New York City is a place where change is inevitable, and where change comes, real estate development follows. It would not be the place it is without it. However the political climate during the Bloomberg era hasput this into hyper drive.
I ran into my old friend Kim Masson, who is part of Save Greenpoint, a group that is spearheading the opposition to Greenpoint Landing. Their issues with the development are not just the obvious ones most people are aware of. This is not just about being opposed to new massive buildings that will drive up rents and change the face of the neighborhood. The implications here are far more drastic.
Greenpoint is a neighborhood that has already dealt with one of the largest oil spills in the history of oil spills, and countless environmental mini disasters. I want people to be more aware of this situation so I decided to interview Kim so she can break this all down.
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GP: In a nutshell, what are the main environmental dangers of these developments going through?
Kim: It is a known fact that when the city rezoned the Williamsburg/Greenpoint waterfront back in 2005, they never did a full Phase 1 Environmental Testing. The city instead relied on DOB violations and street observations to determine levels of toxicity! Newtown Creek at that time wasn’t even deemed a federal Superfund Site, despite it’s role in this country’s 3rd largest oil spill; we’re talking three times larger than the Exxon-Valdez. Of the 22+ acres of land that Greenpoint Landing is about to develop, there is over 58,000 gallons of petroleum buried in underground storage tanks. The development wants to put an elementary school across the street from another Superfund site that is leaking plasticizers under the street. It almost seems criminal, but the reality is they can put schools on toxic ground–just ask residents in the Bronx who sued the city over the same exact issue.
GP: What are some of the obvious lies touted by the interested parties in order to get this development pushed through?
Kim: They’ve tested the soil and said it isn’t toxic. I’m not buying it. That whole area is one gigantic brownfield site. There are already documented reports of oil leaks on those lots. How can you honestly tell people that land is clean?
GP: The city that is undergoing a massive affordable housing crisis, our elected officials for the most part fall in line with these developers who literally will cater to the 1%. Thoughts?
Kim: Real Estate is king. Bloomberg and Amanda Burden have rezoned 1/3rd of the city in 12 years. I don’t see how this has improved anything but create a bigger real estate bubble and driven massive displacement. It saddens me to think the concept of neighborhood is rapidly becoming a distant thing.
GP: As we have seen, a bit south in Williamsburg with Northside Piers and The Edge, in short time the neighborhood in the existing area becomes something so unrecognizable it no longer resembles the community that once stood there. How drastically will this effect Greenpoint, and how will it be different than what happened in Williamsburg?
Kim: Condo corridor? Sadly, if nothing is done, Greenpoint is poised to become the same thing but worse because we’ve got the G train.
GP: Years ago, the MTA looked at the G train as a line very few cared about. Even if more ferry service is added, how can Greenpoint possibly sustain such added pressure on its public transportation if this happens?
Kim: It can’t. Our infrastructure is crumbling, literally. The MTA has said it can’t afford to add more cars to the G train because it will cost millions. I wonder if it couldn’t be done if MTA officials cut a bit from their six figure salaries.
GP: Greenpoint has already had more than enough environmental issues to deal with. How much more would this compound the original problems?
Kim: It’s all about the cumulative effects of brownfield cleaning. Remediation begins with breaking ground. This releases tons of toxic vapors which permeate into the air and into our apartments. When I discovered the air-quality inside my apartment was compromised from a brownfield clean-up behind my building, that was a sobering reality. When you add together this large scale remediation being done at the same time to all the nasty chemicals that are being burped up from the dredging on Newtown Creek, we’re talking about a lot of exposure to some highly toxic things. People really need to know what’s going on because it is not just about the towers, it’s about what’s in the air we are breathing.
GP: How is the community board reacting to this stuff, not just the contruction but the enviromental aspect of the situation?
Kim: The only time I hear about toxicity is from residents speaking up about the cancer they got since living here. Most of them are women, all under the age of 40. There is all this talk about affordable housing at the community board hearings, and yet no one wants to address the big elephant in the room. It’s really distressing.
GP: How are the local elected official reacting to this? Often we see people in New York politics in the pockets of developers. Are there any champions of the people out there or have they been bought off and who are they?
Kim: State Assemblyman Joseph Lentol has been very vocal about the environmental impacts issue surrounding the developments. While he is working up in Albany to address the cumulative environmental impacts, my group Save Greenpoint has also been talking with City Councilman Stephen Levin about the issue. State Assemblywoman Joan Millman from Gowanus just responded to our petition. So finally it seems people are listening.
GP: It looks like Bill DeBlasio will be the next Mayor of New York city. What are the implications of this? Will wee see more more over development if he becomes mayor?
