US Army: spring03

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The New York

District TimesSpring 2003 Vol. 28, No. 2&3 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York Distric

Inside ...

New survey vessel to join District fleetThe Corps’ newest vessel, the Moritz w as

laun ched in Seattle, Wash. in Ap ril 2003, and is sched -

uled to join the N ew York District fleet this fall.

Crewed by civilian mariners, the Moritz willoperate from Caven Point, N.J. She is a catamaransurvey vessel and will replace the survey vessel Hatton,

according to Alan Dorfman, chief Physical SupportBranch, Opera tions Division.The Moritz will be shipped toFort Lauderdale, Fla., in July.From there she will steam u pthe Atlantic coast in August to

her new dock in Caven Pointand join the District fleet.

The Moritz underwentsea trials in the Seattle area inmid-May. The vessel’s hu ll-

moun ted sonar systems weretested, and she passed withflying colors, performing atoptimum level.

The Moritz is 58 feetlong, with a beam of 18 feet, 6inches. She displaces 30 tons,and can sustain speeds up to30 knots.

The Moritz as she was being launched

April 19, 2003, in Seattle shows the 2x

8101 sonar hull installs. The vessel un-

derwent sea trials in May.

The vessel is nam ed in h onor of Kurt L. Moritzwh o w as born in Tangerhutte, Germany, March 2, 1920He immigrated to the United States in 1923 and wasnatu ralized Jun e 4, 1932.

Kurt L. Moritz attend ed N ew York State Mer-

chant Marine Academy and graduated from the deck

dep artm ent in 1941. In 1942 he enlisted in the Armyand served as a mate aboardthe Army vessel Mayback inthe Arm y’s Mine Planter Service Divis ion. He w asaward ed the American Cam-paign an d World War II Vic-tory Medals. Moritz wa s

discharged from the regularArmy June 2 , 1946, and joined the Arm y’s Tran spor tService wh ere he served as a

ship’s off icer on variousArm y vessels un til joining

the Corps of Engineers in1950.

On August 4 , 1977Mori tz re t i red f rom the

Corp s after a 27-year careerHe d ied N ovem ber 17, 1988Robert K. Moritz, the son ofKurt Moritz, is currently asupply technician with the

Physical Support Branch atCaven Point.

The Moritz pierside in Washington. The vessel is 58 feet

in length, with a beam of 18 feet, six inches, displaces

approximately 30 tons, and can sustain speeds of up to

30 knots.

Page 8 Page 14

(PhotoscourtesyofGregoryL

ee)



U.S. Army Corps of Engineers • New York District2

New York District TimesNewsletter of the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,New York District

April-May 2003

Commander andDistrict Engineer

Col. John B. O’Dowd

Chief, Public AffairsPeter H. Shugert

[email protected]

Editor & Graphic Design

Vince [email protected]

- Authorization: The New YorkDistrict Times is an authorizedunofficial newsletter of the NewYork District. It is published inaccordance with provisions ofArmy Regulation 360-1.

- Circulation: 1500 copies perissue in print and available onthe world wide web.www.nan.usace.army.mil

- Submission: News, features,photos and art are solicited.Direct queries to: Editor, PublicAffairs Office, U.S. Army Corpsof Engineers, New York District,26 Federal Plaza, Room 2113,New York, NY 10278-0090.

- Contents: Views and opinionsexpressed herein are notnecessarily those of theDepartment of the Army or thiscommand. All photos, unlessotherwise credited, are officialU.S. Army photos.

of EngineersNew York District

US Army Corps ®

9-11-01

In and around the New York HarborProjects gain public and media attention

Brig. Gen. Merdith W.B.

Temple, Commander, North

Atlantic Division (left) and

Col. John B. O’Dowd,

District Engineer observing

dredging operations during

a winter harbor inspection

in the port.

Col. O’Dowd was also in-

terviewed aboard the

Corps vessel Driftmaster

earlier in the year aboutthe success and impor-

tance of dredging opera-

tions in the New York

Harbor.

The New York District is respon sible for the Corp s’ water navigation includ ing NewYork H arbor and Long Island. Col. John B. O’Dow d, District Engineer, also holds the

title of Sup ervisor of the New York Harbor. In this cap acity he is continu ously in-volved in the various imp ortant w ater navigation projects in and aroun d the p ort.

Getting the news out. On the deck

of the Corps vessel Hocking May 13,

2003, a press conference was held

while underway off the coast of

Staten Island.

Col. John B. O’Dowd, John Tavolaro

of Operations, and Representative

Vito J. Fossella, Jr., 13th Congres-

sional District, announced the

completion of maintenance dredg-

ing of the Great Kills Harbor federal

navigation channel, Staten Island.

Photos:PeterShugert



3The New York District Times • Spring 2003

The men of the Corps’ Forward Engineer Support Team while deployed to

Turkey (l-r) Andrew Smith, N.Y.; Philip Breen, Philadelphia.; Maj. Don Pincus,

N.Y.; Lanier Drake, Philadelphia.; William Matias, N.Y.; John Kenny, N.Y.;

Emiliano Cruz, Philadelphia.; Mark Kucera, N.Y.; and Maj. Dave Chestnut,

N.Y.

