Westchester County officials informed the City of Rye that New York State Laboratory test results from larva drawn from samples on Rye's Hen Island indicate high concentrations of West Nile Virus (WNV) carrying mosquitoes being hatched in Rye. In fact, of 16 sites found county-wide as testing positive for WNV - fully 6 of those 16 are in Rye (over 35%). Yet to date, no public health warnings disclosing the presence of WNV have been issued to the public by Mayor French or any other Rye Official.
We at HEALtheHARBOR.com believe this is gross governmental negligence where public safety is concerned. But we also know that Hen Island is a special case in Rye where the city administration has refused to enforce current building and safety codes that would immediately curb the breeding of millions of mosquitoes annually on the Island.
What Rye - and Mayor French - want unacknowledged is that it still quietly permits Hen Island to store more than 33 thousand gallons of untreated stagnant bird feces infected rainwater collected from cottage rooftops for use inside cottages for showering, dishwashing and other domestic uses. Unfortunately it is physically impossible to prevent natural contaminants, (including egg laying mosquitoes) from entering these makeshift rain capture systems.
Every summer day, hundreds of unsuspecting children, parents and grandparents all, boat, swim, sail and play at camps and clubs on Milton Point and throughout Rye. Shenorock and Coveleigh Shore Club, American Yacht Club, the Rye Nature Center, The Rye Golf Club and the Green Haven home-owners association beach are all located less than a 1/2 mile from Hen Island. Mosquitoes typically travel up to 5 miles from their breeding grounds depending on wind speeds and wind direction.
Hen Island is located at the mouths of Mamaroneck's and Rye's harbors and it is municipally regulated by the City of Rye. Last month Westchester reported the first positive test results confirming WNV countywide were found in Mamaroneck. A few days later, test samples pulled from Hen Island revealed WNV infected mosquito larva out there.
The WNV victim in this case lives 1.9 miles from Hen Island. (Just across the Post Road from the Greenhaven section of Rye) The County Health Department surveyed the neighborhood around the man's home today and found no breeding sites. All they had to do was travel 1.9 miles and they would have found millions of mosquito's breeding on Hen Island.
Unfortunately the City of Rye (Mayor Doug French) and the County Health Department (Deputy Health Commissioner Morrissey) has made enforcement into a political football and now it is costing Westchester residents their lives.
I am sure you will be shocked, amazed and appalled after watching this video on how the City of Rye and the County of Westchester allow and encourage mosquito breeding here in Westchester.
https://vimeo.com/47034186
What Rye - and Mayor French - want unacknowledged is that it still quietly permits Hen Island to store more than 33 thousand gallons of untreated stagnant bird feces infected rainwater collected from cottage rooftops for use inside cottages for showering, dishwashing and other domestic uses. Unfortunately it is physically impossible to prevent natural contaminants, (including egg laying mosquitoes) from entering these makeshift rain capture systems.
Less than 500 feet off the shores of Rye, New York, primitive seasonal cottages dot idyllic Hen Island. Owned and operated by Kuder Island Colony Inc, the summer residents of Hen Island still rely on 12th Century methods of collecting and storing untreated mosquito breeding rainwater for domestic use and disposal of their effluent waste into un-permitted sewage pits. These sewage pits are located mere feet from the shoreline of the environmentally sensitive Long Island Sound.
Less than 500 feet off the shores of Rye, New York, primitive seasonal cottages dot idyllic Hen Island. Owned and operated by Kuder Island Colony Inc, the summer residents of Hen Island still rely on 12th Century methods of collecting and storing untreated mosquito breeding rainwater for domestic use and disposal of their effluent waste into un-permitted sewage pits. These sewage pits are located mere feet from the shoreline of the environmentally sensitive Long Island Sound.
Watch as then Rye City Council member, Joe Sack testifies that the mosquito infestation on Hen Island in Rye as "worse then he has ever seen." Now in 2016 as Mayor he refuses to have the city issue violations for the illegal storage of thousands of gallons of bird feces infected water and the worst mosquito infestation on record in New York.
