search on Lou Figurelli and write this
article for our newsletter for one rea-
son: To inform others of his work and
to carry on his name, which NRPA
has done admirably.
A little history about Lemon Creek –
it was not always known as such. In
1830 it was called Seguine Creek.
Then in 1895 its name was changed
to Little North River, which somehow
became its present name, Lemon
Creek. In 1962, the New York City
Parks Department took it over and
Lemon Creek became a beautiful
park with access to the beach area.
Until his death, it was also the home
of Lou Figurelli who had a mobile
home near the marina. It is still the
home of The Prince’s Bay Boatmen’s
Association, who no doubt keep this
area pristine because of the previous
efforts of Lou Figurelli.
On the grounds of the property is a
flagpole and yardarm which includes
a plaque dedicated in honor of our
first President, Lou Figurelli. On No-
vember 5, 2015 (the 25
th
Anniversary
of his death) I placed a bouquet of
flowers there to honor this great man
who was only trying to do the right
thing for all. And I might add that he
“did a tremendous job”. (See photo
of plaque)
Lou Figurelli knocked on the doors of
our former politicians, Elizabeth Con-
nelly, Jim Molonari and beloved Sen-
ator John Marchi. All listened and
acted upon Lou’s complaints by
passing laws to benefit Staten Island
and the surrounding waterways to
Raritan Bay.
I would like to thank Jim Scarcella
and the Staten Island Advance for
supplying me with all of the infor-
mation in this article. The photo of
course, was taken by me. In closing,
I am so pleased to share this infor-
mation about this great person. Very
few people know how important he
truly was and how much he contrib-
uted to the present state of our wa-
terways on Staten Island.
On Sunday, November 22, 2015, I
interviewed Steve Gross by phone.
He was a very close friend of Lou’s.
He stated that another friend, Jack
Latanzio, was also a good friend of
NATURAL RESOURCES PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION
theirs. Steve said that when Lou
passed away he took his two cats.
He said that Lou was very interested
in photography too and would docu-
ment everything for when he ap-
proached people in government con-
cerning the waterways on Staten
Island. Lou would also tape record
any politician he would speak with on
the phone. Steve said that when
they would deny saying something to
him later on, Lou would play the re-
cording of their conversation back to
them.
Steve further stated that Lou was
meticulous with his houseboat, which
had two stories. It had a kitchen,
bathrooms on the first and second
floor, a bedroom on the second floor
as well as a darkroom to process his
photos and even an indoor green-
house.
According to Steve, the
houseboat had another room which
held about 30 people where Lou
would conduct meetings. After Lou
passed away the houseboat was set
on fire. No one was ever caught but
Steve said to me, “No doubt they
were kids who torched the place.”
Till this day Steve said he was sorry
that he didn’t purchase the boat, but
he didn’t have the money. In closing
Steve told me, “Dan, Lou was a guy
who was persistent. And when he
was right - and most of the time, he
was - he would go at anyone until
they did the right thing. That is how
persistent he was”.
Well folks, I sure hope you enjoyed
my article as much as I enjoyed re-
searching and writing about Lou Fig-
urelli. He no doubt was a great per-
son and he certainly was an environ-
mental advocate.
When Lou passed away, his friend,
Jack Latanzio, took Lou’s ashes and
spread them around Buoy #3 off the
coast of Staten Island and New Jer-
sey. Rest in Peace Lou!
(continued next page)
Page 4
Winter 2016
MILLER FIELD BEACH
By Jim Scarcella
Miller Field Beach sits between Mid-
land Beach to the north, and New
Dorp Beach to the south. This prop-
erty is run by and cared for by the
National Park Service as part of
Gateway, a federal program.
Compared to other sectors of Gate-
way, Miller Field gets plenty of use,
and seemingly, the most funding.
There are soccer fields and ball
fields, playground and picnic tables.
It's mostly an open area, there is a
nice wooded area at the west portion
of the Park. The east portion has a
great beach, with an upland area of
some dunes and plants like mullein
and milkweed. The beach also has
the pilings field of an old recreational
dock. The piling caps are now home
to a gathering of double crested cor-
morants and herring gulls.
The nearby waters are home to Spi-
der crabs, blue mussels and quahog
(clams).
NRPA has sometimes cleaned Miller
Field beach, hopefully we will clean it
again in 2016.
CHEAP GAS: WHAT’S BEHIND IT,
WILL IT LAST, HOW WILL IT AF-
FECT US? PART II
By Anthony Rose
Part Two: Players, Politics, Profits
and Pragmatism
We’ve discussed the path that
brought us to 2015, now let’s look at
the dynamics of how oil becomes
gas and gas becomes dollars and
cents. Crude oil is collected at the
drill head. Some of the costs in-
volved include research and engi-
neering costs incurred before a drill
hits the ground. Research ships
circle the globe booming air cannons
to track seismic waves that indicate
spots on the sea bottom that may
hold oil. The same is done on land
and may include explosives. The
government grants licenses and col-
lects fees. A recent auction of sites
in the western Gulf of Mexico yielded
$22 million in license fees for the US
government. This was considered
yard sale prices. Most sites only