Corps’ engineer support team returns from deployment

The U.S. Arm y Corp s of Engineers

Forward Engineer Sup port Team retu rnedsafely from Turkey in April followingmonths of participating in Operation IraqiFreedom.

The team consisted of membersfrom N ew York and Philadelphia d istricts.While deployed, they provided technicalengineering assistance in the areas of mas-ter planning, design, project management,and quality assurance to the 18th Engi-neer Brigade (Theater Army) in su pp ortof Arm ed Forces Turkey, ARFOR-T.

The ARFOR-T mission involvedestablishing a 700-mile line of comm un i-cation to accomm odate the movem ent of the an Arm y infantry division into Iraq.

“The efforts of the team proved tobe invaluable to our arm ed forces in thesuccessful accomplishment of the mis-sion,” said Maj. Don Pincu s, of New York District.

During Lt. Gen. Robert Flow-

ers’ visit to New York District April 16,

he met with District interns who had

the opportunity to sit with the Chief and

ask questions over lunch. Flowers

spoke about their experiences while in

the intern program and about career

opportunities.

“I think it was interesting how

the general asked for our opinions

about the Corps,” said intern Christo-

pher Myers. “He also seemed very in-

terested in our answers.”

“He was very pleasant and I

was impressed that he chose to have

his lunch with us. To me that really

means something. It shows Corps’

commitment to the intern program,”

added intern Rifat Salim.

Chief of Engineers dines with future of the Corps

PhotoRandallWagner,HQUSACE

Welcome home

(PhotocourtesyofMaj.DonPincus)




Hudson River PCA

Lake Montauk Harbor FCSAThe Lake Montauk Harbor FCSA was signed by Col. John

B. O’Dowd, District Engineer in March. It is a multi-purpose

feasibility study for navigation and shore protection. The

New York State Department of Environmental Conserva-

tion is the study sponsor, and is cost-sharing the study

with the Corps. (l-r) Ellen Simon, Paul Sabalis, Col. John

O’Dowd (seated), Roman G. Rakoczy, New York State De-

partment of Environmental Conservation, and William

Slezak.

LAKE MONTAUK HARBOR FCSA TEAM

Johnny Chan, John Chew, Gennaro Cimmino, Stuart

Chase, Thomas Dannemann, Marty Goff, Cliff Jones,Richard Kiss, Stanley Nuremburg, Thomas Pfeifer,

George Perlmutter, Christopher Ricciardi, Howard

Ruben, Ellen Simon, Habib Soltani, Richard Kiss,

David Yang, and Steven Yandrich.

Photos:FrancisDelfino

Construction began in May following a February signing by

Col. John B. O’Dowd, District Engineer of a project coopera-

tion agreement for the Hudson River emergency streambankrestoration project in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The project spon-

sor is Dutchess County, and was authorized under section

14 of the Continuing Authorities Program.

(l-r) Stanley Nuremburg, Paul Sabalis, Karl Ahlen, and Ellen

Simon were present during the signing by Col. O’Dowd

(seated).

SignificantSignings

John O’Connor of New York Distirct at the microphone, addresses

a concerned group of people at a scoping meeting in New Jersey.

The Millstone River Basin stud y team held

a pu blic scoping meeting in Manville to inform th ecommu nity about the study an d to obtain p ublic

input.

The 238-square-m ile Millstone River Basin

is located in north -central New Jersey and includes

the Millstone River and its major tributaries. The

basin has a history of flooding, including events

during Hurricane Gloria, 1985, and Hurricane

Floyd , 1999. Both hu rricanes were tropical storms

wh en they reached the Millstone River Basin.

The scoop on scoping

Photo:Vince

Elias




Good new s is never too old especially wh en performing a rescue or saving a life. Crewmembers of theDistrict vessel Gelberman spotted a dog in the water off of Caven Point, N.J. in early Janu ary. Walter Grauling,skipper of the vessel Hatton, and Billy Fort, deckhand on th e vessel Dobrin

also saw the d og pad dling in the water.

Grauling immediately reved up the engine of the Hatton . Liz Finn,assistant skipper of the Gelberman and Bill Fort hu stled aboard . The Hatton

proceeded to the area. A small private survey boat was also un derway nearby.

The deck height of the H atton initially hind ered the rescue. Finn andFort boarded the sm all survey boat and pu lled the d og out of the icy wa ter.

They proceeded to the Gelberman wh ere the dog was taken aboard, dr ied off,and given fresh water. The dog w as taken by the Jersey City Police Depart-men t Emergency Services Unit.

The rescue story received TV, radio an d print n ews coverage, and as a

result was ad opted by a compassionate pet lover in less than a week.

