oo
Docket Coordinator, Headquarters
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
CERCLA Docket Office
(Mall Code 5305T)
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20460
RE: FDMS Docket ID Number: EPA-HQ-SFUND-2009-0063
On behalf of our more than 400 members, CSMA is strongly opposed to the listing of the Gowanus Canal on the National Priorities List (Superfund).
After listening to both the EPA’s and City’s respective proposals, it is our understanding that the Army Corps Of Engineers and the EPA will be fully involved in this cleanup no matter which plan is decided upon, and that the EPA can, at any time, declare the Gowanus Canal a Superfund site should the City’s Alternative Plan fail to conform to the high standards set forth.
We believe the City’s Alternative Plan better safeguards the financial investments and livelihoods of our members and their employees, and for these and many more reasons fully support the City of New York’s Alternative Plan.
Respectfully,
Vincent Mazzone
President
I cannot possibly imagine why the Court Street Merchants Association and its 400+ members would get involved or even issue a statement to the EPA regarding their opposition to the listing of the Gowanus Canal as a superfund site, but there it is, right on their web site, under a heading that reads: The Voice Of Court Street.
The decision was made at the association's June 2009 meeting, at which Buddy Scotto, Funeral Director, outspoken critic of the EPA's Superfund designation and member of the Court Street Merchant Association, spoke about "
EPA’s plan to list the Gowanus Canal as a Superfund site (which would halt the much needed private development along the canal) vs NYC’s Alternative Plan."
The CSMA Executive Committee approved a motion to support the City's Alternative Plan.
Of course, Court Street merchants would like to see more development in the neighborhood. More development means more customers, which means more money.
But backing the City's half-baked plan, which was cobbled together to keep developments such as the Toll Brothers' project and the Gowanus Green Development on Public Place moving along, may not reflect the opinion of the customers who frequent the stores on Court Street. It may not even reflect the opinion of all of the merchants in the association. Some Court Street merchants have the Superfund Me! sign in their window.
Through my activities with the New York City Council Campaign, I am aware that there is overwhelmingly support for the Superfund designation and clean-up of the Gowanus Canal. The much smaller number of Superfund opponents, with few exceptions, oppose the EPA clean-up for personal financial gain.
Don't they always say: " Follow the money?"
I think I will be more comfortable taking my business to Smith Street for a while.
I don't know how many members of the association voted for this, but here is a complete list of the merchants. Click here.
For Home Page, click
Pardon Me For Asking
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14 comments:
I highly doubt that he speaks for ALL those people. I know for a fact that S.B.L.D.C (Hello! Bette Stolz is a VERY active FROGG member!) and Area do support the Superfund!
This the same group that nearly ten years ago told the Community Board that they did not want neck downs on Court St. Neck downs that make crossing the street so much easier for pedestrians. The same neck downs that are now being built on Smith & Bergen Street and not on Court St. In this case, the Court St. Merchants speak for the same people who have a stake in the development around the canal.
Well, the response may say that it is on behalf of 400 merchants, but the EPA will only count it as ONE response. That's why it was so important for everyone to respond individually. So I don't think we need to worry that there was no way that their statement REALLY represented ALL the Court St. Merchants. Because, clearly, it does not.
The Merchant's Association is some of the property and business owners on Court Street, and it is in their own best interests to have as many parking spaces and residents in the neighborhood as possible. It's really not that outrageous that they voted to oppose it.
I think that sometimes in these debates, our judgement is clouded by the fact that those who choose to engage in them are a very small segment of the population. For instance, I'd be surprised if half the residents of Carroll Gardens even knew that a rezoning was taking place. But the people who turn out at the meetings are overwhelmingly in favor of it.
This much the same with the Superfund debate. While myself and my circle of friends in the neighborhood are in favor of it, I can't criticize the Merchants Association for opposing something that could potentially inhibit the growth of their businesses.
Katia, because this was very startling news to me today, (I had missed this on the EPA comments) and once again, I commend your stellar reporting. This bit of news is really very, upsetting to me. Like you, Katia, I will now be moving my business elsewhere.
