VoG gathered at 11AM at the corner of 2nd Street and Bond St by the Gowanus Canal and then walked along Third Street to 4th Avenue, ending in front of Councilmember Brad Lander's office in Park Slope.
Lander has been pushing this rezoning throughout his three terms as our elected official, despite knowing fully well that he will be putting new residents in harm's way.
After all, most of the footprint of the massive rezoning is
-in a FEMA Flood Zone A
-the Gowanus Canal that runs through the area is a toxic EPA Superfund that still needs to be cleaned up and
-the City of New York still dumps millions of gallons of sewage into the canal.
More disturbingly, Lander wants to move ahead with the construction of 950 units of 'affordable' housing on Public Place, one of the most toxic sites in the State, which will never be clean despite remediation.
The Gowanus rezoning is the largest being proposed by the City of New York. It is twice the size of the controversial Atlantic Yards rezoning and the recent Hudson Yard rezoning.
Neighbors, please pay attention to this issue. It is the most consequential land use action in our district in decades. AND IT IS ALL WRONG FOR GOWANUS!
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17 comments:
This is exhilarating! A huge THANK YOU to everyone who marched! Lander and company who thought their pushed down the community's throat rezoning plan was was a slam dunk, take heed...
Thank you for the encouragement. Felt good to take up this fight in person with a voice of Gowanus
Where was the picture taken (what street)?
Which one in particular?
"We want DEMOCRACY, NOT HYPOCRISY."
Amen.
I was there in spirit! I have donated to the legal fund and will continue to support it and this cause. Brad Lander and these developers must be stopped!
The location of the drug store with people in front of it.
That is on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, in front of Councilman Lander’s office
Honest questions — are the protesters really concerned that people without smartphone and home internet want to participate but can’t, and that poor people might be forced to live near a superfund site? Or is this run of the mill NIMBYism masquerading as concern for poor people? e.g. they don’t want to admit that they don’t want their quaint neighborhood to change one bit, they don’t want new residents taking up their god-given on-street parking, they don’t like the modern architecture that will surely be built, they don’t want new public housing nearby, etc, etc? My gut tells me the latter, but I’d be glad to know if my cynicism is actually unfounded.
A totally unfounded, Justin. And as a member of the community who has served for more than ten years on the EPA Gowanus Superfund CAG, I am offended by what you are insinuating.
VoG knows about the toxic land where Brad Lander wants to build affordable housing. It will NEVER be clean. And if you are advocating housing on poisoned land, next to an active Superfund, you are as guilty as our Councilmember
And just so that you know, Brad Lander just lamented the lack of internet resources for elderly people in the City. So basically, older folks can’t participate in ULURP hearings. Is that what the pro development people want? That we exclude all who do not have internet or proper speed from participating?
I'm not insinuating anything; as I said, they're honest questions -- I don't know enough to form an honest opinion, and would like to learn more. But in my experience, progressive-sounding reasoning is often a front for selfishness (I usually support progressive causes).
Affordable housing on supposedly-remediated toxic land versus no affordable housing at all sounds like a tricky question with no obvious answer. I would trust the scientists over my own opinion or your assertion that it will NEVER be clean.
I also imagine some people who might live in that affordable housing might be equally offended by rich white people speaking for them, with possibly ulterior motives.
That is the opinion of the f EPA’s head engineer in charge of the Canal cleanup. He has been studying the former MGP sites like Public Place extensively and told the community that the current State supervised clean up is NOT extensive enough.
Please read up on these issues.
If anyone has an ulterior motive, it may be you, Justin.
As for me, as you can see, I am pretty much an open book.
Great to see this surge of community spirit! Bigger crowd than I would have expected.
So many people still do not even know this rezoning is happening - much less that people in our community will not be able to have their voices heard in the process.
Thank you to those who demonstrated.
Katia, besides PMFA, what's the best way to stay up to date on details, actions, meetings, etc?
You can get more information at www.voice of gowanus.org
Thank you for the link, Katia.
Related:
Barge Full of Gowanus Sludge Sinks Into Gowanus Sludge
https://www.curbed.com/2021/01/barge-gowanus-canal-sludge-sinks-into-bay.html
"It’s actually the second vessel associated with the cleanup that has sunk"
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