Quick-acting boat crew rescues drowning canine

Photo:AlanDorfman

The dog was kept warm by his rescu-

ers aboard the vessel Hatton until

taken by the Jersey City Police De-

partment Emergency Services Unit.

Following a two-mon th trek half way around

the w orld, three huge cranes arr ived in the N ew YorkHarbor in early Janu ary from China.

As part of the first phase of wh arf facilities up -grade, APM Terminals North America transportedthree ZPMC container cran es 6,847 miles from Shang-

hai to berth 88 in the p ort.

The vibrant painted red , white, and blue craneswere transported via the ship Zhen-Hu a and took 60days to reach N ew York.

The Corps, U.S. Coast Guard and other agen-

cies were instrumental in navigating the cranesthrough the harbor and into the Port, particularlymon itoring the clearance un der tw o area suspensionbridges.

Pho

to:JoeMyers

All Clear -- The ship Zhen-Hua prepares to pass under the

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge between Brooklyn and Staten Island,

NY.

Corps assists with super

crane navigation clearance

This year’s Black History Month observance featureda talk by Andrew P. Jackson who also goes by his Africannam e of Sekou Molefi Baako . He spoke about Black His-tory, cultural awareness and achievements by African Am eri-cans. Jackson is the executive d irector of the LangstonHu ghes comm un ity library and cultural center in Queens.

At the p rogram’s conclusion, Lt. Col. Douglas Sarver,Depu ty Command er presented Jackson w ith a New York District coin and certificate of ap preciation. Victoria Grossof EEO arranged this year’s program.

District InitiativesSpeaker creates better understanding at

annual ethnic observance

(Photo:GeorgeLamboy)

(l-r) Lt. Col. Douglas Sarver, Deputy Commander; An-

drew Jackson, guest speakers; and Victoria Gross.

of EEO, at the Black History Month observance.




Mon. June 2 Meyer, Strong and Jones, Hecksher Field 6

Mon. June 9 at Mancini and Duffy, Hecksher Field 6

Fri. June 20 Flack and Kurtz, Great Lawn Field 5

Tues. June 24 Syska and Hennessy, Hecksher Field 6

Mon. June 30 at Flack and Kurtz, Hecksher Field 6

Mon. July 7 at Meyer, Strong and Jones, Hecksher Field 1

Tues. July 22 Parsons Brinkerhoff, Hecksher Field 1

Catch the action at home plate

Games are played at Central park. En-

ter Hecksher ballfields at 63rd Street

and the Great Lawn ballfields at 81st

Street.

District softball team wins season opener

Game Day Opponent/Field

Fully operational. A new computer-operated digital videoscreen now enhances the exterior of the U.S. ArmedForces Recruiting Station at Times Square.

Broadway booth gets a boost

Photo:FrancisDelfino

Putting recruits into the military throu gh ad vertising is one successful m ethod u sed by th e Armed Forces

At the center of the crossroads of the w orld in Times Square, New York is the location of the nation’s mostfamous military recruiting station.

On May 12 New York District installed a new computer-operated state-of-the-art digital video screen onthe south sid e of the Times Square recruiting station. The screen takes up almost ha lf of the station’s south

exterior and w ill convey text and p hoto images both dayand n ight.

The video screen was installed and successfully testedin April. Col. John B. O’Dow d, District Engineer was onhand as the power was generated at the inaugural lighting event.

Hom e to Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corp srecruiters, the station, referred to as “the booth,” is situ-ated on a traffic island above a subway line on Broad-

way. The station is used to interview and test applicantswh o volunteer to serve in uniform.

Rich Mandra is the project manager. The station isless than five years old and built of steel and glass. Thestation is the single most su ccessful walk in station in thecountry and plays an imp ortant role in the recruiting effort in N ew York.

The 2003 season began in April for New York District’s softballteam with a lopsided win fused by a tremendous amount of confidence.

Veteran coach Frank Verga heads a very optimistic team

consisting of veteran players and new talent alike who

signed up this Spring.

Everyone is invited to cheer on the team. All

games are played in Central Park weekly at 5:30 p.m.




Interns Rafal Turek and Carissa DeRooy (above) and John Killeen,

project archaeologist, and intern Kirsten Davis (right) excavat-

ing the prehistoric site at Port Monmouth, N.J. The prehistoric

site was discovered in 1998 by Corps archaeologists

District archaeologists investigate prehistoric siteBy John Killeen, archaeologist

On an October afternoon, 10 New York Dis-

trict archaeologists journ eyed into the w etlands of PortMonm outh, N.J., to evalua te a preh istoric site discov-

ered in 1998 by Corps archaeologists. Kirsten Davis,

Jeffrey Fry, Lynn Rakos, Christopher Ricciardi, Jenine

Gallo, Gail Woolley, Rafal Turek, Ca rissa DeRooy, and

Alek Petersen evaluated the site near the levee foot-

print on the Port Monm outh combined flood control

and shore protection feasibility study project.

