A black coffin set up at the entrance to St. James Park in The Bronx with a sign that read: “City Parks Rest in Peace” was an indication of how terrible the reception would be for Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor George Pataki, as they announced the investment of $220 million for improving the parks in this borough.

For the demonstrators, the announcement was no more than “a sop” to mollify the discontent of those who for months have been opposing the construction of the Croton water filtration plant in Van Cortland Park. Approval of this plant would provide the city with the $220 million, according to the mayor, from the savings accruing to the water and sewage system.

On Tuesday the City Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the State, which would allow the city to build the water filtration plant under the Mosholu Golf Course in Van Cortland Park.

When the mayor began to explain to the crowd that the plant’s construction was mandated by a federal court order and added that the city has been paying tens of millions of dollars in fines for not complying with the order to filter water, demonstrators interrupted him to say that the plant’s construction was “environmental racism.”

The mayor appeased the shouters by promising that when he had finished his announcement they could come to the podium to speak; this never happened.

Walls, fences, walkways and stairs in St. James Park will be built at a cost of $5 million, according to a press release.

When the project’s supporters, carrying signs that said “More Jobs,” applauded, a smiling mayor asked the opposition to refrain from booing so that all sides might be heard equally.

Governor Pataki spoke of the importance of filtering water “for the good of future generations,” stating that investment in this project would provide “clean water, clean air, improve the environment and create more jobs.”

They then tossed the hot potato to Assemblyman José Rivera, who tried to calm the crowd by speaking in Spanish.

Rivera pointed out the importance of improving Bronx parks for the benefit of children; however, when he praised María Báez’ leadership, councilmember for the district, demonstrators had had enough and shouted, “María Báez sold her vote!” referring to the City Council’s approval of the measure.

At one point Ursula Morgan, one of the protestors, held up a picture of her daughter and began to shout, “My daughter is in danger! I don’t want her to die!” The police attempted to remove her, but Morgan continued shouting that she had a right to be there and “they have a right to know what’s going on.”

According to Morgan, “the authorities are lying about the jobs and about the way the water filtration plant’s construction will affect the community.”

Opponents of the Croton filtration plant complain that, in order to build the plant underground in the Bronx park, the city plans to excavate 80 feet deep into bedrock over a nine-acres area, which would produce more than a million cubic yards of stone and earth which would have to be removed by trucks.

“A loaded truck would leave the park every 2 minutes, six days a week, for several years. The city cynically claims in its study that there will be no significant adverse effects on Bronx neighborhoods,” they say in a communiqué signed by, among other organizations, Friends of Van Cortland Park, Jerome Park Conservancy, and Mosholu Woodlawn South Community Coalition.

Pataki claimed that in five years, once the construction is finished, the plant will be underground. “Residents won’t even know it’s there,” he said.