No Carroll Without The Gardens! Help Protect Our Unique Courtyards

The letter below (for you to COPY/PASTE/SEND) went out to the Hannah Senesh Day School on Smith Street between Second and First Place last week, and was signed by numerous Carroll Gardens community members, both leaders and residents, including me and my husband.

The recent request of the Hannah Senesh School to make an exception to our 160 year old law protecting our public, front gardens, in order for them to expand their new school building by developing the front garden on First Place and Smith Street, is an absolutely AWFUL idea for Carroll Gardens.

Such a development would destroy yet another signature, front garden block in Carroll Gardens, stand kitty corner to one of the very few streets in Carroll Gardens in our historical district, and set a very dangerous precedent for more of the same in our future!

Our front gardens, which are public, have been protected from development for all these years for a very good reason!
Carroll Gardens' sense of 'sunny, airy, openess' is a direct result of the far-sighted planning of Richard Butts, a surveyor in the 19th Century who carefully designed the blocks we now inhabit. His work and the legacy he left us in Carroll Gardens must be protected, for it is this legacy that sets us apart from being just another brownstone neighborhood. Carroll Gardens is UNIQUE!

Granting Hannah Senesh their wish would set a very dangerous precedent for the future of our community in Carroll Gardens, diminsihing its appeal and value as a one of a kind historical, front-garden, architecutural treasure that can not be found anywhere else in NYC or the USA! We must defend ourselves against inititiatives which are not in the best interests or our own neighborhood.

We need to stop this now! And, we ask for your help!

It is also imperative that we let our Councilman, Brad Lander, know that we need to protect our unique history and heritage and that our front gardens can NOT be developed and destroyed. Period!

Thank you.
Carroll Gardens Coalition For Respectful Development (C.O.R.D.)

PLEASE COPY PASTE THIS LETTER, SIGN AND SEND ACCORDING TO THE DIRECTIONS THAT FOLLOW THE LETTER:

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342 Smith Street

Brooklyn, New York 11231

sent and emailed February 19, 2010

Dear Hannah Senesh Neighbors,

We are some of the people who live on the blocks that surround your school. Some of us have been here for generations. Some are more recent transplants. What we all share is a deep affection and appreciation for this place which we call home.

When you opened your doors in September, 2007, your school community quickly revealed itself to be a very welcome presence and happy addition to our Carroll Gardens neighborhood. We were and are delighted to have you here.

Back in December of 2009, you held a meeting at your school and had your attorney address a small group of neighbors regarding your plans to expand. Although pleased with your success, we expressed our disapproval for your plan which called for your expansion to take place upon a publicly owned area, the courtyard located on the corner of First Place and Smith Street.

As we are sure you are aware of by now, the courtyard area is protected by Old Brooklyn Law. This law, which has served this community very well for over one hundred and sixty years, prohibits, among other things, construction of any type upon it.

Carroll Gardens is defined by its signature Place Blocks’, deep set front yards. This community has, over the last several years taken many painstaking steps to protect our neighborhood from the types of over development which has marred much of New York City and to our great dismay, parts of Carroll Gardens as well.

The residents of Carroll Gardens have and continue to work long and hard to preserve and protect this neighborhood from losing its historic architectural flavor, relevance and human scale presence in the midst of this great city. We believe that these qualities are a great part of what makes our neighborhood both desirable and special.

As we hope you have noticed by now, we Carroll Gardeners have passionate pride and deep heartfelt love for our neighborhood. We wish that you and your students will become as deeply appreciative and caring for Carroll Gardens as we are, as this is your community now too.

Your intention to proceed with plans that must include a change to our single most powerful protection is simply unacceptable.

Although we know our local elected officials have asked to meet with you to discuss your plans, we understand that you have refused to do so at this time.

We implore you to meet directly with us. Let’s sit down and have a frank and honest discussion about your needs, your plans and what you see as the future of the Hannah Senesh School within the Carroll Gardens community.

We are your neighbors. Let’s try to find a solution that works for all.

We hope that we hear from you very soon.

Sincerely,

XXX

(Sign your name here)

EMAIL TO: info@hannahsenesh.org
MAIL: 342 SMITH STREET, BROOKLYN, NY 11231
Fax:718-858-7190

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Tell Congresswoman Yvette Clarke That You Want The Gowanus Canal Listed As A Superfund Site

A message to our politicians:

If You Are Against The EPA's Superfund Clean-Up Of The

Gowanus Canal,

You Aren't Green At All!