“The site is imp ortan t because it is one of three

sites known th is close to the Raritan/ Sand y Hook

bayshore,” said Christopher Ricciardi. “The evalua-

tion was agreed to be necessary by N ew York District

and the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office.”

The evaluation d etermined the size, type and

da te of the site. Size determ ination is mad e by exca-

vating regularly spaced holes around the site of initial

discovery until the artifact recovery drops off to zero

in all directions.

“When th is is accomp lished you map the grid

of holes that you have produced and this is the site

boundary,” said Ricciardi.

The age of the site will be determined by the

ceramic pottery discovered at the site dated to the

Wood land p eriod (circa 1000 BC – AD 1600). This is

when pottery was first p roduced by Native AmericansTo verify this date tw o p ottery pieces w ere sent to th e

University of Washington for a process called ther-

moluminescence. The age determination will be avail-

able dur ing the Spr ing 2003.

The site type is d etermined by the location, the

nu mber and types of artifacts discovered. We have

foun d a resource procurement hun ting/ gathering site

It was d etermined that this type of site is a d ebitage

du e to the nu mber of artifacts found . Debitage is lithic

stone flakes that are the prod uct of making an d m aintaining sharpening stone tools such as arrowheads

scrap ers and kn ife blades. On resource procurement

sites, we normally don’t find more than one or two

arrowh eads, scrapers or knives. On more permanen t

habitation sites the artifacts wou ld have included these

and other typ es of artifacts.

Also discovered was that the site is mainly

outside the prop osed levee footprint and avoidable.

The analysis process is ongoing and the group

is creating m aps and writing the evaluation report an drecommendations coordinated with the New Jersey

State Historic Preservation Office.

(NYDistrictPhoto)




Historic bridge is returned to its birthplace

The Doty Road Bridge has carriedvehicles over New Jersey’s Ramapo River

for over a centu ry.

The bridge w as located w here NewYork District’s Ramapo River at OaklandFlood Control Project is un derway. Several

years ago it was determined by project man -agers that the bridge would be an obstruc-tion during floods and that it should beremov ed. The New Jersey State HistoricPreservation Office stated that somethingneeded to be don e with the bridge in terms

of mitigation because it is a cultu ral resource

and deem ed eligible for being listed in th eNa tional Register of H istoric Places in 1989.

Lynn Rakos, a District archaeologist,

took the lead in finding a home for the bridge, par-ticularly its trusses. The rest of the bridge w as weather-worn and had d eteriorated. “Our goal was to provideit to a non-profit, at no charge and to make sure itwould still be accessible to the pu blic,” said Rakos.

Rakos marketed the trusses nationwide. Shecontacted various historical societies, distributed ma-

terial about the availability to park m anagers and en-gineers, and placed an advertisement in a magazine.As a result, New York District received nu merou s calls

from a wide range of individuals who expressed aninterest in the bridge. “Engineering professors, inter-ested in the bridge’s history, said they w anted a p ieceof the truss. Another person offered to place it by a

s t ream on h i s ranch inNorth Dakota!” exclaimed

Rakos.

The bridge was disassembled and trucked from Oakland BoroughN.J. to Phoenixville, Pa. where it was crafted over a century ago.

New York District recently found a home forthe bridge’s trusses in Phoenixville, Pa., where thebridge w as originally assembled and wh ere it will con-tinue to serve the public in a local public park. The

plans for the park include walking and biking trailsalong a creek and a bridge will be constructed overthe creek that will connect the park to the trails. TheDoty Road Bridge trusses will be placed alongside the

bridge as a d ecorative element.

“The bridge w as nam ed after the Doty family,early settlers in Oakland Borough , Bergen Cou nty, N.J.The original bridge was 80 feet long and constructedin 1891 and sp anned th e Ramapo River in an areatraditionally referred to as the pon ds,” said Rakos.

The Phoen ixville Area Economic Developmen tCorporation pu rchased the truss for a symbolic dol-lar after several years of locating a hom e in December2002.

“We sent thebridge home in its dot-age,” said Rakos. Sheadd s, “It is unique that

b r idges ge t moved .This doesn’t happentoo often. With th e en-thus iasm of thePAEDCO, I have con-fidence i t will be a

happ y ending.”

By JoAnne Castagna, PPMD

Lynn Rakos, archaeolo-gist, took the lead infinding a home for thebridge, particularly itstrusses.




Ecosystem restoration promotes understandingBy Josephine Axt, Ph.D.

Environmental Anaylsis Branch, Planning Division

As part of the Corps’ commitment to public involvement, Chris

Ricciard i, a District archaeologist, recently mad e a presen tation to stu-den ts at Curtis Jun ior High School in Brooklyn. The presenta tion focusedon the cultural history and the Corps’ proposed restoration project atGerr itsen Creek, N.Y.

Ricciard i’s one-hour p resentation includ ed slides of visual imagesdating to the turn of the twentieth century and previous archaeologicalexcavations. The more recent research show ed the var ious stages of themod ern h istory of Gerritsen’s Creek, includ ing how it used to extend ap-proximately eight blocks further north than its current ending point atAvenu e U in Brooklyn , N.Y.

