Creek Clean-Up Far On The Horizon; Blaz Out; Ferry Upended by UN
East & Creek, the Greenpoint newsletter | No. 36
What’s up in Greenpoint?
EPA shares latest on Newtown Creek Superfund plans: At a community meeting on Wednesday, feds overseeing the eventual clean-up of Greenpoint’s notorious stretch of water updated residents on the slow-moving project. Work has begun along the northern edge of the east branch, near the Grand St Bridge in East Williamsburg, to begin testing possible methods for future remediation work, according to the EPA’s Stephanie Vaughn. The project’s “potentially responsible parties” are planning to begin sampling this fall and implementing their “treatability study” in the spring. “We will learn a lot from that, hopefully,” Vaughn said. (The EPA does not expect to properly begin remediation work until at least 2024.)
Also, the EPA said that it hoped to announce its opinion on a proposed DEP project relating to the creek’s combined sewer system outfalls within the next month. The DEP’s plans — which have been approved by the state and are awaiting the feds’ go-ahead — call for a tunnel system and a pumping station upgrade in order to dramatically reduce CSO volume in Newtown Creek.
More information on the Superfund project is available on the Newtown Creek Community Advisory Group’s website.
Greenpoint’s congresswoman gets yet another primary challenger: “Suraj Patel is officially throwing his hat in the race to unseat Rep. Carolyn Maloney, in what promises to be a closely watched rematch for a New York City congressional seat. Last cycle, Patel launched a competitive campaign against Maloney, who has served for more than 25 years in the House of Representatives.” (Buzzfeed News’ Kadia Goba)
Lol, this whole five-way primary thing would be a lot better if we had ranked-choice voting — and we might start at the local level: “A broad coalition, including some unlikely allies, gathered on the steps of Federal Hall Thursday to trumpet their support for ranked-choice voting, the first of five proposed changes to the City Charter that voters will be asked to accept or reject on the ballot this November. For voters, the change is pretty straightforward. Under the proposal, instead of picking just one candidate, voters will have the option to rank up to five candidates in order of preference in the primary and special elections for Mayor, Public Advocate, Comptroller, Borough President and City Council, starting in January of 2021.” (WNYC’s Brigid Bergin)
Putting the “green” in Greenpoint: “A series of climate change-focused events and meetups over the next two weeks in Greenpoint and Williamsburg will mark Climate Week NYC, which coincides with the UN Climate Action Summit. The events are helping draw attention to the global climate crisis and to spark action. A large-scale climate strike will happen this Friday at noon at Foley Square and over one million NYC students have been granted permission to skip class to participate.” (Greenpointers)
Speaking of the UN: “Due to the United Nations General Assembly, extra security restrictions on the East River may cause delays and/or cancellations on the Astoria, Soundview, East River, and the Lower East Side routes from September 22 – 27, 2019.” (NYC Ferry)
Greenpoint Landing developer settles de Blasio fundraising ethics charges: “A state watchdog agency on Thursday revealed three deep-pocket developers seeking favors from City Hall settled charges that they had made illegal gifts to de Blasio by writing five-figure checks to his now-defunct charity, the Campaign for One New York (CONY). The Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) announced that the trio — Toll Brothers, an affiliate of Park Tower Group Ltd. and Brookfield Properties — each agreed to pay penalties ranging from $15,000 to $30,000. . . In 2015, a business associate of the development firm Park Tower Group arranged a meeting with de Blasio. During the session, the developer told DOI the business associate, who was not identified, ‘mentioned raising money for Mayor de Blasio’s policies.’ At the time, Park Tower was seeking City Hall approval of a big mixed-use project in Brooklyn called Greenpoint Landing.” (The City’s Greg B. Smith)
De Blasio ended his presidential campaign on Friday morning.
Meanwhile in New York City…
Pool-time fight in Northside: “Some Williamsburg residents are asking for more women’s-only hours at a local public pool, but with a compromise: Give men some alone time, too. A group of local women — of various ethnicities and religions — got unanimous approval last Tuesday from Brooklyn Community Board 1 for three additional hours of women-only swimming at the Metropolitan Pool on Bedford Avenue. Also okayed: creating men-only hours. The Parks Department, which did not respond to a request for comment, will have the final say.” (The City’s Claudia Irizarry Aponte)
MTA what are you doing: “A busy bus route serving low-income Brooklyn neighborhoods is due for service cuts to save money, the MTA announced Thursday. Riders on the B46 select bus, which runs primarily along Utica Ave. through East Flatbush, Bedford-Stuyvesant and other neighborhoods, will wait longer at bus stops this winter.” (New York Daily News’ Clayton Guse)
National Grid gas moratorium continues: “National Grid has been denying gas to thousands of customers, asking them to lobby to get the Willaims Pipeline passed. . . National Grid has not processed new applications for gas hookups in Brooklyn, Queens, or Long Island since May, when the state denied a permit to Williams Companies to build the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline underneath the New York Bay connecting the Rockaways with shale fields in Pennsylvania.” (BKLYNER’s Zainab Iqbal)
Housing activists push for an upzoned SoHo: “As a knot of outdated development rules in SoHo undergoes a public rethink, affordable housing advocates see an opening to make the richest district in the city more affordable for low-income New Yorkers.” (The City’s Rachel Holliday Smith)
And one last thing: “The MTA's hectoring poster campaign aimed at combatting fare evasion is getting a radical makeover, thanks to an anonymous group of New Yorkers with a simple message for their fellow riders: ‘Don't snitch. Swipe.’” (Gothamist’s Jake Offenhartz)
Your Subway Weekender
G - Normal service.
L - “Normal” slowdown service.
Thus concludes this September 20, 2019 edition of East & Creek, the twice-weekly newsletter about Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Read the full archives here.
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See ya around the neighb,
Jon Hanrahan
Author, e&c