The Staten Island Bluebelt is an award winning, ecologically sound and cost-effective stormwater management for approximately one third of Staten Island’s land area. The program preserves natural drainage corridors, called Bluebelts, including streams, ponds, and other wetland areas. Preservation of these wetland systems allows them to perform their functions of conveying, storing, and filtering stormwater. In addition, the Bluebelts provide important community open spaces and diverse wildlife habitats. The Bluebelt program saves tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure costs when compared to providing conventional storm sewers for the same land area. This program demonstrates how wetland preservation can be economically prudent and environmentally responsible.
In 2010, the NY Times ran a little day-in-the-life account of the goings-on at this park-and-ride bus hub:
At 12:36 p.m., one of the pay phones inside the center rang.
"Hello," said the man on the other end, sounding as if he was trying to keep calm. "Someone called me from this number like 10 times?"
He had reached a bus station on Staten Island, he was told.
"O.K.," he said, and hung up.
Nine minutes later he called back, wanting to know who had been calling him earlier.
"Because someone’s harassing me now, and this is in the middle of a police investigation," he said. "Where is this place?"
The Eltingville Transit Center.
"O.K.," he said, and hung up again.
