Writing by Eliot Caroom

The SIMS/Hugo Neu site in Hunts Point.
Published in the Hunts Point Express.
By Eliot Caroom

Hunts Point Riverside Park is a pristine patch of green surrounded by rusting metal: train tracks line one side of the park, and mountains of scrap metal another. But the salvage yard where the Sims Metal recycling company collects discarded metal will soon include its own patch of green: a wall covered in moss and ferns, and a wet meadow with native plants.
The plants are part of a $2-3 million water treatment system aimed at keeping pollutants out of the Bronx River by imitating natural wetlands.
“It will have a huge impact on how the site behaves,” said Paul Mankiewicz, executive director of the Gaia Institute, a Bronx-based non-profit environmental engineering firm that designed the project.
In the past, the company has relied on machinery to separate oil from rainwater in an effort to keep contaminants from the river. Once the green wall is in place and the marsh plants take root, they will capture rainwater and filter pollutants, explained Mankiewicz, who is also a member of the board of the Bronx River Alliance.
Sims Metal and its predecessor, the Hugo Neu company, have already won praise for sharing waterfront access with local youth groups from The Point and Rocking the Boat.
“Hugo Neu is making efforts to be a good neighbor,” said Maggie Greenfield, communications director for the Bronx River Alliance. “They’re very reasonable and flexible, and very willing to work with . . . folks who are trying to use the river for recreation and enjoyment.”
The idea for the water filtration project came when Hugo Neu President John Neu and Mankiewicz were riding a ferry to a clam-bake hosted by Andy Willner, executive Director of Baykeeper, an environmental organization devoted to protecting New York and New Jersey waterways.
“They’re really green-oriented people,” Mankiewicz said of Neu and his wife Wendy. “I told them, ‘If you want to make your site work, you’ve got to catch storm water,’ and they said, ‘Tell us how to do it.’”
After the project began, Hugo Neu’s recycling division merged with Sims Metal, another major recycling company. Sims Metal continued to support the project.
“Both companies share a commitment to the environment and our communities,” said Dan Strechay, a spokesman for Sims Metal. “Taking care of the waterfront has always been a priority for our company.”
Storm water runoff is an important factor in the water quality of the Bronx River, the city’s only freshwater river. A century ago most of Hunts Point was marshland. Rainwater was filtered naturally: soil acted like a sponge, absorbing and cleaning the water, and evaporation returned the moisture to the air.
Now that most of the surface is paved, polluted storm water runs into the Bronx River.
When construction at the salvage yard is completed, the water will be pumped into a “wet meadow,” sponge-like ground that seeks to recreate the marshy land that bordered the river before it was filled in.
The new system is complex and expensive. It will include 240 underground chambers, at a cost of $2-3 million, according to Mankiewicz. By the time it is complete in early 2008, the underground array will have a capacity of almost half a million gallons, enough to hold 5-6 inches worth of rainfall for the entire site.
Specially created drainage ditches called “swales” will direct rainfall towards this series of artificial wetlands. From the wetlands and an underground holding well, groundwater will be pumped to the top of the green wall by an array of eight solar-powered pumps.
The green wall, which will border Edgewater Road, will be constructed from recycled materials. Wetland plants like liverworts and ferns will grow from the wall, allowing evaporation rates of 1-2 inches a day.
Once the wetlands are built, some 30 different native plants including Atlantic White Cedar will grow there. Students at Rocking the Boat will help to maintain the wetlands.
In addition to helping to clean the Bronx River, “this project will also beautify and green the face” of the recycling yard, Greenfield said.
Mankiewicz believes that if more companies follow Sims and Hugo Neu’s lead, they could literally change the climate of New York, lowering temperatures year-round.
“If you had a 10 percent increase in green space, you could notice an effect across the city,” Mankiewicz said.
“Everybody in this country is going to have to comply with storm water regulations some day,” John Neu said. “My attachment is not to the water; it’s to the globe. People have to understand, if we don’t take a proactive stand, everything is about to change.
“That’s the way a lot of people feel, and I guess we just have more time and money to pay attention to it.”