Dear Reader,
Together with the Coalition For Respectful Development (C.O.R.D.), I am urging everyone to continue to plead with our elected officials to allow science to prevail over politics in the health issue of our day:

The Superfunding Of The Gowanus Canal

Following on the heels of last Friday's announcment that Representative Nydia Velazquez is indeed supporting the SUPERFUND designation of both the Gowanus Canal and Newton Creek, we here at CORD are urging our readers to PLEASE! now write to Congresswoman Yvette Clarke. Rep. Clarke is another one of our elected officials who needs to hear from her constituents about how important this Superfund Designation is to our health and safety during the clean-up of this highly contaminated canal. Our very health is at stake as the clean-up method for the Gowanus Canal is decided. The EPA has promised to do the most comprehensive and SAFE clean up of these toxins possible and to hold the polluters NOT the taxpayers responsible.

Please sign, cut,paste and send the letter below to Congresswoman Clarke ASAP!
( **see instructions below**) .

Dear Congresswoman Clarke: 


We are residents of the Gowanus area. 
 
Our neighborhoods may have different names such as Carroll Gardens or Park Slope, but we are the people whose lives are touched every single day by the deplorable condition of the Gowanus Canal. 
 


We are the people who applauded Commissioner Grannis's request to nominate this open sewer to the National Priorities List. 
 


We are the people who signed a petition in support of that nomination. 
 


We are the people who attended the multiple meetings held in our community. 
 


We are the people who obediently sent in our comments to the Environmental Protection Agency in the prescribed, timely manner and we are the people who have been waiting patiently for science and common sense to lead our Canal into the healthier life the Superfund designation would offer us all. 
 


We are the people who are beginning to strongly feel that what residents want is of no importance; that the desires of those who stand to benefit financially somehow trumps the health of those who inhabit the area. 



We are your constituents. Our pro designation comments represent the majority and we ask that you speak on our behalf. 
 


The Gowanus Canal must be added to the National Priorities List. It must be designated a Superfund site. 
 


Work must begin with the sole motivation of improving public health and the environment. 
 
No other plan, no other dream, no other ambition is more important.

No other course of action should be permitted to take precedence over the health of Gowanus area residents and our children. 
 
The EPA indicated in those community meetings that they are ready, willing and able to proceed. 
 


We are the people. Represent us, please. Call E.P.A. Administrator Lisa Jackson

Signed, XXXXX

Address: XXXXX

To send email to Congresswoman Clarke, go here:




***P.S.***

If you have not done so already please also copy, paste and sign the letter above and email to the President, the Governor, and both Senators.***

For President Obama
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

For Governor Paterson
http://161.11.121.121/govemail

For Senator Schumer,
http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/contact.cfm

For Senator Gillibrand,
http://gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/




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A Message From C.O.R.D.: "Why We Need Josh Skaller Now"

My friends at the Carroll Gardens Coalition For Respectful Development just published this well reasoned post below on their blog. With their permission,I am reprinting, because I could not agree more with their assessment. I hope, dear Reader, that you will take a moment to read it and most importantly, that you vote in Tuesday's primary.

From The C.O.R.D. Blog

WHY WE NEED JOSH SKALLER NOW!

As you know, after holding a forum which included all of the Democratic candidates for City Council in our District (the 39th), interviewing each of the candidates individually, attending other political forums, CORD chose to endorse JOSH SKALLER, for City Council.

We feel that JOSH SKALLER, is the right man, in the right place, at the right time. There are many reasons why we like him but we are going to concentrate on one of them today.

We know that JOSH SKALLER understands the relationship between development and its impact on every aspect of quality of life issues for a community.

Development drives it all---from your child's class size to the size of the crowd on the train platform during the daily rush...from how much traffic will flow through your street to how much water pressure will flow from your faucets.

JOSH SKALLER has refused to accept donations from developers. He understands that a City Councilman needs to be able to listen to the concerns of his constituents and to speak UNWAVERINGLY ON THEIR BEHALF when it comes to the thing that has the largest impact on their daily lives.

JOSH SKALLER is not anti development, he is anti-OVER development. JOSH SKALLER is anti ignoring the stress upon, or limitations of the infrastructure, development----JOSH SKALLER is anti-the 'let's build first and worry about all of the rest later', development...

Pro large scale development concerns along the Gowanus Canal, the old gas company/Public Place site and in the overall Gowanus area, are driving an aggressive ANTI SUPERFUND campaign.

JOSH SKALLER understands that it is the PUBLIC'S HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION that is of primary importance. That is why he was the first candidate to come out strongly IN FAVOR OF NOMINATING THE GOWANUS CANAL AS A SUPERFUND SITE. He understands the absolute necessity of a comprehensive cleanup and the careful monitoring of the remediation's success PRIOR to any type of development being sanctioned.

In short, he gets that....the high risers can wait....the health,the well being and the future of an entire community, simply cannot.