“Students were particularly interested in the life of the Native

Americans, the Canarsee,” said Ricciardi. “Most students knew the nam efrom the area of Kings Coun ty that is nam ed Can arsee, but few realized itcame from the local group living in Gerr itsen’s Creek.”

The students w ere also interested to know that Marine Park Jun-ior High School, which although situated in Marine Park is outside the

project area, was constructed on top of the largest Native American vil-lage in Kings Coun ty.

Due to the enthu siasm w ith which the presentation was received,the assistant vice principal for the school asked Ricciardi if he w ould makea presentation to the local school district about the District’s restoration

pro ject and h ow th e schools could tie the restoration into th e schools’ cur-riculum . Ricciardi has been in touch w ith several history teachers and iscoordinating to arrange more discussions and cultural-history walkingtours through the area.

Within the past century, the salt marsh community at GerritsenCreek was altered by d redging and filling activities associated with theconstruction an d maintenan ce of the Jama ica Bay federal n avigation chan -nel.

The Gerritsen’s Creek ecosys-

tem restoration project is con-

ducted under Section 1135 of

the Water Resources Develop-

ment Act of 1986, as amended.

Under Section 1135, the Corps

is authorized to review the need

for modifications to existing

projects for the purpose of pro-

viding measures to improve en-

vironmental quality.

All Section 1135 projects re-

quire a non-Federal sponsor to

provide 25 percent of the cost

of any modification and 100

percent of the cost associated

with operation and mainte-

nance.

In its report entitled Significant

Habitats and Habitat Com-

plexes of the New York Bight

Region (1999), the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service identified Ja-

maica Bay in general and

Gerritsen Creek in particular as

coastal habitats warranting

special protection in the formof preservation and restoration

of habitats conducive to sus-

taining and expanding the

region’s native living re-

sources.

The NYCDEP Jamaica Bay Wa-

tershed Management Plan rec-

ommended that existing

wetland and grassland areas in

Jamaica Bay be restored and

protected, and invasive species(e.g ., Phragmites australis ) be

controlled. The Trust for Pub-

lic Land and the New York City

Audubon Society also recog-

nized the existing undeveloped

wetland and upland habitats

within Jamaica Bay as vital to

the area’s continued use by im-

portant fish and wildlife spe-

cies.

(continued on next page)




New York District is completing an environmen-tal assessment and ecosystem restoration report for re-storing over 35 acres of tidal salt marsh, tidal creeksand ponds, and maritime grassland along GerritsenCreek.

Historical records indicate that the GerritsenCreek area suffered app roximately the same 75 percentwetland loss that Jamaica Bay, Queens has been re-por ted to have experienced . In the early 1900’s, the salt

mar shes w ere part of extensive coastal wetlands of Ja-maica Bay, renowned for an abun dan ce and d iversityof shellfish. Rivaling its ecological imp ortance for shell-fish, was its role as a nu rsery and feeding grou nd s forcount less species of birds an d fish.

“While investigating th e past an d current eco-

logical functions of the area, the District also studiedthe cultura l resources. The Gerritsen Creek area has arich cultu ral history dating back to the year1000. TheCanarsee Native American tribe and Du tch and English

settlers used the area as a food source. Native Ameri-

Ecosystem restoration (cont’d)

Rifat Salim, is an intern in Engineering . Salim grad ua tedfrom th e City College of New York in 2000 with a m astersdegree in electrical engineering. Recently she visited CCN Yand spoke to stud ents about her experiences as an intern

with the U.S. Arm y Corp s of Engineers’ Federa l Career In-tern Program, one of several employment programs the Corps offers to collegegrad uates and stud ents majoring in engineering and the sciences.

CCNY’s School of Engineer ing has approximately 2,500 stud ents m ajoring in en gi-

neering each year. In 2002, 22.8 percent of the college’s master’s graduates wereengineering m ajors.

The Corps offers gradua tes security that p rivate ind ustry can’t offer and an opp or-tunity to use their engineering degree and app ly what th ey went to school for.

“I love my job with the Corp s of Engineers. As an intern I am g iven challenging

real-life projects that really help peop le and I get paid for it too!” said Rifat Salim,Corps intern and electrical engineering grad uate of the City College of New York

30 second commercial

New York City establishes city services 311 help lineA new phone number was esablished at New York City Hall for citizens seeking non-emergency information.

The number is 311. Within the five boroughs of New York City, the 311 service center phone number was

created for residents to get non-emergency services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The 311 number can also be accessed outside of New York City by dialing (212) NEW YORK. Some ex-

amples of non-emergency services: noise complaints; obstructed driveways; library operating hours; re-

porting street potholes, street lights needing repair; garbage collection.

Rifat Salim

cans also produced “wampum,” which is currencymad e from oyster shells,” said Ricciardi.

