Latest news with #RohitAggarwala
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man, 59, dead in boat explosion on Hudson River in upper Manhattan
NEW YORK — One man is dead after an explosion on a boat in the Hudson River on Saturday morning, officials said. First responders rushed to the site of a small explosion on a docked boat around 10:34 a.m. on the Hudson River near W. 138th St. where a 59-year-old city employee was pronounced dead at the scene. The incident — next to a West Harlem sewage-treatment plant — was linked to 'hot work,' possibly welding, aboard a city Department of Environmental Protection-owned vessel named the Hunts Point, according to the U.S. Coast Guard and cops. Another DEP employee on the vessel was taken to the hospital. A third employee refused medical treatment at the scene. 'The entire DEP family is grieving today,' DEP Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala said in a statement on X. 'Our employee who lost his life had served the department and the city with dedication for 33 years. He was a valued and experienced member of the Bureau of Wastewater Treatment, and his decades of service reflect his commitment to DEP's mission.' According to reports, the ship was carrying raw sewage. Operations at the waste-treatment plant were not affected, according to DEP. 'No pollution reported in the Hudson River following this morning's explosion near the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant,' the Coast Guard said on X. 'The situation is stable. FDNY leads the response. Coast Guard crews remain on scene supporting the response.' The cause of the accident is still being investigated.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man, 59, dead in boat explosion on Hudson River in upper Manhattan
NEW YORK — One man is dead after an explosion on a boat in the Hudson River on Saturday morning, officials said. First responders rushed to the site of a small explosion on a docked boat around 10:34 a.m. on the Hudson River near W. 138th St. where a 59-year-old city employee was pronounced dead at the scene. The incident — next to a West Harlem sewage-treatment plant — was linked to 'hot work,' possibly welding, aboard a city Department of Environmental Protection-owned vessel named the Hunts Point, according to the U.S. Coast Guard and cops. Another DEP employee on the vessel was taken to the hospital. A third employee refused medical treatment at the scene. 'The entire DEP family is grieving today,' DEP Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala said in a statement on X. 'Our employee who lost his life had served the department and the city with dedication for 33 years. He was a valued and experienced member of the Bureau of Wastewater Treatment, and his decades of service reflect his commitment to DEP's mission.' According to reports, the ship was carrying raw sewage. Operations at the waste-treatment plant were not affected, according to DEP. 'No pollution reported in the Hudson River following this morning's explosion near the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant,' the Coast Guard said on X. 'The situation is stable. FDNY leads the response. Coast Guard crews remain on scene supporting the response.' The cause of the accident is still being investigated.
CTV News
25-05-2025
- CTV News
1 dead in New York sewage-boat explosion on Hudson River
In this image from video provided by WACB-TV, homes are seen across the Hudson River from the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant, foreground, in New York, after an explosion on a boat carrying raw sewage near the plant, on Saturday, May 24, 2025. (WACB-TV via AP) NEW YORK — One man died Saturday morning after an explosion on a boat carrying raw sewage that was docked on the Hudson River in New York City, authorities said. Another worker on the city-owned Hunts Point was hurt and taken to the hospital after the blast around 10:30 a.m., city Fire Department Deputy Assistant Chief David Simms said at a news conference. A third worker refused medical treatment. The cause of the explosion was under investigation. The men on the boat were doing work involving a flame or sparks when the explosion occurred, the U.S. Coast Guard said on social media. The boat takes raw sewage to be treated, Simms said. The explosion happened near the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant. First responders answering a 911 call found a 59-year-old man unconscious in the river, and he was declared dead at the scene, New York police said. His name has not been released, but the New York City Department of Environmental Protection said the man had worked for the agency for 33 years. DEP Commissioner Rohit T. Aggarwala described the man in a statement as 'a valued and experienced member' of the agency. The blast spread raw sewage over the deck of the boat, and firefighters and other first responders had to be decontaminated, Simms said. DEP said there did not appear to be any environmental impacts following the explosion.
CBS News
24-05-2025
- CBS News
NYC DEP worker killed in boat explosion on Hudson River
A New York City worker was fatally injured Saturday in an explosion on a boat docked on the Hudson River. Three NYC Department of Environmental Protection employees were working on a vessel docked at the North River Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility in West Harlem when the explosion occurred, a city official told CBS News New York. One DEP employee was pronounced dead at the scene of the explosion at around 10 a.m. at the plant near 135th Street. A second worker taken to the hospital. A third refused treatment at the scene. "The entire DEP family is grieving today. Our employee who lost his life had served the Department and the City with dedication for 33 years. He was a valued and experienced member of the Bureau of Wastewater Treatment, and his decades of service reflect his commitment to DEP's mission," NYC DEP Commissioner Rohit T. Aggarwala said in a statement. Mayor Eric Adams released a statement, saying, "I am devastated to hear about the tragic death of a dedicated Department of Environmental Protection employee who lost his life today while working on a boat at one of our city's wastewater resource recovery facilities. This devoted public servant gave 33 years of service to New York City, and our hearts go out to his family, friends, and colleagues during this painful time. At this time, there is no suspicion of criminality and no impact on the facility. The safety and well-being of our city's workforce, and all New Yorkers, is always our top priority, and we are committed to fully supporting an investigation and ensuring that every possible measure is taken to prevent such tragedies in the future." While the cause of the accident is under investigation, there does not appear to be any environmental impacts at this time, the official said. The plant's operations were not affected by the explosion.
New York Times
18-03-2025
- General
- New York Times
A Second Act for Gatehouses at the Central Park Reservoir?