What I am personally going to do is to inform ALL the vendors that I am using on Court Street that are in this Merchants' Association that I can not no longer give ANY more of my money to any business that is AND CHOOSES TO REMAIN "Anti-Superfund'.
(See ** below for some of the many stores I will personally "avoid" and the new ones I will most likely find myself shopping in).
Next I will ask these vendors whether perhaps, they are actually meaning to communicate that they are "PRO" John Heyer? but don't want to use a more direct, campaign sign, perhaps? Heyer is, of course, the only "Anti-Superfund" candidate that I know of at this time, so the "Anti-Superfund" stance of the merchants' association reeks of a thinly disguised, political ploy.
Can anyone ever forget the statement Heyer made at the "Dazzle Me Political Forum" in April (2009) when he stated "there had been several miscarriages in his family" but that "he still had all his fingers" when asked about the health risks of living near the Gowanus Canal now? (Heyer supports the idea of adding thousands of new, unsuspecting residents to the Gowanus Canal banks using a "modified clean-up plan" concocted by a cash starved, ill-equipped Bloomberg administration, even though the EPA had just carefully explained to the public how toxic the canal really is, and how a Superfund Designation is so badly needed and the proper way to obtain a comprehensive clean-up for the public safety of ALL the nearby residents, current and future. (Plus the EPA said neither the City nor the State of NY is capable of such the needed, comprehensive, clean-up by themselves.)
Knowing this, the Court Street Merchants Association agreed to take an Anti-Superfund stance anyhow at the urging of the highly vocal, pro-development, "local developer", Buddy Scotto, whose "insider" status has always been accompanied by his favorite color: green (and I don't mean trees).
(to be cont.)
(cont. from above)
At the Dazzle Me political forum in April, Heyer held is hands up and wiggled his ten fingers for all the audience and cameras to see. I was astounded by the immaturity and utter nonsense of that response, yet Scotto wants to see him in Bill DeBlasio's soon to be vacant City Council Seat.
Plus Heyer's "followers" are heavily invested in the idea that "Heyer" is "one of our own boys" even though "one of our own boys" is actually supporting big and OUTSIDE development for Carroll Gardens, and essentially giving the shaft to current residents, many of whom own homes their homes here for years.
Heyer and Scotto want to add NEW and "OUTSIDE" people, all without the EPA's comprehensive clean-up. I wonder which of them will live in or invest in one of the new Gowanus Canal Luxury Condos?
So: to summarize:
The real "insiders" (the vast majority of community residents in and around Carroll Gardens/Gowanus wrote to the EPA and told the EPA that they want the Gowanus Canal thoroughly cleaned up by the Federal Government BEFORE the addition of thousands of new, "outsiders".
The "fake insiders" (the ones that say they "care so much" about our neighborhood but don't, really) (including local developers like Scotto) want to make MORE money and BRING MORE OUTSIDERS RIGHT NOW! so they are "ANTI-SUPERFUND" for obvious reasons.
Bill DeBasio, another freind of Buddy Scottos's, said:
the Gowanus Canal is "not that dirty". Court Street Merchant's Association and John Heyer agree.
"NOT TRUE!", says Josh Skaller.
What does this tell me?
So much for me needing a "fake insider" like Heyer to represent me a "real insider/resident", on the City Council to helps me. I'll gladly vote for the "Park SLope outsider" Mr. Josh Skaller, thank you very much.
The health and safety of our shared environment and respectful development of my neighborhood are my two most important issues
I'll also keep my Superfund Me/Gowanus Canal Sign in my window.
And as a "real insider/CG resident"
I, for one, have ALWAYS SUPPORTED neighborhood stores over outside and box stores with good reason! I have always supported the people in my own community! I have chosen Mazzone over Home Depot and over Lowe's for this very good reason EVEN WHEN THE PRICES HAVE BEEN HIGHER which is often the norm with Mom and Pops stores vs. Big Box stores.