The existing Gerritsen’s Creek site is an ap-proximately 67-acre site located w ithin a highly urbanarea. Although habitat alteration and fragmentation

have reduced the ecological value of the remainingtracts of wetland acreage, the site has great p otentiafor ecological restoration. The selected restoration d e

sign restores tida l flow in several areas around the sitecreates a native grassland mead ow in ad jacent uplandareas, and p romotes overall ecological diversity wh ilepreserving the d esirable natural areas and passive rec-reation u ses that curren tly exist on site.

Project Biologist Melissa Alvarez and ProjectManager Dan Falt conducted a public meeting andwalking tou r of the site in December 2002, along w iththe project’s non-Federal sponsor the Natural Re-sources Group of the N ew York City Departm ent of

Parks and Recreation. Public inpu t and response tothe project was positive. Constru ction is cur rently estimated for Spr ing 2004.




Michael Murphy of Logistics (left) overees the transfer of eight used Corpscomputers donated March 5, to the Church of Lord Jesus Christ Day CareSchool on Long Island.

Bishop E. Winningham of the school looks on, as Marco Rivera of Logisticscarefully stacks them on a hand truck for transfer.

Bishop Winningham was grateful for the donation which will help the students

Around New York Distr ictAround New York Distr ict

In April, Col. John O’Dowd, District Engineer met with members ofthe Boy Scouts Troop 310, of the Fort Hamilton Army post. O’Dowdconducted a question and answer period and gave an overview ofthe mission of the District and the Corps.

The mission of the scouting program is to help young people growinto capable, responsible, and well-rounded citizens.

District donates computers to

church school

District Engineer visitsBoy Scouts

( P h o t o : V i n c e

E l i a s )

( N A N P

h o t o )

Annual Green Brook luncheon heldin New JerseyMembers of New York District celebrated its success and charted itsfuture at a legislative luncheon held in April chaired by the Green BrookFlood Control Commission.

District attendees included Col. John O’Dowd, Bill Slezak, JosephForcina, JoAnne Castagna and Felix Chevere.

The annual luncheon allowed the Green Brook Flood Control Projectteam members, including the Corps, Commission, NJ Department of En-vironmental Protection, and municipal, county, and state representativesto gather in an informal setting and celebrate project accomplishmentsand discuss future work.(P

hotocourtesyofJoAnneCastagna)

Over 26 New York District runners, joggers, walkers,and fun-seekers crossed the finish line during the Cor-porate Challenge run held May 13, 2003. Joe Seebode,an avid runner, sponsored District participation.

All District participants completed the 3.5 mile runalong a path through Central Park and received a com-memorative T-shirt. The Corporate Challenge pro-motes exercise and friendly competition among NewYork area businesses and organizations.

Corporate Challengers

compete in annual race

(Photo:PeterShugert)




Transactions May Retirements

Madonna Camishion

Secretary of the Year Gus Sierra Gonzalez

Combined Federal Campaign

Thomas Hodson

Distinguished Government Service

Neal Kolb

Team Leader

David Leach

Distinguished Executive

Randy Williams

Direct Service

Federal Executive Board awardsbestowed on District employees

A Certificate of Appreciation was awarded by Col. John B.

O’Dowd, District Engineer to Frank Santomauro, Chief, Plan-

ning Division and Joseph Vietri, Assistant Chief, Planning

Division, for providing quality leadership training to over 250

Department of the Army personnel as Leadership, Educa-

tion and Development course facilitators.

Frank Taylor of Engineering is

all smiles as he holds his civil-

ian retirement identificationcard.

Yung Lee of Engineering

holds a District coin andretirement certificate pre-

sented to him on his last

day in New York District.

PlauditsPlaudits

Frank Santomauro Joseph Vietri

Vanessa E. Davis was recently

elected as President of the

I.F.P.T.E. Local 98 Union.

Engineering Division acquires new Chiefs

Bob Gerrits, Chief, Engineering Management BranchThomas Dannemann, Chief, Design Branch.

Union President elected

Engineering changes

Lt. Gen. Robert B. Flowers, Chief of Engineers presented the fol-lowing District employees with gold coins for their sustained su-perior performances.

Karl Ahlen, Planning Division

Ronald Brattain, Planning Division

Jannie Butler, Resource Management

James Cannon, Regulatory Branch

Jerry Caspe, Engineering Division

JoAnne Castagna, PPMD

Stuart Chase, Engineering Division

Maxine Colden, Real Estate Division

Peter DeStefano, Construction Division

Soon Lew, Operations Division

Abraham Portalatin, Safety Office

Edward Sim, Fort Drum, PPMD

Shaukat Syed, Contracting Division

Delores Ward, Construction Division

The Chief of Engineers

USACE Gold Coins

Another turnover in the leadership

at New York District will occur in

June when Lt. Col. Douglas Sarver,

Deputy Commander departs the Big

Apple for duty in the nation’s heart-land in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Sarver has been the Deputy Com-

mander since arriving in January

2001 and will leave some very big

shoes to fill.

