A generation-long battle to install sound barriers at Rodman’s Neck NYPD shooting range will continue next month.
On Wednesday, February 26, the 45th Precinct Community Council will meet at 3615 E. Tremont Avenue, where hopefully a resolution to this issue might occur, said John Doyle, the precinct community council’s board member and a City Island community leader.
In 2017, Mayor de Blasio announced a $275 million redevelopment to Rodman’s Neck, yet according to Doyle, the NYPD is now claiming it needs $100 million more to soundproof the facility.
The additional money includes $73 million for six fully (sound) baffled outdoor ranges.
“You can hear it (the noise) from anywhere on City Island” Doyle said to the Bronx Times. “At the end of the day the goal is to get this fixed.”
The redesign of the range is expected to include sound baffling that will muffle or block the non-stop gun noise from the NYPD range.
When asked if this was accurate the NYPD offered a vague reply.
“The NYPD and the city are committed to reconstructing Rodman’s Neck Range to provide much needed improvements and offer appropriate sound mitigation for the community,” said DCPI spokesperson Sergeant Jessica McRorie. “While we proceed through the design and construction of the full range, we are actively pursuing temporary solutions to reduce noise impacts from the range.”
Doyle explained that islanders support the NYPD using the range, but it’s simply a quality of life issue.
The gunfire and controlled explosives are too loud and it needs to be soundproofed, he said.
It seems that every time they try to get things resolved the NYPD stonewalls them and wants more money to fix it, Doyle said.
According to Doyle, Rodman’s Neck was initially going to move into a new police facility in College Point in Queens in 2007, but those plans were abandoned.
“People have been waiting for decades,” Doyle said. “I’m sure they want a 21st century for their officers. We’re not looking to move it. We’re looking to soundproof it.
The other issue with the range is it was found to have lead contamination in 2018.
Three NYC Department of Corrections officers who were assigned to the NYPD’s Rodman’s Neck pistol range were taken off the job after they tested either high or borderline-high for lead levels, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
Barbara Dolenseek, City Island Civic Association vice president, has witnessed firsthand the disruption Rodman’s Neck has caused in the community. She has lived 2,000 feet away from the range for more than 40 years and hopes a resolution comes soon.
She stressed that people in Throggs neck, Pelham Bay and Country Club can hear the noise, not just City Island.
“I’m right in the line of fire,” she said. “They’re (NYPD) not informing us about what’s going on. I’ve been fighting this for 25 years and there’s no change.”
