S. 105 Playground, was opened in August 1960. On October 17, 1960, Parks Commissioner Newbold Morris (successor to Robert Moses) announced plans for improvements to Edgemere Park, including baseball fields, tennis courts, and a park trail. The first building of the Edgemere Houses was opened on November 27, 1960. By 1962, plans remained to develop a marina at Edgemere Park. By 1963, tennis courts were completed at Edgemere Park, with a playground planned.

In 1965, it was claimed that the Edgemere Landfill contained more American herring gulls feeding and residing at the landfill than Cape Ann, Massachusetts, a known nesting region for the herring gulls, along with "all of Nova Scotia and Maine". At the time, it was estimated that 20 to 30 thousand herring gulls resided in the area around Jamaica Bay, attracted by the Edgemere Landfill and the Pennsylvania and Fountain Avenue Landfills in Brooklyn. That year, the Department of Sanitation opened the landfill for public use on a trial basis, accepting large items such as appliances, furniture, plumbing, and automobiles. In July 1966 in response to complaints from residents, the Parks Department began pesticide spraying at Edgemere Park in order to combat mosquitoes, rats, and phragmites. To eliminate the phragmites, the chemical Dalapon was used. It was suggested that physically uprooting the phragmites would be a better solution, but the equipment necessary to harvest the plants could not be used in the park as much of it still consisted of marshland. The rats, meanwhile, were said to have been brought by the dumping of trash at the landfill. That month, $29,250 was allocated for additional landfilling on the Edgemere Park land in order to create a playground and sports fields. During the fall of 1966, Edgemere Park was used as a practice field for the Far Rockaway High School football team, as their own home field was not usable during the season. On July 1, 1967, the Department of Sanitation again allowed local residents to drop off bulk refuse such as furniture or appliances at the landfill. By July 17, 1,000 tons of waste were deposited through this program at Edgemere, and at 20th Avenue in College Point. On March 24, 1968, the playground at Edgemere Park was opened, with a basketball tournament taking place.

In May 1970, the Rockaway Cultural, Educational, Recreational, and Historical Society proposed to rename Edgemere Park to Rockaway Community Park. Other potential names included Brotherhood Memorial Park, Jeanne Dale Katz Park, Martin Luther King Jr. Park, Tackapouscha Indian Historical Park, and William F. Brunner Sr. Park. On October 9, 1970, a fire broke out at the Edgemere Landfill, lasting six days before it was brought under control. The bill renaming the park was signed into law in 1971. The park was dedicated as Rockaway Community Park on June 17, 1973. While portions of the park including basketball courts and beach land were available for use at the time, most of the site had yet to be developed. Jamaica Bay Council president Jerome Hipscher desired for the park to be developed into "a miniature Central Park". It was also proposed to integrate the park with the new Gateway National Recreation Area created by the National Park Service.

Edgemere Sources

 * 
 * Full
 * Rockaway Parks Conceptual Plan
 * Full
 * via Issu
 * 
 * Greening Far Rockaway
 * 
 * 
 * /
 * Genealogy of the Cornell Family
 * Edgemere Housing Project Skeleton, 1960
 * Edgemere Houses Architects, October 1955
 * Acquire Edgemere Houses Site, July 1955
 * Edgemere Houses bids, September 1958
 * To Take title Of Edgemere Houses Site This December, Rockawave, August 23, 1956 - Edgemere Houses = Low income; Arverne Houses = Middle income
 * Edgmere Houses Public-Private, DNA, Jan 2017
 * Houses began accepting applicants on March 10, 1960.
 * Audit Report on the Effectiveness of the Department of Parks and Recreation’s Parks Inspection Program, March 2012
 * Garbage Gridlock, City Journal, Autumn 1992

Pitching style
Matz's primary pitch is a mid-90s four-seam fastball, with significant horizontal and downward movement. Because of this, it is often referred to as a sinker. Matz also throws a changeup, curveball, and slider. His curveball was developed in 2013 as an alternative to the slider. He has avoided the slider at times to prevent elbow injury. Matz uses the movement on his pitches to generate ground balls.