Kim: Bill De Blasio seems to be in favor of high density developments, so it could be possible we will see more of Bloomberg’s land use policies applied under his leadership.
GP: In all honesty, what are the chances that the people can stop what is happening here, and if and when this does happen, what is the best and worse case scenarios for Greenpoint?
Kim: Well we know what’s the worst case scenario is a wall of 40 story luxury towers. But if people show up at the meetings and make a lot of noise about what they don’t like about these developments, we can force decision makers to doing something for our community. Signing our petition will also help.
People need to know this thing isn’t over until the fat lady sings. Your voice means something, so use it people!
Check out our website savegreenpoint.org for more ways you can make a difference or learn about the developments and how it will effect residents.
Let Greenpoint be the neighborhood we love!
Living in this quiet , family friendly neighborhood for years what is about to happen is nothing short of a disaster. Greenpoint is a prime location with potential for great use, but to put up buildings that would greatly increase the population of a small neighborhood where parking is sparse as it is and transportation limited would be atrocious. For the elderly Brownstone owners who have worked so hard to purchase their homes, how can we take away the view of their city, the quiet neighborhood they love, accommodate the massive amounts of construction, noise, people and traffic? Yes, Greenpoint can be made into the beautiful neighborhood it once was, but where do you draw the line. Why does development corporation money always win over what is best overall for the people? The Government is currently shut down, now it is time to shut down these plans!
There are arguments to be made against the glass-steel development of neighborhoods like Greenpoint, but Anglique does not seem to present them. With the introduction of new condos and the neighbourhood’s increased appeal, the brownstone owners’ property value and wealth would probably increase, and I think they’d actually be happy. Also, sparse parking, really? Where in the city is there not sparse parking. And construction is just an accepted part of life when you choose to live in a densely populated city
Can’t wait to read all comments by the developers calling us NIMBYs for caring about our health. Take a look at what they wrote in this article. http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/09/25/development_battles.php These developers only care about one thing and that is their wallet. Except in this case that is going to cost you your health. Lets team up as a community and start the law suits now, after all it’s their toxic land that has been impacting our health for years.
I’ve been living and working in the neighborhood for years and this would be the worst thing to happen to Greenpoint. The neighborhood will not be able to handle this traffic, the G train will be a disaster for people commuting and locals who have been living there their whole life will be so discouraged.
Leave the land alone!
THERE IS NO…NOT ONE…ASPECT OF THE GREENPOINT LANDING AND THE 77 COMMERCIAL ST PROJECTS THAT WILL BENEFIT GREENPOINT. IT WILL ADD TO THE ALREADY TOXIC AIR, EARTH, AND WATER DANGERS THAT ARE HERE…AND ADD FIRE, BECAUSE YOU NEED TO SEARCH A DISTANCE TO FIND A FIREHOUSE. IT IS ASTOUNDINGLY NUMB AND DUMB TO EVERY ASPECT OF THIS LOW RISE, CALM, AND AESTHETICALLY RICH COMMUNITY .
These developments bring absolutely nothing good to Greenpoint. If they actually happen, we will have more crowded streets both by cars and people; same lousy public transportation -as all the developers propose to aliviate rush hour is ONE (1) more turnstile on India St. subway station and a bus running on Franklyn St; less sunlight -especially in Winter, when it is more needed; more problems with the electric grid -as coned has no plan (maybe not even capability) for the many thousands of new neighbors; more problem with sewage -especially when the superstorms that everyone knows we will have hit us, as ALL of this contruction is scheduled for FLOOD ZONE A; extremely toxic air in the area for a total of three (3) of the next five years; much higher property taxes; higher rents, as they will not build affordable housing just like they didn’t built it in Williamsburg after they had promised it; and a very long etc. To add insult to injury, these developers and their supporters have the lack of shame to argue that they want to create a community. A community? What are we? Nomads? We have a community, thank you very much, and we are going to show it to them by not allowing them to destroy it and replace with another zombie mall!!!!
This is a result of neglectful landowners, poor city planning, greedy unimaginative developers and the Real Estate Board of New York’s influence.
New York City’s waterfront could be so much better.
I have lived in New York my entire life, Greenpoint for 11 years. I’ve watched in horror as plastic condos spread like cancer through Williamsburg and creeped towards Greenpoint. It’s inevitable that the Developers will win. Money trumps everything else in NY Real Estate, and the prospect of cancer will not deter these 20-30 something trust fund children from continuing to ruin this once-beautiful city. I will do everything in my power to fight this with you, but it didn’t help with Barclay’s center and I doubt it will help now. Regular hard-working people don’t have the time or resources to fight corporate development companies and corrupt politicians.