Land Use Committee Meeting 7/16/09

The Land Use Committee will meet on Thursday, 7/16/09 at 7:00p at Mazzat Restaurant.

Agenda:

1. Carroll Gardens/Columbia Waterfront rezoning - recap of recent activity, upcoming public hearings.
2. Phoenix Beverage.
3. Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Please RSVP landuse@cowna.org.

Positive News Concerning 'Cold Ironing' at The Cruise Terminal

We received the following note from the office of Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez:

A bit of good news:

EPA Announcement: Stimulus Grants for Diesel Emissions Reduction

$2.85 million going to Port Authority to reduce cruise line emissions at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal (plus other projects). (View full press release here).

Thanks in no small part to community advocacy, no doubt. Let's make sure it is spent well.

Dan Wiley
Community Coordinator
Congresswoman
NYDIA VELAZQUEZ

New York City Community Air Survey

The Department of Health is conducting a New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS) together with CUNY/Queens College. The survey is conducted from 150 street-level sites all over New York City, and initial reports are planned to be released at the end of 2009. NYCCAS will, however, not look at individual neighborhoods, but at air quality in NYC as a whole. The air pollution measurements will be analyzed using a statistical procedure known as ‘land use regression’ which examines how pollution levels vary in relation to traffic, buildings, trees, and other neighborhood factors.

More information can be found at the following website:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/eode/nyccas-air-survey.pdf

Public Services Committee meeting Wednesday, July 8

The monthly Public Services Committee meeting will be held at the Post-Graduate Center on 177 Columbia Street between 7:00 and 8:00PM on Wednesday, July 8. Welcome!

Borough President's Public Hearing re: Carroll Gardens/Columbia Waterfront Rezoning

Continuing the public review process for the Carroll Gardens/Columbia Waterfront rezoning, the Borough President will hold a public hearing 4:30 P.M. on Tuesday, July 14, 2009.

Location: Court Room, Second Floor, Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn, New York 11201.

The rezoning is item 5 on the agenda. Keep in mind the time required to pass through the security checkpoint at the building.

The Effects of the Gowanus Facilities Upgrade

As mentioned at the general meeting, the upgrade of the Gowanus wastewater evacuation facility will have some impact on our fair neighborhood, and in particular the Columbia/DeGraw Street intersection. The estimated total building time is four years. Traffic on Columbia and DeGraw will be affected by lane closures and periodic street closures over a period of two years and four months, starting in February 2010. The DeGraw part of the intersection will be closed for approximately 12 months, and there will be an additional lane closure on DeGraw for 14 months. However, several noise, soil and ground water test sites are planned, which very well may be of use for the neighborhood.

The plan in its entirety may be found here:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/environmental_reviews/gowanus.shtml

The effects on our neighborhood are mainly found in the appendixes.

Yesterday's General Meeting

We would like to thank everyone for coming out to last night's General Meeting.

- Tom Gray from Bill de Blasio's office, who was going to give an update on the salt pile, send his regrets, he had to meet with the NYPD re. an incident in Park Slope. CoWNA is going to continue reaching out to ASI, the city agencies and local officials in an effort to have the salt pile removed. If anyone from ASI reads this, we would appreciate if Matt Yates returned our calls.

- Thank you to Ellen Whelan-Wuest from Senator Squadron's office for her presentation. We are happy to report that the neighborhood overwhelmingly supports the Senators proposal for Brooklyn Bridge Park.

- And finally, thank you to Venetia Lannon from the EDC and Greg Brayman from Phoenix Beverages. After last night's meeting it is clear that many in the neighborhood have strong opinions on the EDC's plans for Atlantic basin and Phoenix' move to Piers 7 & 11. We are sorry that due to time constrains, not everyone got to speak last night. If you have any questions or comments on this issue, please leave them below.