Good morning. It's Tuesday. Today we'll learn about the gatehouses in Central Park that the city wants to repurpose. And, with 99 days to the Democratic primary for mayor, we'll also get details on how much money the candidates have raised so far. To many New Yorkers, the reservoir in Central Park is a body of water surrounded by a 1.5-mile path they can run, jog or just walk on. Rohit Aggarwala sees it that way. He jogs there himself. But Aggarwala, the commissioner of the city's Department of Environmental Protection, also sees possibilities in the two stone gatehouses at opposite ends of the reservoir. The city is looking to repurpose the two gatehouses, built during the Civil War as control points for water from upstate flowing into Manhattan through aqueducts. The reservoir no longer feeds into the city's water supply; the gatehouses now control only the water levels in the reservoir. They were designed as monuments, as municipal structures often were in the 19th century. The south gatehouse, not far from Fifth Avenue and the 86th Street Transverse, is topped by an imposing clock with whitish Roman numerals on a dark round face. According to a description from Aggarwala's agency, the back door leads to a balcony with 'stunning views' of the site (whose official name is the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir), Central Park and the cityscape. But inside that gatehouse? It 'isn't exactly pretty,' Aggarwala said. The factorylike space is dominated by water-pumping machinery that probably predates World War II. The question is how to adapt the gatehouses. Aggarwala is looking for ideas and 'appropriate entities' to tackle a transformation. He said the south gatehouse 'could be a museum of water' or perhaps 'a classroom where kids come and learn about the water system.' But nothing is set. His agency has issued a 'request for information,' a call for ideas from groups that could develop plans to use the gatehouses as 'multifunctional space accessible to the public.' The deadline to respond is April 7. Aggarwala said that the agency would remove 'equipment we don't need anymore' — huge motors that once drove pumps to increase the pressure of reservoir water going into mains. But the equipment to control levels in the reservoir will remain. It was decommissioned as a source of drinking water in 1993. 'There was no controlling what a runner might throw in,' he said. The reservoir was built from 1858 to 1862 as a holding tank for water from the city's new upstate watersheds. At first, Aggarwala said, the gatehouses controlled 'how much water flowed down Fifth Avenue' to two other reservoirs, one on the site of the Great Lawn in the park, the other at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, where the New York Public Library was built in the 1890s. The city invited the public to see the reservoir before it was filled for the first time. The New York Times was awe-struck by the pipes and valves controlling the reservoir, noting that there was enough water 'to supply the entire city, at the present rate of consumption, for about a month.' That's about what the city uses in a day now, Aggarwala said. The level is currently low because the reservoir has not been refilled since a drought watch was lifted in January. The city's reservoirs were 83 percent full on Friday, though the normal level at this time of year is 92.4 percent. The gatehouses were not just functional when they were new; they were something to look at — although some New Yorkers didn't like what they saw. William H. Rideing panned them in Scribner's magazine in 1877 as 'very conspicuous and, also, very ugly because they pretend to be decorative.' He loved the look of the machinery inside, though: 'Every bit of brass and steel work is as bright as a new pin.' The gatehouses, like the reservoir itself, reflected a level of civic pride that was 'right up there with Lincoln saying we will keep building the Capitol' in Washington during the Civil War, Aggarwala said, adding: 'New York City said we would keep building the water system' and the gatehouses, which he called 'great examples of New York City building style from that period — a lot of ornamentation that said, 'This is New York City investing in its future.'' Expect a sunny day with a high in the low 60s. The evening will be clear, and the temperature will drop into the mid-40s. In effect until March 31 (Eid al-Fitr). The latest New York news Money pours in for mayoral candidates The Democratic primary for mayor is 99 days away, and the campaign contributions are rolling in. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a progressive from Queens, are leading the Democrats who want to unseat Mayor Eric Adams, whose campaign declined to say before a Monday deadline how much he had taken in. The deadline was for the candidates to submit their most recent fund-raising reports. The figures gave an indication of who seems best positioned to spend heavily on advertising. Cuomo, who has led in polls, raised $1.5 million from more than 2,800 donors in the 13 days after he announced his candidacy on March 1. Among those donating to his campaign were Geoffrey Berman, whom President Trump fired as the U.S. attorney in 2020; Jessica Seinfeld, a cookbook author who is married to the comedian Jerry Seinfeld; and Cuomo's former wife, Kerry Kennedy. Cuomo said he had been 'humbled by the depth and breadth of the outpouring of support.' He expects to receive matching funds based on $330,000 in eligible contributions from donors who live in the city. Mamdani has raised more than $840,000 over the past two months and has more than 16,000 donors — an unusually good showing for a candidate who was not widely known until recently. Among other candidates, Brad Lander, the city comptroller, raised $225,000 during the recent filing period that ran from January to March, bringing his total fund-raising haul to roughly $6.7 million with public matching funds. And Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker who announced her campaign on March 5, raised $128,000 in her first five days in the race. Her campaign said she had not yet met the threshold for the city's public matching-funds program, which awards $8 for every dollar donated by a city resident, up to $250 per contributor. That puts her campaign at a disadvantage; the earliest she could receive public matching funds would be May 30, less than a month before the primary. At the theater Dear Diary: I went with good friends to a performance of the Nancy Harris play 'The Beacon' at the Irish Repertory Theater on 22nd Street. It is a powerful play about a dysfunctional family hiding secrets, and it hit home hard for me. 'Did you like the play?' one of my friends asked me innocently after the performance. Still reeling, I said I would rather not discuss it and that I had found the play difficult to take. A friendly woman standing nearby spoke up. 'I'm a psychologist,' she said with a smile, 'in case you'd like to schedule a session.' — Howard Husock Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here. Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B. P.S. Here's today's Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here. Emma G. Fitzsimmons, Stefano Montali and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@ Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.