Cali the Cat

by Eliot Caroom

Her name is Fuzzy-Foot’s Confetti of Deydream, but she doesn’t stand on ceremony. She stands on a table to greet visitors, and you can call her Cali. Cali, a Short-haired Manx cat who is white with tan and black calico patterns, defeated 300 competitors in 2006 to become the Cat Fanciers’ Association-Iams Premiership Champion.
This weekend, 325 of the handsomest cats in the world will gather at Madison Square Garden to once again vie for the top prize at New York’s biggest cat show.
Tess, Japanese Bobtail, is a lean little two-year-old who is quick to rub up against a friendly leg. Like Cali, she is a calico cat with God-given good looks. But Tess isn’t just another pretty face. She’s an athlete.
Cat agility is an athletic event—in fact, it’s a cage match. Inside a giant mesh cage, cats dive through tunnels, scale inclines, vault over hurdles, and launch themselves through hoops. Agility cats race through a circuit of obstacles.
Last year Tess placed second in the Iams National Cat Agility Championship. Her best time on the circuit is nine seconds—seven is the world record.
“Cats, yes, can be trained,” said Jill Archibald, Tess’s owner and agility handler. “It’s easy, you just work on her natural instincts.”
This year Tess won’t be competing in agility. Agility, despite its excitement and cash purses, is still a sideline. Tess placed fourth last year in the championship. This year Archibald hopes they can reach the pinnacle of catdom.
Glory awaits any champion cat, but there are worldlier benefits too. A champion cat’s kittens sell in the range of $1,200-$2,000 each, compared to $500 for an average purebred kitten.
“You can’t make money on cats,” Archibald cautioned. She said that despite the high prices for top-of-the-line felines, the overhead involved wipes out profits: “It’s almost as expensive as breeding horses.”
Not all the cats at this year’s show are purebreds, and not all of them cost hundreds of dollars. In fact, visitors can take a cat home if they want, for free.
“There are so many wonderful cats who need homes,” said Steve Gruber, communications director for the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals. “In New York . . . dogs and cats are being put down every week.”
Gruber coordinates the 19-20 animal rescue groups who will participate. He said that last year more than 200 cats found new homes. This year, he said, “I want to double it.”
Cat aficionados, Fanciers’ Association officials, and animal rescue groups eagerly await this weekend’s show.
As for the reigning champ, Cali will savor her dwindling hours in the spotlight. Then she will gracefully step down.
“She was the best cat in premiership in the country,” said Yoders-Dey. “She did all that she can do—now it’s time to give other cats a chance.”

By Eliot Caroom

On Wednesday September 19, Rockefeller Center witnessed a full-on media blitz. Champion welterweight boxers Floyd Mayweather and Ricky Hatton strode atop a red carpet catwalk, flanked by flatscreen TV’s running promos. A flock of press basked in the sun, sedated by an hour-long buffet and encyclopedic press kits. Still, something wasn’t right.
“They look like chums up there,” complained one reporter, as Mayweather straightened Hatton’s lapels and murmured into his ear. “What’s going on?”
The press junket’s purpose was to hype “Undefeated,” a December 7 fight in Las Vegas. “Undefeated” promises to be a great match—the champs boast a combined record of 81-0 and 55 knockouts—but the fight’s greatest significance lies in its unprecedented hype and importance to boxing.
In 2006, HBO’s boxing revenues fell behind both the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and the pro-wrestling organization WWE. HBO presents the biggest share of boxing on Pay-Per-View, and will present “Undefeated.”
The media exposure for this fight will be enormous.
HBO Sports used the Rockefeller Center event to announce “24/7,” a series which will document the run-up to the fight.
The 24/7 miniseries also hyped the de la Hoya/Mayweather fight in May 2007, commanding 4.1 million viewers.
That fight, though, featured one of the most charismatic fighters of recent times, Oscar de la Hoya. This time, de la Hoya will be on the sidelines promoting. Mayweather and Hatton will shoulder the burden of celebrity.
Roy Mayweather, for his part, is a tireless promoter of boxing and himself. In addition to the fight and 24/7, he will appear on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” program in the months before the fight.
Behind-the-scenes shows and spin-offs have been integral to the WWE and UFC’s success. But WWE’s wrestling actors rely on unabashed melodrama, and the UFC offers brutality and novelty unseen in boxing.
Back at the Rockefeller Center media mega-junket, the promoters had more fighting words than the contenders.
“Who says boxing is dead, with a fight like this?” former champ Bernard Hopkins asked, unbidden and unanswered.
In contrast the traditional banter between the actual fighters was tepid.
“I’m not trying to say I’m a bigger man . . . skills pay the bills,” Mayweather said.
Amid the pageantry of a pimped-out press conference, the fighters failed to shine.
Like many sports that are losing market share, boxing needs more than great athletes. It needs great personalities. The fight with the UFC and WWE will be grueling, and it will be a decision match. The first round takes place December 7, and its true venue is cable TV.