SIM-22: A Guide to the John C. Rooney Collection

Collection

Identifier: SIM-22

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

NYCDCP’s South Richmond Zoning Study Advisory Committee Member. NYCDEP’s South Richmond Drainage Plan Advisory Committee Member, working on the redesign of the sanitary and storm water drainage plan for the southern third (22 sq. mi.) of Staten Island in order to recognize new parks and wetlands, and stream corridors that would have been obliterated by the existing 1961 plan. Realized from this plan was the Staten Island Bluebelt system. Member, Advisory Committee, NYCDPR’s Staten Island Greenbelt Master Plan (1989-1991). Chairperson, Richmond Creek Watershed Committee, and Amundsen Trailway Committee, Richmondtown & Clarke Avenue Civic Association, Inc. Member, Department of City Planning’s Special Natural Area District Task Force. Steering Committee Member, Parks Council’s “Prototype Park Conditions Survey” (1998). Parks surveys and ratings by the Parks Council (now New Yorkers for Parks) became an ongoing initiative and was a technique adopted by the Mayor and Parks Commissioner. Advisor to the Natural Areas Initiative, a joint project of the Parks Council and the New York City Audubon Society. Founding Member and Coordinator, Staten Island Transportation Action Alliance. Member, Technical Advisory Committee, New York State Department of Transportation’s Staten Island Arterial Needs Study (1990–1994) and the Staten Island Expressway Major Investment Study (1997–2002). Representative to Environment ‘90, a conference of 150 local and national groups to form an environmental platform for New York City. Served on the open space working group. Founding coordinator, Coalition for the Amundsen Trailway.

Scope and Contents

Contributor, Protectors of Pine Oak Woods. Twenty Years of Green: Celebrating Two Decades of Progress in Protecting Staten Island’s Natural Heritage by Protectors of Pine Oak Woods (New York : Tanner-Durso Printing Co., 1993). Editor and contributor, Kershner, Bruce. Secret Places of Staten Island : A Visitor’s Guide to Scenic and Historic Treasures of Staten Island (sponsored by Protectors of Pine Oak Woods, Inc.). (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1998). Acknowledged advisor, Tiner, Ralph W. Wetlands of Staten Island, New York: Valuable Vanishing Urban Wildlands. (Hadley, Mass.: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ecological Services, Northeast Region, 2000). Acknowledged advisor, Blanchard, Peter P. III, et. al. An Islanded Nature: Natural Area Conservation and Restoration in Western Staten Island, Including the Harbor Herons Region.(New York: The Trust for Public Land and the New York City Audubon Society, 2001). Contributor, Bulletin of Protectors of Pine Oak Woods. Articles in numerous issues.

Dates

1980 - 2002

Biographical / Historical

As an avocation since 1986, Mr. Rooney worked on park creation, wetland and stream corridor preservation, coastal issues, land use/zoning, and related transportation and air quality issues on Staten Island, and to a much lesser degree, regionally. He worked to preserve as much open space as possible in Staten Island, the fastest growing county in New York State. This work was executed as a board member and Vice President of Protectors of Pine Oak Woods, Inc. (PPOW), and Chairperson of PPOW’s Greenbelt Additions Committee; CoChairperson of the Staten Island Greenbelt Stewardship Council; an officer of the Richmondtown & Clarke Avenue Civic Association, Inc.; and an officer of the Joint Mid-Island Civic Associations, Inc. To further his volunteer civic activities, Mr. Rooney was a columnist and contributing writer (1996-2003) for the alternative weekly Staten Island Register, and wrote numerous letters to the editor and opinion pieces concerning Staten Island’s environmental and planning issues published in the The Register, The Staten Island Advance, The New York Times, and New York Magazine. A native of Staten Island, he graduated from Monsignor Farrell High School and New York University.

Extent

4 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

An advocate for environmental protection, John C. Rooney was an office-holder of the Protectors of Pine Oak Woods, Staten Island Greenbelt Stewardship Council, Richmondtown and Clarke Avenue Civic Association, Inc., and the Joint Mid-Island Civic Associations, Inc. and wrote a column for the alternative weekly newspaper, The Staten Island Register.