About 40 residents of Red Hook showed up at the near completed site of US Concrete on Saturday to oppose the Texas-based company’s presence in their neighborhood. The site, next to Ikea and near Erie Basin Park, the Red Hook ball fields, Red Hook Community Farm, and other spots of local importance, is zoned for heavy industry, but residents are worried that pollution from the factory will harm crops at the organic farm, cause health problems like asthma for children at the ball fields, and generally decrease the quality of life in Red Hook. The Brooklyn Paper notes that “the activists face an uphill battle,” but “an aide to State Senator Velmanette Montgomery (D-Red Hook) said his office would keep fighting the plant because the neighborhood has changed since the ‘heavy industry’ zoning was put in place decades ago.” The aide, Jim Vogel, said, If you’re opening a cement plant in an area with a 40-percent asthma rate, you’d better open your pocket book, because you’re going to be spending a lot of time in court. GMAP
Red Hookers Don’t Want Cement Plant near Farm [Brooklyn Paper]
Come Out and Say No to Cement Plan [A View from the Hook]
US Concrete, Redhook’s New Resident [Brownstoner]