"Gowanus Is Grander Than Brad Lander": Voice Of Gowanus Marches To Councilmember's Office To Highlight Issues With Massive Neighborhood Rezoning

Despite today's cold weather, members of Voice of Gowanus gathered this morning to protest the illegal virtual Uniform Land Use Review which New York City is trying to force upon its community.NYC's charter guarantees that ULURP hearings are to be help in physical locations in the Community Board district that is under consideration.Virtual ULURP hearings violate NYC's charter and they disenfranchise and alienate those who are on the wrong side of the digital divide.

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!

Read more