Impeachment or.....

Some emotions make me feel very off balance, like I might lose my lunch and much more. My mind struggles to straighten out the pieces of the road in front of me....
I wait for the passing of the storm. And I pray for impeachment or impalement or improvement.

The Gowanus Canal Clean-Up is (More or Less) on Schedule

From the CG CORD Blog:

March 2017 Gowanus Canal CAG General Meeting Summary

The March Gowanus Canal CAG General meeting was held at the St Mary's houses on Carroll Street on its regular last Tuesday of the month at 6:30 PM

In attendance were EPA Project Manager, Christos Tsiamis and Legal Counsel, Brian Carr as well as representatives from the Army Corp of Engineers,  NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and US Fish and Wildlife Service. They were there to explain their role as some of the Trustees in a program called the National Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA)  which helps neighborhoods/communities recover monetary damages suffered from environmental accidents/disasters/situations.

We were given an update by both EPA representatives:

--4th Street Basin pilot study/design is 50% complete.

--The First Street Basin may begin by late fall early 2018.

--The 5th Street basin has had some work done. some data collected and that data is currently being reviewed. There should be more updates regarding this basin at the next general meeting.

(edit) 

Part of the discussion turned to some of the financial facts of our Gowanus Superfund Project. Lately, there has been quite a bit of buzz regarding the Superfund status of the Canal since the new administration has taken over.

There have been articles claiming that the funding is endangered--indeed the project could be endangered.

During the course of last week's meeting, funding (or lack thereof) did come up. We were told that a particular "basket"  of funding would be running out very soon. This would mean that the work would continue but at an extremely slowed pace. The slowdown would NOT affect or extend the consent agreement timeline that EPA has with the City of New York regarding the April 2020 deadline for the city to acquire the properties they wish to either purchase or seize at the head of the canal for the required retention tank placement.  But a slowdown in general should be expected and of course, a slowdown is never welcome.

Shortly after that on March 30th, to be exact, EPA issued the following statement:

"Work on the Gowanus Canal is expected to continue using funding that the EPA already has and, as is the goal of the Superfund program, relying on the work being conducted by those parties responsible for the pollution at the site. The regional office has not requested additional funding from EPA's national office.

The EPA currently has several administrative orders in place which ensure the completion of design work and a dredging and capping pilot. Under those orders, work is expected to begin later this year on the pilot in the 4th Street Turning Basin.

2022 remains the EPA estimated target for completion of the dredging work at the Gowanus Canal Superfund site, with work on the Combined Sewer Overflows completed after that."

So, with that good and most welcomed news, things seem to be progressing mostly on schedule.....
(edit) See LINK for rest

CG CORD

The Generation Gap

Today the fire drill in the high school pierced the halls during art making time.  Students ran outside the school building with white plaster bandages still drying on their hands in amusing gestures. Laughing, cursing, giggling the way high school students always do, they headed away from the school.  We "landed" on this corner in front of a house with an obvious artist resident inside.  But only I could see this.  The students could not understand what I found so interesting, even with this little hobby horse sculpture hanging feet from their own faces. This is the generation gap I find myself in so often these days.

T.S.

Where is America headed these days? Does anyone know?

Where is America headed these days? Does anyone know?

As I was walking past this pile of rocks and the mostly burned out (but once gorgeous) building in the rear, I thought about this. It was all very beautiful once upon a time.  But all I can see now are giant boulders in my way.

 And a flimsy fence meant to keep me out perhaps. T.S.

LINK

Attention All NYC Activists: A New Book on MYC Zoning Laws for You to Read!

Attention NYC Land Use and Development/

Housing/Workspace/Social Justice

Artist/Activists!

Everyone must read this new book! “Zoned Out” http://www.urpub.org/books/zonedout
Zoned Out! Race, Displacement, and City Planning in New York City
$20.00 

Editors: Tom Angotti and Sylvia Morse
Contributors: Tom Angotti; Philip DePaolo; Peter Marcuse; Sylvia Morse; Samuel Stein

It is critical to read up on the complicated subject of Zoning Laws in NYC if one wants to fight the powers that be!