How sad to have to be not only terribly inconvenienced (me personally) and shop farther away, but also to know that I can NO LONGER support the stores in my own community, the one I live in and loved once upon a time, not too long ago, in fact. These stores connect me daily with my community and I want to shop in them and use them! I wonder if they understand how the public feels about the Superfund Designation issue, and whether they understand the choice of candidates they have in the highly contested City Council Democratic Primary coming in a few short weeks?
But if they can not support the residents, then I can not support them. Maybe they should just have remained officially neutral on the Superfund issue? But them taking the "Anti-Superfund' stance is not only development-aggressive and anti-ecology, but is a loaded political stance.
So:
Farewell Mazzone's Hardware. Monteleone's. (sigh) Farewell Fish Tails. Farewell Park Natural. (I thought you were all about organic food and a good clean environment?)
Farewell Vinny's Pizza and Farewell World Pie and Farewell Citibank! Yikes this list is LONNNNNNNNG. Farewell Buddy's Burrito. Farewell Buttermilk Channel. Carroll Gardens Florist, Caputo's, and Carroll Gardens Fish Market, Ciao.
I hope you all will consider changing your minds very very SOON.
And:
Hello IKEA and IKEA meatballs.
Hello Trader Joe's. Lowe's, Home Depot, and Lowe's outdoor sandwich truck, HOWDY. Hello Fresh Direct, Taco Bell, and Park Slope Fish Market, Zaytoons and Hello, Smith Street, and Hello Park Slope....
t.
I think the merchants etc. that belong to this organization should be informed that they are being used by this organization to push for the agenda of some of its members - and Buddy Scotto was the person, the sole voice, that gave this organization the Superfund info at their last meeting. At the very least, there should have been balanced info presented. Mr. Scotto strikes again. Amazing. But not surprising. The power he wields is tremendous - as are his strategies and use of the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corp. I saw from the meeting minutes on this group's website that the GCCDC donates substantially to their efforts!
Hey Triada, you left out Scotto's Funeral Home!
triada what are you writing a book!?
Here is a little neighborhood update: The stores were NOT informed. The decision the CSMA took for them to be "anti-superfund" (all 400 plus stores) happened without their knowledge and consent. Many are VERY angry at the CSMA. There is no need for us to punish stores who didn't even know anything about CSMA's decision by not shopping in them. Indeed some of them have Superfund Me/Gowanus Canal in their windows and some others barely knew what the word "Superfund" means. All thought they were signing up and paying in order to get Christmas Lights on Court Street. It is now up to these stores to take up this matter with the CSMA.
It's time to realize that Buddy Scotto always looks out for Buddy Scotto.
When he was looking to bring business & new people to Carroll Gardens it wasn't to Save The Neighborhood - it was to line his pockets.
Yes, some of the things he did helped the area, overall - but that was just Trickle Down Luck.
But never forget, if it were more profitable for Buddy Scotto to sell & run he would have and he would still.
By the way: Did you ever notice that when you go to these meetings (Held in his Parlour) that if you disagree with him & his ONE VOICE brethern then all of a sudden you're made to feel very uncomfortable?
Scotto's has been here for alot longer then 20 years! ... Of course he's out to make money for him and his business but at the same time if its helping the neighborhood what do you really care about what his intention is and what gives you the right to judge?
Skinnylegs, your Scotto comment would make sense IF he was REALY trying to improve the neighborhood - but his inviting a monstrosity the likes Toll Bros., and others, want to build here in Gowanus, in NOT improving my neighborhood, thank you! Pure profiteering. And I think the ruse of his concern about the cleanliness of Gowanus has been busted after his freakout about the EPA coming in. And Scotto was quoted as saying that the canal was clean enough to build on as is, that it isn't really that dirty. EXPOSED!
I here a lot of B.S. and see people who with axes to grind with other people (the Scotto & Heyer haters).
What I don't see is what's so wrong about the City’s Alternative Plan? Why does anyone not realize it will do the same thing only down a slightly different path. And for choosing a different way to clean-up the canal Court Street gets crucified??? There's something so wrong about that. BTW Katia, I thought I saw Glen shopping on Court Street this weekend.
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