PKMS Environmental Club Hosts City Planning Director for Talks on Riverfront Development Project

Last week members of Peekskill Middle School’s Environmental Club had the chance to sit down with Michael Welti, the Director of Planning for the City of Peekskill, to discuss how the City’s waterfront development project will impact the surrounding environment.  The information gathered at the meeting will be used to help the club shape their presentation for this year’s Wheelabrator Environmental Symposium.

For this year's symposium, the PKMS Environmental Club has chosen to examine the effect that growing urbanization, industrialization and development has had on the Hudson River Estuary Watershed and how this development has altered the water quality and ecosystems directly around Peekskill and the New York Harbor area over time.

“Our environmental club is eager to see what Peekskill is doing to continue to grow and thrive, while keeping in mind the beautiful environment that surrounds it, and how important a healthy river is to our community,” said Peekskill Middle School teacher Scott Tabone, who co-advises the club with fellow PKMS teacher Liz Damiano.

Students spent the weeks before Welti’s visit creating and rehearsing interview questions to ask the Planning Director.  At the interview, Welti answered the student’s inquiries about the project’s environmental safety and construction precautions in addition to addressing many other topics.  The club plans to not only use Welti’s answers for their symposium project, but will include the interview in an Environmental Club newsletter that will be distributed to the middle school (and hopefully) the entire Peekskill Community as well.

 “Ms. Damiano and I were thrilled to see how professionally our students handled themselves at the interview with Mr. Welti,” Tabone said.  

“I think education is a huge part of what we try to do all the time, when we’re working with kids, or when we’re working with the community,” Welti said. “We’re helping people think about the big picture, and how small decisions impact bigger decisions. I think it’s great when we can get a group of kids like this together so they can figure out how they fit into the bigger world. I mean, they’re the ones that are going to be leading us in the future, so I think it’s great that they’re starting now.”

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