Tonight, CG CORD brought their request for "a minimum of two (2) inter-agency panel town hall Q&A discussions on the rezoning of the Gowanus Canal to be organized and held by Brooklyn Community Board 6" to CB 6. (See our live petition here)
We wish to warmly thank the CB6 Permits and Licenses Committee for their time, patience and the thoughtful consideration they afforded our request.
By the end of the meeting, and a great deal of robust discussion, the Permits and Licenses Committee did not take a vote but, they did unanimously agree to pass CORD's request up the chain of command to the CB6 Executive Committee.
It is a good start.
The CB6 calendar shows that there is an Executive Committee meeting on Monday, June 10th at an as yet undetermined time and place. CORD is requesting to be placed on the agenda.
IF the Executive Committee does actually meet that evening, (they apparently are not bound to meet each month unless there is a pressing need to do so), CORD will be there.
We certainly hope the CB6 Executive Committee will see how time sensitive our request is and agree to keep the meeting tentative date they had set aside.
Meanwhile, we will still be out there asking for you to support our petition in person or through the online version.
Here are the words presented to the CB 6 committee by CG CORD-Co-Founder, Rita Miller:
Inviting 19,000 new residents, which we feel is a very conservative estimate on the City's part, is the equivalent of adding an additional town's population to what is mostly, CB6's boundaries!
We, the taxpayers of this community who are already living here deserve answers as to just how all of our needs which are barely being met now, plus the needs of the new townspeople are expected to be met.
So, CORD asks, what better committee is there for us to come before to request these vital meetings of than this one? This Committee, formed and specifically tasked with making decisions that are to consider quality of life impacts.
We believe that the questions all of us have for this panel, the answers we will and will not receive, will more clearly reveal the magnitude of the impact of this rezoning on our community. We all need to understand that.
Good Evening. My Name is Rita Miller; Carroll Gardens resident, Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group member and one of the co-founders of twelve year old CORD, the Carroll Gardens Coalition for Respectful Development. I am here tonight as a CORD representative only.
Like many others, CORD submitted comments on the Gowanus Rezoning Draft Scope of Work. Within our comments, was a request - to have CB6 organize and hold a minimum of two (2) town hall Q&Ameeting sessions impaneling a total of fifteen (15) local, state and federal agencies in order to give the community the opportunity to ask their own questions regarding the impacts of this very ambitious proposal.
Rather than reading off the list of agency names, at the end of these remarks, I will submit to you the first of what we think will be many signed pages of a petition CORD began just yesterday. The agencies are listed there.We collected over one hundred signatures in a couple of hours. The CB6 community clearly has questions.
None of us here tonight know exactly when the ULURP clock will begin ticking, but we all know that it will and when it does, this Community Board will hold the first of the public hearings and will be the first to vote on the proposal.
We need these inter agency Q&A town hall sessions to be arranged as soon as possible so that these events can take place well before the ULURP comes before the Land Use Committee. We are bringing this to you now because we understand that a request like this takes time to arrange.
CORD recognizes that this request is unusual, probably unprecedented and that these types of hearings are certainly not part of the ordinary process. But this rezoning proposal is unusual and definitely unprecedented in size and scope and that necessitates change to what is ordinarily required.
We also know that this committee is neither the usual nor obvious choice to come before to formally request these meeting sessions, but, truth be told, this rezoning proposal is so broad, it touches on the responsibilities of each of cb6's Committees.
In the case of the Gowanus proposal, community residents' requests, questions or comments presented to any CB6 committee merit serious consideration and more importantly, action - not automatic deferral to the Land Use Committee.
Interestingly, upon examining each of CB6's committee descriptions, we found that with the exception of the now cojoined Parks/Recreation/ Environmental Committee which "reviews environmental issues that affect the quality of life", this Permits and Licenses Committee is the only Committee on CB6 whose written mission includes considering the "quality of life impacts" of your own decisions. Even your name implies duty and power.
Never has there been a person, proposal or request to come before this community asking for permission or license that could impact the quality of this community's life more drastically than this Gowanus Rezoning proposal. Its wide ranging impacts are, as is the usual protocol, on track to be examined solely by one Committee.
In addition to the highly questionable choice to rezone before the Superfund cleanup is completed, there are a host of questions this community is entitled to answers to including if, when and what pre-rezone, preparatory plans will be presented to us regarding our schools, hospital, emergency, transportation, sanitation services- the infrastructsure of any community.
Inviting 19,000 new residents, which we feel is a very conservative estimate on the City's part, is the equivalent of adding an additional town's population to what is mostly, CB6's boundaries!
We, the taxpayers of this community who are already living here deserve answers as to just how all of our needs which are barely being met now, plus the needs of the new townspeople are expected to be met.
As examples, many of our schools are functioning way over capacity.In an attempt to alleviate that overcrowding, they are undergoing their own rezoning process right now.
Our F train, a lifeline to our commuters is mobbed. It appears as though there are plans in discussion for an F express but we understand that it suggests the elimination of several of our stops - sending us to farther away transit hubs instead.
This proposal is recommending high density residential housing in an area officially classified as a flood zone.
CB6's population as of 2018 was listed at 109,351-We have one hospital and on our side of the canal, one fire house.
So, CORD asks, what better committee is there for us to come before to request these vital meetings of than this one? This Committee, formed and specifically tasked with making decisions that are to consider quality of life impacts.
It doesn't matter that your customary purview is hitched to commercial endeavors. Not this time.
Your experiences, each time you exercise your judgement in order to achieve your stated mission, just as you are here doing tonight, make you, if I may borrow part of a phrase, the shield that protects the realms of CB6.
We believe that the questions all of us have for this panel, the answers we will and will not receive, will more clearly reveal the magnitude of the impact of this rezoning on our community. We all need to understand that.
The information gleaned will most certainly be of assistance to the Community Board Members, the Borough President and the City Council in making wise, well considered decisions when it comes beforeeach of them for vote. To many of those voting, it will only be CEQR #19DCP157k - another item on the docket. To all of us, it represents the fabric of our community life.
On behalf of CORD, I implore you, Permits and Licenses, to take CORD'S request tonight and vote upon it.
Boldly make it your own. Take the unusual, unprecedented action of bringing it before the Board to be voted upon at the General Meeting on the 12th.
Be our Shield. Time is of the essence. The Rezoning is coming.
Thank you.
CG CORD
SIGN OUR CG CORD PETITION!
CG CORD
