Gowanusdog: Thanks so much!

Posted by: jwendell at April 15, 2009 11:25 AM in response to Conflict over Gowanus Canal Superfund Status

So, for you folk who think that designating it as a Superfund site will tie the area up in a hell of bureaucracy ensuring that the canal will not get clean:

What's the best way to get it clean? Any ideas? Even though I live in the area, I can honestly say I more than likely won't get down there to start scrubbing myself, but I do recognize that it needs to be thoroughly cleaned...

Posted by: jwendell at April 15, 2009 11:23 AM in response to Conflict over Gowanus Canal Superfund Status

Yes, the canal really looks like that.

Is there a link that could have been provided so that we can actually make our public comment? I'd love to have something on record, but I have no idea where to send my comment.

I live on 3rd avenue and Carroll St, about 2 blocks away from the canal. It's pretty nasty. I went to the city planning committee's hearing on zoning a couple months ago and heard people describing the environmental craziness of the area and thought to myself "wow, that sounds like a Superfund site."

Gemini10: A lot of the people that live in my area have either lived in the area for decades or are renting rent-stabilized apartments. Personally, I can't afford to move. So that's why I stay there. I haven't grown any extra extremities, though, I do realize that if I start to glow, I'll be much easier to find in the dark.

On a more serious note, because a lot of people that live in this area live in rent stabilized buildings that could have been destroyed for major high rises, and because the area is probably in need of an environmental overhaul, I don't feel too badly about the possibility of this being classified as a Superfund site.

I'm with Feral on the City's take on this. Also, the fact that no river clean up of this magnitude has been successful is not even a halfway decent excuse for not attempting to do so. I would really hope that the city and developers would see that once the canal is cleaned up it'll be a much more lucrative place to build on. It'd even be nice if someone saw that as some sort of incentive...

Posted by: jwendell at April 15, 2009 11:17 AM in response to Conflict over Gowanus Canal Superfund Status