Lt. Col. Kurt G. Hoffman will be the new Deputy District En-

gineer and Sarver’s successor. He now commands the Mis-

sion Support Battalion at Fort Knox, Ky.

“A lot has transpired over the past two years,” said Sarver.

Sarver’s next assignment will be Executive Officer, Battle

Command Training Program.

USACE Gold Coin recipients




The HQ USACE Hum an Resources Directorate d eveloped a comp rehensive guide available on line forcoaching, counseling and m entoring. The guide is a tool that provides informa tion and p laces emp hasis oncoaching, counseling and mentoring -- all vital todeveloping employees and creating a positive work-

place.

This will assist the Corps vision as theworld ’s prem ier pu blic engineering organ ization asit respond s to the Nation’s needs in p eace and w ar.

It provides an overview of each of these pro-cesses and gives practical ‘how to’ tips. It does notestablish new requirem ents, but links to regulationsthat d efine current requiremen ts, including th e To-

tal Army Performance Evaluation System an d Ind i-vidu al Developm ent Plan. The guide serves as a

useful refresher for experienced su pervisors; a com-prehensive tutorial for new supervisors; and a re-source tool for all emp loyees. In the PMBPenvironment, everyone may serve in a leadership

or coaching role at one time or anoth er.

Website functions as a supervisor guide

Discussions are a catalyst

for PMBP transformation

Small group discussions are an in-

valuable way of learning about th e ProjectManagement Business Process.

New York District m oved forwardwith th e imp lementation of PMBP in April

by training employees to be facilitators forthe small group discussion portion of the

PMBP em ployee training.“The PMBP is abou t peop le working

together in teams including the customerand together creating plans to accomplishthe goals of the project,” said Col. John B.O’Dow d, District Engineer.

“Employees received tra ining to be-come PMBP small group discussion facili-tators and found it to be useful,” said JoAnne

Castagn a, team facilitator.

Attendees interact withPMBP facilitator JoAnneCastagna (second fromright) during a small groupdiscussion on the inter-active, multi-media PMBPCD curriculum on theprogram process.




Volunteers support Earth Day activities

Volunteers plant trees along Brooklyn canal

River debris removedin New Jersey

With gloves, shovels, gloves and p otting soil, more than 30 commun ity mem-bers, the District Engineer, District emp loyees and th eir family members rolled uptheir sleeves and dedicated part of their weekend to cleaning up the streets andplanting trees and shrubs along the Gowanu s Canal in Brooklyn, NY.

“The Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation, a neighbor-hood preservation non-profit group that just celebrated its 25th anniversary, andNew York District teamed together to organ ize the even t for the local Brooklynites,”said Carolyn Vadino of H arbor Program s Branch.

“It was an excellent d ay for an event like this and an y time the Army Corpscan give back to a commu nity where w e live and work m akes participating so muchmore satisfying,” said Col. John B. O’Dow d, N ew York District Engineer.

Recently, the O & M program of New York District completed maintenance dredging of the Great Kills

Harbor Ch ann el in Staten Island , NY.

“In order to be good env ironmental steward s, the O & M program is sup porting the efforts of the Na-tional Park Service to restore native maritime grasslands at Great Kills Harbor Park, part of the Gatew ay N a-tional Recreation Area,” said Jodi M. McDonald, project man ager, Operations Division.

“We are provid ing mon ey for NPS to use to pu rchase plants, and fencing an d signage to protect newlyplanted areas and to educate the pu blic.”

New York District Op erations Division, in conjun ction w ith the N PS and the N ew York State Departmentof Environmen tal Conservation will be planting selected areas in the p ark in June.

Corps sound environmental operating principles used on Staten Island

On Saturd ay, May 3 emp loy-ees of New York District par tici-

p a t ed i n an en v i ro n men t a lclean-up of the North Branch of the Rahway River in WinfieldPark and Clark, N.J. The eventwas organized by St. John theApostle Cub Scout Pack 30. JoeSeebode, District Harbor Pro-gram Manager and a leaderwith Cub Scout Pack Pack 30,

developed the logistics for thisvery successful effort.

Over 125 volun teers from th e District and the comm un ity participated , in-clud ing Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, fisherm en, local activists and citizens.Spon sors came th rough w ith snacks and refreshm ents. There were coloring books,posters and T-shirt giveaways for the p articipants. Over a on e-mile stretch of theriver through Rahw ay River Park w as cleaned u p. “Everyone left feeling they m adea positive impact on their comm un ity,” said Peter Shugert, Chief, Public Affairs.

Earth Day volunteers (l-r) Peter Shugert; Katie

O’Dowd; Col. John O’Dowd; Joe Seebode, sonJoseph Seebode; John O’Connor and daugh-

ters, Molly, and Bridget.

(NewYorkDistrictPho

to)

Carolyn Vadino of Harbor Programs Branch contributed to this article

Children pitched in andplanted flowers along thestreets of the Gowanus Ca-nal.




