Brad Lander: No the Community Does NOT want your ill-advised re-zoning plan in Gowanus/Carroll Gardens!

Dear Brad Lander,

According to you, the Gowanus Canal re-zoning was supposedly decided with "community input."  This is a sham and a lie. We do NOT want this! 
Brad Lander:  No the Community Does NOT want your ill-advised re-zoning plan in Gowanus!

1) The community does NOT want a massive re-zoning without a fully completed EPA clean-up of the toxic Gowns Canal and a plan in place to deal with all 
future CSO's of any re-zoning.

2) The community does NOT want a massive re-zoning in a Hurricane Sandy damaged flood zone, especially with NO adequate evacuation route and public health and 
safety plan.

 3) The community does NOT WANT ANY re-zoning plan which is tone deaf to the needs of current industry and current residents in this 
already existing community.

4) The community does NOT ANY re-zoning whatsoever without a REAL community discussion, not the scripted meetings you invent and 
call a "dialogue."
4) The community does NOT ANY re-zoning whatsoever that places thousands of humans near untreated CSO's without considering the health risks of this risky and cynical course of action."

Free Community Members Protest Posters and Signs!  

(scroll down at this url at: The Gowanus is Dirty!)

Brad, please READ what the Gowanus and Carroll Gardens Community
are actually saying below:

From PMFA:

"There are so many unresolved issues concerning the Gowanus rezoning:

-the area is a FEMA Flood zone A with mandatory evacuation.

-the actual EPA Superfund clean-up of toxic material at the bottom of the Gowanus Canal has yet to start.

-The City still has to build two EPA-mandated Combined Sewer Overflow tanks to capture raw sewage that it currently dumps into the canal.

-the infrastructure in Gowanus is currently insufficient or crumbling."

https://pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com/2019/04/gowanus-rezoning-these-are-cb6-members.html

From The Gowanus Is Dirty

"THEY’LL BUILD, YOU’LL PAY:  As part of the New York State’s brownfields program, developers who build apartment towers along the canal, on Bond and Nevins streets, will not only be reimbursed for the price to clean up the toxic land, but they’ll also be handed taxpayer dollars to cover at least 10% of their building costs, up to $35 million dollars each.   The developer of the luxury towers on Bond between Carroll and 1st streets has already been given over $7 million dollars of taxpayer funds. And because of NYC’s 421a, the developers themselves won’t have to pay any property tax for 10 years."

AND

20,000 NEW NEIGHBORS, 22-STORY TOWERS:  "The rezoning plan will allow for at least 10 new residential towers to be built along Bond and Nevins St., each up to 22 stories high, with four times as many expensive luxury apartments as affordable ones. These towers will likely bring at least 20,000 new residents to our neighborhood, DOUBLING the population of Gowanus, destroying the liveable neighborhood we know and love forever. "

From Riverkeeper:

"Most waterborne disease-causing microorganisms come from human and animal fecal waste. A small drop of fecal matter can contain millions of microorganisms of many types, some of which are disease-causing pathogens. Exposure to the microbial pathogens found in sewage can lead to short-term and chronic illnesses."

"The most common types of waterborne illnesses are short-term gastrointestinal infections that cause stomachaches and/or diarrhea. The elderly, children, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems are at greater risk of contracting chronic illnesses from sewage-contaminated water."

"A survey by the Center for Disease Control reported over 4,000 documented illnesses from recreational waters in the U.S. in 2005-2006. However this number is assumed to be low because waterborne illnesses are notoriously underreported. People often associate the most common ailments, stomach and digestive system problems, with what they ate for lunch instead of contact with water. Still, reports of illness resulting from swimming are on the rise." 

http://www.riverkeeper.org/water-quality/hudson/waterborne-illnesses/

From Community Members and Residents

"If the city has taught it's people anything over the past few decades, it's that they doesn't care about community concerns, no matter how real, enough to change a proposed rezoning. These hearings are for the city's lawyers to collect information they need to cover their butts. Can't see any other reason they pretend to listen to the people."

"How exactly is this meeting going to be run? I have a feeling we're in for another "open house" fiasco; better plan to make our own meeting out of it!"

"I've never quite understood the rationale for this rush to send new residents to Gowanus before the canal has been cleaned. It's bad enough for the residents there, but is the idea that now that tens of thousands more people in gleaming taller buildings are coming in, NOW we can act on a superfund site, the most polluted waterway in the entire country? Really puts the NYC real estate market into perspective." LINK

"Katia said...As I mentioned in the post, some community boards have been more outspoken and wielded more power than CB6. Though many of CB6’s members are dedicated and try to learn about the issues that are put in front of them for a vote, many are chronically late to discussions or absent most of the time. We need to make sure that all members know what the rezoning would mean to Gowanus and know about the environmental challenges. If we don’t try to engage them, it is a missed opportunity." LINK

CG CORD
Carroll Gardens Coalition for Respectful Development