Monday, October 29, 2012

Zone A evacuates again! and even as it is bulls-eyed for new housing insanity.......



Taped up windows at stores on Smith and Second Streets this Sunday evening 




With Hurricane Sandy causing the second, major hurricane evacuation of Zone A in a year, a zone that includes the Gowanus Canal and its "corridors", we here at CORD continue to vehemently oppose this City's plan to vastly increase the numbers of residents on this dangerous floodplain, that is Zone A, placing them, effectively, in harm's way, a mere few blocks from where the photos above were taken along the Gowanus Canal.

The current Lighthouse Development Project that plans to add an additional 700 units of housing to a Zone A site on Bond and Second Streets in Carroll Gardens/Gowanus,  is merely the latest example of this kind of insanity, an illogical thinking that ignores the laws of nature entirely in the development of new projects.  To add insult to injury for these imagined new residents of the future, the Gowanus Canal Zone A area, where the new residencies will be supposedly located, is ALSO situated next to the highly contaminated, Gowanus Canal, a current, federal superfund site that is full of numerous contaminants to our environment with both obvious and subtle risks.  

And to make matters even worse, our emergency (escape) route from Carroll Gardens to Fourth Avenue in case of disaster *still seems to be: Third Street (from Smith Street to Fourth Ave) which always floods as Third Street approaches the Gowanus Canal crossing, even in a large rain, let alone a hurricane.  

We wonder how many hurricanes in Brooklyn and how much damage will it take for our city's sanity to return she it comes to planning for our safe inhabitation of NYC?

CORD  

For more reading please see:

What Would Happen to the Polluted Gowanus in Case of a Hurricane?
Hurricane Irene Likely to Cause Big Problems for the Gowanus

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CORD HISTORY:

With the "Protect Our Homes" petition, CORD was formed in May, 2007. This petition arose as an overwhelmingly negative response to the coming of the over-sized 360 Smith Street Development at the corner of Smith Street and Second Place (Aka Oliver House; aka 131 Second Place). This petition, which had well over three thousand signatures, led to a new zoning text amendment in summer of 2008.

To: Our Elected Officials, Community Leaders, The MTA:
(MAY, 2007)

We the undersigned Carroll Gardens homeowners and residents, are appalled by the "as of right" ruling which allows owners and developers to erect buildings in our neighborhood with no regard to the impact they will present to our quality of life and the value of our homes........

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?crlgrdns