As president of the watch dog organization of The Dam Concerned Citizens Inc. of Schoharie County, I would like to respond to the press release issued by the DEP yesterday afternoon.
Although we are pleased at their announcement, this is not a new and brilliant idea. We have been fighting for these concessions for months. At the Board of Supervisors meeting last month this organization presented testimonies from the State Assembly Hearing at SCCC in March and video of Dan Docktoroff, all documenting that statements were previously made by Commissioner Emily Lloyd, people on her staff, and Deputy Mayor Docktoroff regarding the use of flood gates,and paying for the siren warning system.
Our Board of Supervisors was also requesting these same things, as well as the siphons remaining in place during all construction, and not to remove the notch cut in the crest of the Dam. Any step forward gained with NYC and DEP is gladly welcomed, as it furthers our cause of safety for the residents living in the path of a potentially life threatening situation. These steps are only taken after much struggling and many fervant prayers. This is not the end of our fight for safety, now we continue pressing for a higher factor of safety, and legislation to hopefully prevent this from happening again to us or anywhere else in this country.