Career
Rivero began the 2017 season as a setup man. After a 0.58 ERA in 31 games, on June 9 he was named co-closer for the Pirates along with Juan Nicasio, replacing Tony Watson. Rivero later assumed primary closing duties, with Nicasio becoming the eight-inning setup man. Rivero earned 21 saves in 23 opportunities in 2017.

Pitching style
Rivero throws a fastball which can reach over 100 miles per hour. Rivero's fastball averaged 96.4 mph in 2016 and around 98 mph in 2017. As a prospect with the Rays, Rivero initially threw only 86 mph. He also throws an effective changeup at 89–90 mph with two-seam movement, which he picked up in the Rays minor league system. Rivero began throwing it frequently in 2015, and uses it around 25 percent of the time. He also throws a slider and a curveball.

Product description
Popcorn chicken was originally created using dark-meat chicken trimmings left over from "Hot Thighs", a Hooters and Wawa offering also invented by Gene Gagliardi. The original hot thighs were quarter-inch strips of chicken thighs. To create the popcorn chicken, these trimmings were marinated, breaded and battered, and deep fried. The current iteration of popcorn chicken utilizes white meat.

History
Gagliardi originally presented hot thighs to KFC in early 1992. After mixed reviews from the executives, he and his assistant improvised and created popcorn chicken. Gagliardi originally called the invention "Finger Pickin' Chicken" or "Fing'r Pick'n Chick'n", after KFC's slogan "finger lickin' good". It was later renamed popcorn chicken after the pre-existing "popcorn shrimp". The product was test-marketed in select US markets including Orlando, Florida beginning in March 1992. It was launched nationwide by September 1992. Popcorn chicken was introduced at a time when the poultry industry was transitioning away from bone-in fried chicken and towards boneless offerings. The product was also a part of KFC's rebranding efforts, targeting younger customers.

Popcorn Chicken has been periodically available in KFC outlets in the United States. It was re-introduced in the US in 1998, and again in 2001.

In 2003, a UK study found that KFC Popcorn Chicken contained only 66 percent meat.

It was later re-introduced once again in 2015, under the name "KFC Popcorn Nuggets".

Zerega Avenue Facility
The Zerega Avenue Facility is a one-story structure located on the east side of Zerega Avenue between Lafayette and Seward Avenues in the Castle Hill section of the Bronx. The facility sits on the western coast of Westchester Creek. Plans for the facility were conceived around 1999, and it was constructed in 2000. The facility received an award from the American Society of Civil Engineers for design-build project of the year in 2002. Around 2002, the Zerega shops began overhauling NYCT buses to operate on ultra-low-sulfur diesel. The facility includes paint booths for MTA buses, and was designed to maintain compressed natural gas (CNG) equipment. It also features numerous classrooms and a driving simulator to train MTA bus operators.

Bathgate Shop
The Bathgate Shop is a plant and equipment (P&E) central shop at 1745/1775 Bathgate Avenue in Claremont, Bronx.

Crane Street Yard
Crane Street Yard is an annex facility located at the east end of Crane Street off Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, Queens, across from the former 5 Pointz site. The facility is adjacent to the Long Island Rail Road's Arch Street Yard, overlooking the Sunnyside Yard near the portals to the East River Tunnels and the Hunterspoint Avenue station. The lot is used to store express buses during midday hours.

100th Street Depot and 108th Street Depot (East Side Omnibus)
The 100th Street depot was located at 433 East 100th Street in East Harlem. The 108th Street depot was located at 403 East 198th Street. The depots were inherited by the Board of Transportation from the East Side Omnibus Corporation on September 24, 1948. Following the closure of these depots, there were no city-operated Manhattan garages until the takeover of the Fifth Avenue Coach facilities in 1962.

Jackson Heights Depot / Northern Boulevard Depot
The Jackson Heights Depot or Northern Boulevard Depot was located at Northern Boulevard and 77th Street in Jackson Heights, Queens, across to the west from Travers Park. The depot occupied the north end of the block bound by Northern Boulevard to the north, 77th Street to the east, 34th Avenue to the south, and 76th Street to the west. It was operated by the Manhattan-based Fifth Avenue Coach Company from 1925 until 1962 for the company's 15 route (now the ) and 16 route (the discontinued Q89). The site was condemned upon municipal takeover, and was closed on December 22, 1963.