This is your last chance to stop Greenpoint Landing! Last Meeting! Get Active. Do it now! (12/5)

Ok, here we are.  This is your last shot. I’m not playin’.  Either are the developers who  will soon turn Greenpoint into a Disneyfied vision of Brooklyn.  The last of the public meetings will take place Thursday, December 5th, 2013 and this is your last chance to do something.

UPDATE Location: 250 Broadway Committee Room 16th Floor CITY HALL
Time for Commercial Street meeting: 9:30 am
Time for Greenpoint Landing meeting: 1:00 pm

If you can’t make it – here is a sample letter – to send to council members.

Anyone familiar with the politics of New York knows most of these politicians are flags flapping in the wind.  Where the wind blows is the direction they point in. If you all become the wind and let them know how you feel, you may be able to get the city council to vote against this project.

Become a collective hurricane! Go to the meetings. Voice your opinions, and let it be known that you are not feeling this.

Our friend Kim Masson of savegreenpoint.org fills us in on the latest developments.

GP: You told me that Councilman Levin seemed to think that if enough people come voice their opinions, that the city council will vote against it. How are we going to make that happen? Is savegreenpoint.org planning any other protests other than going to the meetings?

Kim: The last time I met with Councilman Levin he made it clear that Greenpoint residents need to step up and speak out at the Council Hearing. If we bombard them with speakers, then we have a swinging chance. Unfortunately we’ve seen a lot of voices speaking in favor of affordable housing and not enough speaking out against toxicity. So if you care about your health and your kid’s health, I urge everyone come out Dec 5th and prove to the city you don’t approve of these projects. People may also contact all the voting members by email and phone calls. We’ve provided a sample letter on our website which people may use to get their message across. But as our Councilman Steve Levin said, it is important we have bodies at the hearing. At the last public hearing 19 speakers (mostly paid lawyers) spoke out in favor of the developments, and only 9 testified against. With the odds stacked against us, it is no wonder the City is green lighting these projects. We’ve got a David and Goliath situation here and for this meeting we’re going to need a lot more slingshots.

GP: I find it so ridiculous that the city council would just vote for this under any circumstances.  Other than Councilman Levin, who else on the city council seems to be in agreement that this project is a bad idea?

Kim: To be honest, I believe most city council members aren’t well versed in this project. Greenpoint Landing and 77 Commercial St are just another bunch of rezoning projects on their voting agenda. Committee members will be basing their decision on what they hear at the public hearing and the recommendations from our Community Board, Boro President & City Planning. All three agencies approved the projects.

GP: Who are the city council member’s that are supporting this, and if you have their phone numbers and or email can you give it to us so we can make phone calls and send emails?

 KM: Here is a list of the Council Members who will be casting the final vote:

City Council Member	District No. & County	Email Address	Phone Number
Stephen Levin	33 Brooklyn/Greenpoint	slevin@council.nyc.gov	(718) 875-5200
Leroy Comrie	27 Queens	lcomrie@council.nyc.gov	(718) 776-3700
Daniel Garodnick	4 Manhattan/ UES	dgarodnick@council.nyc.gov	(212) 818-0580
Vincent Ignizio	51 Staten Island	vignizio@council.nyc.gov	(718) 984-5151
Robert Jackson	7 Manhattan/Harlem	rjackson@council.nyc.gov	(212) 928-1322
Jessica Lappin	5 Manhattan/ Roosevelt Island	jlappin@council.nyc.gov	(212) 980-1808
Diana Reyna	34 Brooklyn/Bushwick	dreyna@council.nyc.gov	(718) 963-3141
Albert Vann	36 Brooklyn/Bed-Sty	avann@council.nyc.gov	(718) 919-0740
Mark Weprin	23 Queens/Bayside	mweprin@council.nyc.gov	(718) 468-0137
Ruben Wills	28 Queens/Jamaica	rwills@council.nyc.gov	(718) 206-2068
Council Speaker: Christine Quinn	3 Manhattan/W.Village	cQuinn@council.nyc.gov	(212) 564-7757

 

Given DiBlasio’s pro development stance,  what is his thinking on this project and has savegreenpoint.org got the message to him regarding this project?GP: Being that we are going through a transitional process in the office of the mayor, my gut feeling is that Mayor elect Deblasio will not touch this with a ten foot pole.  It is easier to blame this on the previous administration.

Kim:  We’ve contacted Bill DeBlasio and he never got back to us. I’m not surprised considering he worked with the Toll Bros. Developers in Gowanus to fight against it’s Superfund designation. They were such good friends, the Toll Bros. even threw DeBlasio’s birthday fundraiser party for him! No wonder DeBlasio thought it was cool to place people on top of the most fetid toxic waterways in the country. So much for a change in guard. Obviously, when it comes to big money developers and public health, real estate deals come first. Can you believe Mayor Bloomberg wanted to use toxic landfill from the Gowanus canal clean-up to make an island and build luxury towers on top? Thankfully the Federal government stepped in and that project was shut down.  Scary thing–history is poised to repeat itself. DeBlasio has gone on record saying he approves the projects. So people should not expect any saving grace from our new administration.

GP: Please reiterate, how evil and environmentally destructive this whole development is so anyone who does not know is now filled in.

Kim: Well, underneath the 22 acres of the proposed developments there are 58,000 gallons of petroleum buried in underground tankers, some of them leaking. The developers keep claiming they tested the ground and it’s clean. If that’s the case, why can’t anyone including our own Councilman’s office, get their hands on those test results? It’s a disgrace. To me the most egregious part of this project has to be the decision to place an elementary school less than 200ft from a Superfund Site. The Nuhart Plastics Superfund site has two plumes of liquid plasticizers under the streets. According to the School Construction Authority, they never even looked at other potential school sites! If the city were to go by Federal EPA standards, this land deal between GPL and the School Construction Authority would be dead on the spot. Schools and Superfund sites do not mix. I thought this was given, but obviously city officials think otherwise. I don’t even have kids and this burns me up.  This whole ULURP circus has shown me when it comes to public health, government agencies are not doing their due diligence. Even the Department of Environmental Conservation admits there is no one policing State environmental qualities laws. Bottom line, it’s up to us. Let’s make this last public hearing count! Please come out and fight for what’s right because there will be so much wrong if we don’t do anything to stop it.

The last time we interviewed Kim we got a ton of buzz regarding this issue. Lots of shares, re-posts, tweets and comments which was great.

But sitting on your ass clicking a mouse is not cutting it.  If you can’t go to the meeting, at least send an email or make a phone call.

This project will have a drastic negative effect on a neighborhood that clearly can not bear this extra weight on it’s infrastructure.  The city is in this midst of a massive housing crisis, and the fact that these monster developments are being streamlined by the city government is indicative of how wrong and out of touch they are with everyday people.

Let them know where you stand.  Most of these politicians care about one thing, getting re-elected so that they can continue to make a great salary with wonderful perks on our dime. Do not go down without a fight, Greenpoint!