Linda Mariano (photo credit: Lisanne McTernan)About two weeks ago, I received a call from Joseph Alexiou of the New York Observer. He wanted to ask me a few questions about my friend, local activist Linda Mariano.
Oh, I had so much to tell him, dear Reader. Linda is not only an amazing person, she is also a founding member of the Friends Of Greater Gowanus (F.R.O.G.G.) together with Marlene Donnelly and Margaret Maugenest, also dear friends.
Linda, together with F.R.O.G.G., has been a very vocal supporter of the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund designation of the Gowanus Canal. She has been tirelessly working on drawing attention to the heavily polluted canal and she deserves this community's thanks.
The New York Observer just published Mr. Alexiou's article on Mrs. Mariano. It is a great read.
He writes:
Oh, I had so much to tell him, dear Reader. Linda is not only an amazing person, she is also a founding member of the Friends Of Greater Gowanus (F.R.O.G.G.) together with Marlene Donnelly and Margaret Maugenest, also dear friends.
Linda, together with F.R.O.G.G., has been a very vocal supporter of the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund designation of the Gowanus Canal. She has been tirelessly working on drawing attention to the heavily polluted canal and she deserves this community's thanks.
The New York Observer just published Mr. Alexiou's article on Mrs. Mariano. It is a great read.
He writes:
On a recent sunny Saturday morning, a group of 30- to 40-someting Carroll Gardens locals stood outside Carroll Park at a table manned by local community activists, their discussion rife with words like "developers" and "preservation." Upset that the nearby Hannah Senesh Community Day School was seeking a variance that would allow it to acquire public land, the activists were hard at work soliciting signatures for their petition against the change. Once I heard one of the concerned citizens utter the words "Superfund," and "Gowanus Canal," I had to ask, "Do any of you know Linda Mariano?"
To continue reading the article, click here
.JPG)
7 comments:
Love the Jacqueline Raque quote about this area being full of amazing women - it really is!
This was in the article - is this true? It was a statement, didn't seem to be fact checked...would be bad...
Mr. Appel says that the FHA, for instance, has stated that they will not grant any mortgages within 3,000 feet of any Superfund site, which would include almost all of Carroll Gardens east of Court Street if the proposal goes through.
This statement was made by Mr. Appel - so technically it is up to him to make sure that he fact-checked. The reporter did not present it as his information, but what was said to him. It seems like a pretty outrageous statement to me, but then much of what comes from the fear-mongering anti-Superfund people is pretty outrageous.
Linda...You are admired, appreciated and loved....
Keep fighting the good fight!
About FHA rules Mr. Appel refers to. A quick Google - the rules seem to be for Condo Mortgages!:
http://www.austintowers.net/Austin_Downtown/files/new_FHA_condo_rules.html
There are so many situations listed where buyers cannot obtain FHA loans -among them being:
1. FHA insurance will be unavailable when properties are within 1,000 feet of a highway, freeway, (well, the Gowanus Expressway cuts a swath)
2. FHA loans will bot be available if the property is located within 3,000 feet of a dump, landfill, or super-fund site.(there is some pretty nasty land in Gowanus regardless of whether it is called a Superfund site or not)
3,- Projects in designated wetland and flood zones will not qualify for FHA insurance. (Hey, Gowanus is wetlands AND in a flood zone!)
So Mr. Appel's statement is correct, but leaves out a whole lot - makes it appear more relevant to anti-Superfund than it really is.
Interesting tactic.
Gowanee
About mortgages - In Thursday's Courier (link below), EPA's Christos Tsiamis met with people, Buddy Scotto among them. Christos "pointed to a Department of Housing and Urban Development document that spells out what lenders “must avoid or mitigate” if a range of conditions exist, before completing their loan review. Among the conditions are “potential noise issues, where the property is located within 1,000 feet of a highway, freeway, or heavily traveled road, within 3000 feet of a railroad, or within one mile of an airport or five miles of a military airfield.” Tsiamis noted that the canal is already within 3,000 feet of a railroad and 1,000 feet from a highway.
Interesting story if you want to read on -
http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2010/01/28/brooklyn/courier-yn_brooklyn_front_page-gowjanmeet.txt
Mr. Appel gave severely edited view of the FHA rules:
----The property is located within 3000 feet of a dump or landfill, or of a site on an EPA Superfund (NPL) list or equivalent state list, or a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment indicates the presence of a Recognized Environmental Condition or recommends further (Phase II) assessment for the presence of contaminants that could affect the site.-----
there are to "or" statements that follow the Superfund restriction. An environmental assessment indicating the presence of contamination is enough for FHA to restrict mortgage insurance in an area. The Army Corp's Gowanus assessment is an environmental assessment indication the presence of contamination. FHA restrictions apply already. A Superfund designation is the only way to get beyond this problem--we need a cleanup that leads to a situation where test no longer reveal high levels of contamination.
Since Mr. Appel has clearly read the FHA restrictions that he has quoted in this article. One can't help but to wonder about his motives. Why is he trying to drum up fear over this issue? The community he is trying to divide with this issue sees through his actions.
Post a Comment