This evening members of CG CORD attended the Brooklyn CB 6 General Meeting held at Pave Academy in Red Hook at 732 Henry St. Brooklyn, NY. 11231 at 6:30 PM. The meeting was live-streamed and placed on Youtube. See this LINK below:
Below are the remarks made at the meeting by Rita Miller, CG CORD Co-Founder to CB 6 Members:
Now Magnify that by at least 20%.
So, I am not only here tonight to thank you for trying to get better and more information. I am here tonight to beg you not to give up on getting us better and more information.
It is simply that this rezoning proposal is so unprecedented in size and so extraordinary in scope that it demands extraordinary explanation and unprecedented examination.
Thank you."
Below are the remarks made at the meeting by Rita Miller, CG CORD Co-Founder to CB 6 Members:
"Good Evening, My name is Rita Miller, I am one of the Co Founders of the twelve year old neighborhood group, CORD, the Carroll Gardens Coalition for Respectful Development.
In order to provide the community with a deeper understanding of the impacts of the very ambitious, forward moving, Gowanus rezoning proposal, CORD came before your Permits and Licenses Committee last Monday to ask this Board to organize and hold a minimum of two (2) town hall Q&A sessions with an impaneled group of fifteen city, state and federal agencies and to submit 100+ CB6 resident signatures in support of this via our petition.
Tonight, by the way, i will be submitting over 150 more.
Last Tuesday, Michael Racioppo informed me that your Chairman was amenable to the idea. By yesterday morning, Michael was kind enough to copy me along with all of you, on the Chair's letter to Brooklyn's Dept of City Planning, outlining the history and details of the request as well as asking for DCP's help to make it happen.
Sincere thanks to Peter Fleming for his swift response to our request.
Since the release of the Draft Scope of Work, it has become increasingly obvious that this rezoning proposal will impact this community in ways never before seen.
The introduction of 19,000 new residents, a City estimate we feel is conservative, is the equivalent of adding an entire town to what is mostly CB6's boundaries. In 2018, CB6 population was listed at 109,351. Increasing any population by 20% places an enormous strain on that area's infrastructure.
I know you are all aware of our infrastructure's present fragility..
It is evident in the necessity to alleviate our school overcrowding- by having them go through a rezoning process of their own, in the current plans that suggest the F train eliminate four of our stops sending us to farther away transit hubs instead.
A single firehouse on this side of the canal and one real hospital in the entire district are serving so many already. Overburdened sewer systems, a Superfund cleanup in progress and the unavoidable traffic situation once the cantilever repair work begins are just a few of the challenges we are facing right now.
Now Magnify that by at least 20%.
It would be more than tragic if the City, no matter how willing in words, was unable to realistically meet our basic needs after we had already become a significantly larger community,
So, I am not only here tonight to thank you for trying to get better and more information. I am here tonight to beg you not to give up on getting us better and more information.
Finally, CORD recognizes and appreciates all of the hard work, you, this volunteer group of neighbors, especially the Land Use Committee has done in regard to this proposal. This "ask" of ours is not an expression of dissatisfaction.
It is simply that this rezoning proposal is so unprecedented in size and so extraordinary in scope that it demands extraordinary explanation and unprecedented examination.
Thank you."
Rita Miller, CG CORD Co-Founder
June 12, 2019