CORD really admires and appreciates JOSH SKALLER'S position on these development/land use issues. He has demonstrated throughout his campaign the ability to be a candid, consistent, concerned, tough, passionate, no nonsense, plain spoken man.

JOSH SKALLER is exactly what we need now.....

September 15th is Primary Day. There are five good men vying to win. It is time to make an informed decision.

Please be sure to get out and vote....and please consider casting that vote for, JOSH SKALLER.

THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY IS SEPTEMBER 15TH....WE NEED JOSH SKALLER NOW!

C.O.R.D.

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Superfund Gowanus: Questions And Answers From Three Neighborhood Organizations

Members of Friends Of Bond, Carroll Gardens Coalition for Respectful Development (CORD) and Friends & Residents of Greater Gowanus (FROGG) , three neighborhood organizations, have just issued a question and answer flier regarding the proposed Gowanus Canal Superfund designation by the EPA.
All three organizations have joined forces and are working together to support the superfund designation. Here is their flier:

SUPERFUND GOWANUS

We all have questions…

WHAT IS GOING ON?

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced that the Gowanus Canal has been nominated as a Superfund site. The Superfund is a federally funded program that identifies and cleans up the most highly polluted sites throughout the country.

HOW DIRTY IS IT, REALLY?

For over a hundred years, countless toxic, industrial pollutants have been dumped into the Gowanus Canal. Add in the combined sewage overflow (yes, we’ve all seen it) and you get some idea of the problem. The EPA doesn’t nominate a site unless it’s absolutely necessary- it’s science, not conjecture or a popularity contest. EPA officials have already found cancer causing PCB’s and metals such as mercury and arsenic in the Gowanus Canal. While contaminants at many hazardous sites are measured in parts per million, levels of coal tar, for example, were found to be in parts per hundred in the canal sediment.

WOULD A CLEAN CANAL REMOVE THE PRESENT STIGMA AND PRESERVE OUR PROPERTY VALUES?

There may be some depreciation in property values at first but once an area is fully cleaned up, property values resurge. Let’s face it- nothing’s changed. We’ve all been living here, well aware of a contaminated body of water in our backyard. Only now, it’s finally being addressed, realistically and comprehensively. In fact, the value of our community’s health and future well-being is finally going up, not down.

WON’T A SUPERFUND CLEAN-UP TAKE MANY, MANY YEARS?

The City of NY has had decades to take action to bring the canal into compliance with the Clean Water Act of 1972. The current mayor has had 8 years and it still doesn’t meet water quality standards. Should we have confidence that the city can get us there without Superfund support?

To quote the EPA, a clean-up can take “longer than you hope and less than you fear.” Years and years of pollution and neglect will have to be undone. All the “quick fixes” that have been proposed are piecemeal at best, and would remediate parcel by parcel, leaving many areas unaddressed and still highly polluted. It may take time but with the EPA we will know that it’s being done right, by the experts, once and for all.

WHERE WILL THE MONEY COME FROM? ISN’T THE SUPERFUND BROKE?

Former and current polluters are liable to pay some of the costs. The federal budget allocates money each year for the Superfund. An additional 600 million is in the current budget allocation for sites already listed on the EPA Superfund National Priorities List.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING NOW?

The NY State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) invited the EPA to evaluate the situation along the Canal. The DEC has been overseeing the city’s long-term planning for the Gowanus for decades and understands all the issues. The DEC was also engaged in the clean- up of Lowes, Public Place & Whole Foods, and in doing so, found the problems to be much more than they could handle without the EPA.

WHAT ABOUT AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND JOBS?

The goal of the EPA is simple- clean up and restore the canal. To get that task done, jobs will be produced. Once we have a clean canal, the area can develop as the community sees fit, along a healthy, viable waterway.

WHAT CAN ORDINARY CITIZENS AND RESIDENTS LIKE US DO?

There is a 90 day comment period which ends July 8^th wherein the EPA welcomes your comments- the more specific examples and experiences you include, the better. For more information, go to www.superfundgowanus.org There, you can also sign a community petition to our elected officials asking them to represent your views for a Superfund clean-up of the Gowanus. If you have more questions, CB6 will be hosting a meeting with the EPA. Find out from CB6 when and where, and come.

Friends Of Bond, CORD, FROGG May 2009

Please take a minute to sign the online Superfund Gowanus Petition Here
Let our politicians know that their constituents are in support of Superfund and that their delaying maneuvers are not supported by the community.

Click: The Superfund Gowanus Now Petiton

Please also contact our elected representatives in Washington. Here are the numbers:

Senator Chuck Shumer: 202-224-6542.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand - 202-224-4451

Congresswoman Yvette Clarke 202-225-6231

Congresswoman Nydia Valazquez 202-225-2361

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