New York District is using a proven m ethod ology entitled Mission

Essential Task List. METL has been used in the Arm y for 25 years, bu t it isnew to the Corp s. The m ethodology requires that each level of an organiza-tion, from th e top d own to individu al employees, align their mission essen-tial task lists, a list of tasks needed to accomplish the m ission, and employeetraining to the overall mission of the organization.

Head quarters USACE has created its mission statemen t and METL,North Atlantic Division followed with its own statement, aligned with h ead-quar ters and the District created its own aligned w ith the North AtlanticDivision. It then trickles dow n to individu al employees.

“METL serves m any pu rp oses”, said Col. John B. O’Dow d., DistrictEngineer. “It determ ines the best allocation of resources that w ill best meet

the District’s goals – whether it be additional training or equipment, but

most of all it forces a d ialogue betw een higher and lower levels within theorganization and shows em ployees how their roles help fulfill the m issionof the District and ultimately the country.”

“METL is basically an assessment tool in which emp loyees benefit inseveral ways,” said Thom as Frazier, New York District strategic plan ner an dproject manager in charge of implementing METL districtwide. “Employ-ees with their sup ervisors will review th e employee’s essential tasks andIndividual Development Plans and make sure they are aligned with thedivision’s mission. They w ill also review the em ployee’s level of proficiency

in carrying out th ese tasks and determ ine whether tra ining is needed to gainproficiency and maintain it. They will also determ ine if the training th e em-

ployee may already be receiving ap plies to their essential task or not.”

District implements METL

New York District, operating as a

team member within the North

Atlantic Division Regional

Business Center and employing

the Project Management Busi-ness Process, executes its water

resources, military, and environ-

mental programs; performs

emergency response; and

conducts contingency opera-

tions, all in support of the Nation.

New York District METL

Plan, design, construct, operate

and maintain civil works facilities

and infrastructure.

Plan, design, construct and

support facilities and infrastruc-

ture for military and others.

Execute the regulatory program.

Conduct environmental

remediation and restoration.

Respond to emergencies and

contingency operations.

Provide management, real estate

services, administration and

logistical support for district

programs and projects.

A new scam is being used by thieves who are placing a thin

clear, rigid plastic sleeve into ATM slots in order to obtain

your PIN and steal your cash by using your credit card.

When a credit card is inserted into the ATM slot with the plastic sleeve

inserted by a thief, the ATM is unable to read the credit card strip, and dis

plays a message to re-enter the PIN number. Meanwhile, a thief observes

you from behind as you enter your PIN number. The ATM user then thinks

the ATM has captured the credit card and leaves. The thief then removes

the plastic sleeve with the credit card who also has the PIN number.

Before using an ATM, run your finger along the card slot before you enter

your credit card to detect if there is a plastic sleeve inserted by a thief. The

sleeve has tiny prongs that protrude that the thief uses to remove from the

ATM slot.

By JoAnne Castagna, PPMD

New York DistrictMission Statement

Stork ClubNew member

Julian Van Thanh Nguyen,

son of Thanh Nguyen of

Information Management.

Born: May 4, 2003

Vital stats:

8.5 lbs, 20.5 inches

Security alert

Beware of ATM scam to get your cash

Bill Kozak, Chief of Security




A Friendly Remind er from Your Security Office...

Do not process, store or transm it classified inform ation on non-secure telecomm un ications systems. OfficialDepartm ent of Defense telecomm un ications systems — including teleph ones, fax machines, comp uter net-

works, and mod ems — are subject to monitoring for telecomm un ications security pu rposes at all times. Use

of official DoD telecomm un ications systems constitu tes consen t to telecomm un ications security mon itoring.

Attn: PAO, Rm 2113

26 Federal PlazaNew York, NY 10278-0090

FIRST CLASS MAILAddress Correction Requested

Margaret Singer, a veteran Corps employee

passed away in 2002. Singer began working

with the Corps when she was 17 years old and

advanced in the ranks to become Chief ofLogistics Management. Her former colleagues

describe her as a caring, and generous person

who loved working for the Corps.

Willien Cunningham of A/E

selections in Engineering

passed away March 8,

2003. She had over 56

years of government service

with the Army except for 14

years with NASA.

Cunningham began her

career as a GS-2 at Fort Jay

on Governors Island.

In Memoriam In Memoriam Hero firefighter MichaelKiefer fund update

Hero firefighter

Michael Kiefer, the

son of long-time Dis-

trict employee Bud

Kiefer, lost his life in

the line of duty while

responding with hisunit to the World

Trade Center at-

tacks, Sept. 11, 2001.

T-shirts are now available for $10 inhonor of the FDNY Firefighter Michael

Kiefer Fund . The T-shirts are navy blueand available in five sizes with the FDNYlogo on the front, and a memorial mes-sage on the reverse that read s, “Kiefer theKeeper” – “Gone bu t not forgotten.”

All proceeds benefi t the New York

Firefighters burn Center Found ation.

For an order form,please contactJenine Gallo in

Planning Di-vision, 264-0912.

Documents

US Army: spring03