21 Comments
Anonymous (Guest)
Anonymous (Guest)
L (Guest)
ken (Guest)
Ray Tartaglione (Registered User)
Ray Tartaglione (Registered User)
mike (Guest)
Ray Tartaglione (Registered User)
Ray Tartaglione (Registered User)
Westchester County officials informed the City of Rye that New York State Laboratory test results from larva drawn from samples on Rye's Hen Island indicate high concentrations of West Nile Virus (WNV) carrying mosquitoes being hatched in Rye. In fact, of 16 sites found county-wide as testing positive for WNV - fully 6 of those 16 are in Rye (over 35%). Yet to date, no public health warnings disclosing the presence of WNV have been issued to the public by Mayor French or any other Rye Official.
We at HEALtheHARBOR.com believe this is gross governmental negligence where public safety is concerned. But we also know that Hen Island is a special case in Rye where the city administration has refused to enforce current building and safety codes that would immediately curb the breeding of millions of mosquitoes annually on the Island.
What Rye - and Mayor French - want unacknowledged is that it still quietly permits Hen Island to store more than 33 thousand gallons of untreated stagnant bird feces infected rainwater collected from cottage rooftops for use inside cottages for showering, dishwashing and other domestic uses. Unfortunately it is physically impossible to prevent natural contaminants, (including egg laying mosquitoes) from entering these makeshift rain capture systems.
Every summer day, hundreds of unsuspecting children, parents and grandparents all, boat, swim, sail and play at camps and clubs on Milton Point and throughout Rye. Shenorock and Coveleigh Shore Club, American Yacht Club, the Rye Nature Center, The Rye Golf Club and the Green Haven home-owners association beach are all located less than a 1/2 mile from Hen Island. Mosquitoes typically travel up to 5 miles from their breeding grounds depending on wind speeds and wind direction.
Hen Island is located at the mouths of Mamaroneck's and Rye's harbors and it is municipally regulated by the City of Rye. Last month Westchester reported the first positive test results confirming WNV countywide were found in Mamaroneck. A few days later, test samples pulled from Hen Island revealed WNV infected mosquito larva out there.
Ray Tartaglione (Registered User)
"Family of West Nile victim tries to fly him home"
http://www.lohud.com/article/20120928/NEWS02/309280057/Family-West-Nile-victim-tries-fly-him-home
The WNV victim in this case lives 1.9 miles from Hen Island. (Just across the Post Road from the Greenhaven section of Rye) The County Health Department surveyed the neighborhood around the man's home today and found no breeding sites. All they had to do was travel 1.9 miles and they would have found millions of mosquito's breeding on Hen Island.
Unfortunately the City of Rye (Mayor Doug French) and the County Health Department (Deputy Health Commissioner Morrissey) has made enforcement into a political football and now it is costing Westchester residents their lives.
I am sure you will be shocked, amazed and appalled after watching this video on how the City of Rye and the County of Westchester allow and encourage mosquito breeding here in Westchester.
https://vimeo.com/47034186
Ray Tartaglione (Guest)
Ray Tartaglione (Registered User)
Ray Tartaglione (Registered User)
Ray Tartaglione (Registered User)
Ray Tartaglione (Registered User)
Less than 500 feet off the shores of Rye, New York, primitive seasonal cottages dot idyllic Hen Island. Owned and operated by Kuder Island Colony Inc, the summer residents of Hen Island still rely on 12th Century methods of collecting and storing untreated mosquito breeding rainwater for domestic use and disposal of their effluent waste into un-permitted sewage pits. These sewage pits are located mere feet from the shoreline of the environmentally sensitive Long Island Sound.
http://www.henislandthemovie.com/cast/
Ray Tartaglione (Registered User)
Ray Tartaglione (Registered User)
Ray Tartaglione (Registered User)
Less than 500 feet off the shores of Rye, New York, primitive seasonal cottages dot idyllic Hen Island. Owned and operated by Kuder Island Colony Inc, the summer residents of Hen Island still rely on 12th Century methods of collecting and storing untreated mosquito breeding rainwater for domestic use and disposal of their effluent waste into un-permitted sewage pits. These sewage pits are located mere feet from the shoreline of the environmentally sensitive Long Island Sound.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9glVGIkHaw
Ray Tartaglione (Registered User)
Ray Tartaglione (Registered User)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7d8rc-euHk
Ray Tartaglione (Registered User)