Friday, May 30, 2014

New York City Still Unwilling Partner In Gowanus Canal Toxic Clean-up: SHAMEFUL!


 Above:  The Gowanus Canal is infamous for its views of raw sewage.  Is this what the future Lightstone Development inhabitants have to look forward to?

New York City has once again proven to the Greater Gowanus area that it is an unreliable and unwilling partner in the Gowanus Canal Toxic Clean-Up!  LINK

This startling news does not bode well to the current and future inhabitants of this "up and coming area."  The dreams for a "better" Gowanus may go down the sewer if the City of New York does not comply with the EPA.


From PMFA today:


"On Wednesday, May 28th, the US Environmental Protection Agency issued a Unilateral Order* to New York City  for conducting the design work for the remedial actions described in EPA’s Record of Decision (ROD) for the Gowanus Canal, which was signed last year."



"Specifically, the Order compels New York City to perform the design for siting and building the CSO retention tanks and for the excavation and restoration of the 1st Street Basin, as described in the ROD. The order also asks NYC to cooperate and coordinate with the other responsible parties for the dredging and capping portion of the ROD remedy." (edit)

"How sad that after decades of using the canal as an open sewer, New York City is still not stepping up to its responsibility towards the Gowanus community.  It is ironic that the City is trying to delay building retention tanks, but is planning to rezone Gowanus to allow more residential housing in Gowanus, which will just mean more human waste in the canal.  It is all rather foolish, no; shameful."  See PMFA for complete coverage.
We at CG CORD agree!
This is where we are now in the present:
As we live and breathe right now many of you have heard the piles drivings at the Lightstone Development. Those are going to be 700 units of luxury and affordable housing.

If the city continues on its stance that the retention tanks are too expensive let us remind you that this is what the new residents of the Lightstone Development have to look forward to when they look out their window:

The Infamous Poo Poo Tsunami http://pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com/2010/09/holly-crap-last-weeks-severe-storm.html

Monday, May 12, 2014

Gowanus Canal District Deadline May 13!



Hello from CORD!
Please see the approaching deadline below (May 13) and take action and contact Mayor DeBlasio about the historical designation of the Gowanus Canal District !  Watch the video and see the instructions below.  Thank you.



FYI: In March NYC halted the NY State Office of Preservation from moving forward with the listing of the Gowanus Canal District to the State and National Registry of Historic Places

To: frogg@yahoogroups.com
From: frogg.tag@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 1 May 2014 17:14:07 -0400
Subject: UPDATE: Gowanus Canal Historic District Designation

 
The case for Gowanus on the National Register of Historic Places: Marlene Donnelly at TEDxGowanus
Gowanus is one of America's first Urban Industrial Districts: known as the final link in the Erie Canal System. Marlene is a founding member of a group that nominated this unique area of Brooklyn to…
00:09:47
Added on 4/24/14
435 views
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbLS3kOYjGsIt is May 1st. The 60 day extension to allow the city additional time to consider the Gowanus listing to the State and National Registry of Historic Places will close on May 13.  If you haven't already done so, please send in your comments of support to the city for their consideration in these final weeks. If you have already, pass this along to some others. Let the city  know you support this action. Use the link below to email your letter.





Please contact Mayor Bill de Blasio

and tell him to let the State Review Board vote on the Gowanus Canal Historic District.   Listing the area on the National Register of Historic Places will only encourage economic development and investment in the neighborhood. This is a community-driven plan which is business and development friendly, and lifts the community up by acknowledging the Canal's importance in the development of our city. There are no new regulations or requirements which will be triggered by this designation, only the possibility of incentives to development.



(you have a maximum of 300 words)

The following is taken from the HDC posting on the matter. Please encourage your friends to send along a note of support to the city.

The real purpose of listing on the National Register is to acknowledge and raise awareness of the importance of a site to the history of our country, to change the conversation from "the notoriously polluted Gowanus" to "the canal which built Brooklyn". It seems that some people are happier with deriding and demeaning the neighborhood than celebrating it. Let's not let their bleak vision triumph.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Letters for Gowanus Historic District Designation

Hello from CG CORD!

A part of this post is reblogged from FROGG. 
Please read through to the yellowed area at the bottom and write to support the Gowanus Historic District Designation.  The end of the comment period is near (May 13).

And read more about the pressures on Gowanus here.
It is important to take action if you are in favor of Gowanus Historical Re-Districting!


As an aside please read about the landmark battles in Manhattan.
while the Manhattan story describes the City Landmarks Preservation Commission (not the Sate) It is an illustrative case in point complete with the predictable and short sightedness of some developers.

 http://nypost.com/2014/04/13/bill-to-protect-historical-landmarks-angers-developers/

"FROGG Responds to the Delay in Gowanus Historic District Designation"

"March 13th, 2014 The NYS Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) meeting scheduled for this week has been miss-characterized in this posting.
The State was not going to "take a look at FROGG's Application", the State has been reviewing and even expanding the district boarders for the proposed Gowanus Historic Listing for a number of years now. And nothing, NOTHING, in this listing has any baring in the any river walk (though everyone should know that Gowanus is not a river and never has been). The odd thing is that NYC has also received materials to review the historic listing over the years. NYC has been fully aware of which properties NYC are within the district, for quite some time now. Yet they now ask for 60 more days after years of review?"
"The scheduled state meeting was the final step for affirming the designation. That process also included the February meeting for all property owners in the district. All who didn't understand the nature of this VOLUNTEER REDEVELOPMENT TAX-INCENTIVE PROGRAM--that brings a minimum of 40% tax credits to those who choose to participate--were able to get answers directly form the state agency at that meeting."
It was explained at the meeting that owners who objected to the designation (and wanted to deny their neighbors access to the volunteer redevelopment tax- credits) could prevent the historic listing provided more than 200 of property owners also object. The delay requested this week by the City can be seen as a result of a small group of objectors, with influence at the city, having fallen short in collecting the necessary objection letters. Those running the miss-information-campaign based on a confused statement letter by a Lightstone agent, and directed by Bill Appel and the Gowanus Alliance, WERE NOT ABLE TO GATHER THE NECESSARY NUMBER OF OBJECTION LETTERS. The city's request this week, for more time to look into their properties, can be seen as the means of granting additional time to Mr' Appel's group to drum up more letters of objection.


What the delay also does is give those who were asked to sign those form-style letters of objection, time to actually look at the merits of this redevelopment incentive program and submit a new letter to the State SHPO office retracting their original objection.

A letter of support (and/or one retracting a previous letter) can be sent to:

Ruth L. Pierpont
Division for Historic Preservation
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
P.O. Box 189
Waterford, New York 12188-0189

or
Daniel McEneny
New York State Historic Preservation Office
One Delaware Avenue, North
Cohoes, NY 12047
(518) 237-8643 x. 3257

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