Gowanus

it will take at least 15 year to complete the clean up of the gowns canal. They approved plans to open a whole foods on 3rd Street and 3rd Ave which is a good look for the area and it shows growth and development in the area, definitely a good place for long term investments due to the close proximity of other prime locations like Park Slope and Carroll Gardens. I'm more of the optimistic type but compare to what other locations in the area was like, like Smith Street in the early 90's I have high hopes and have no doubt that Gowanus will be another desirable in the near future. Check out this Article

http://neighborhoodbeatbox.org/2011/09/09/gowanus-a-neighborhood-up-for-grabs/

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/06/nyregion/epa-plan-to-clean-up-gowanus-canal-meets-local-resistance.html?

A Plan to Clean Gowanus Canal Meets Resistance

Almost everybody wants the Gowanus Canal cleansed of its toxic gunk.

But a $500 million plan by the Environmental Protection Agency to do just that has run into protests from otherwise environmentally conscious residents in several Brooklyn neighborhoods. They want the canal purged of pollutants like PCBs, lead, mercury and raw sewage, but are fighting the methods the agency has chosen.

One neighborhood fears that the sludge taken out from the canal would poison the air over their ball fields, and others worry that the location of a sewage-processing site needed for the cleanup would destroy a beloved swimming pool.

The disputes illustrate a predicament that often crops up in environmental remediation: those affected see the cure as worse than the disease.

One part of the E.P.A.’s plan for the 1.8-mile canal would require the city to build an eight-million-gallon sewage storage tank so that the area’s combined waste and rainwater sewers would not overflow during heavy storms and contaminate the canal. But the site the agency has chosen for the tank would place it under a park that has a popular 3-foot-9-inch-deep swimming pool, fondly known as the Double D pool because it is between Douglass and DeGraw Streets.

Sabine Aronowsky, a local activist and mother, said the pool was not just a place for children to cool off during sweltering summer days, but “one of the last remaining bastions of Brooklyn as I know it, a real community gathering place.” Children from Park Slope, Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens mingle with those from three nearby housing projects.

“There’s nothing like getting into a bathing suit for neutralizing class lines,” said Holly White, a mother of two young children who learned to swim at the Double D and caper there much of the summer.

The Bloomberg administration tried to close the pool in 2010 for budgetary reasons, but neighborhood outrage succeeded in saving it.

Construction of the sewage storage tank would close the pool, and possibly an adjoining playground, basketball court and skate park, for years; officials have not said whether they would come up with a temporary alternative. Residents have gathered 700 signatures opposing the tank’s location and have suggested an empty Consolidated Edison lot a few blocks away as a more suitable spot. The E.P.A. says that in any case, the pool will one day have to be dug up since it was built above the remnants of a plant that manufactured natural gas from coal and left behind a residue of toxic coal tars.

“Something has to happen to it, and the question is what is that something,” said Walter Mugdan, a regional Superfund director for the E.P.A. “Does it include excavation of all the soils in the area? And if it includes excavation, there’s going to be a temporary closing of the pool in any event.”

The E.P.A. finished taking comments from the affected neighborhoods late last month and plans to publish its final plan before the end of the year. Dredging could begin in 2015 and be completed by 2020.

Once dredging begins, the canal sediment would have to be “dewatered” nearby, on barges or on land. Then, most of the toxic sludge would be shipped out of state for treatment, but some of the leftover could be treated in Brooklyn and blended into concrete to be used as landfill.

The location of the proposed Brooklyn treatment plant is the subject of another protest, this time in Red Hook. The neighborhood has been slowly gentrifying, but gritty industry still has a large presence; it is perennially eyed for unpopular uses like garbage-transfer stations.

The chief idea the E.P.A. has been considering is to build the dewatering and treatment plant on a parking lot that is part of the sprawling Gowanus Bay Terminal. But the terminal sits next to ball fields, a large swimming pool and the Red Hook Houses, public low-income housing. Some residents, as well as the owners of popular Latin American food trucks that congregate there, fear the plant — known as a Confined Disposal Facility — could create a noxious stench.

“We’re not saying we’re opposed to dredging,” said Bea Byrd, a longtime resident of the Red Hook Houses. “But how can you have a sludge plant on the other side of where children are playing ball? Never mind the Red Hook Houses where we have to breathe the air. We have residents with asthma and cancer.”

John Quadrozzi Jr., who owns the terminal, says the least toxic portion of the sediment would be transported a short distance in enclosed barges to be processed in an enclosed plant and would emerge as a safe concrete mixture. Mr. Quadrozzi wants to use the concrete products in the construction of a pier, near the end of Columbia Street, where oceangoing ships could dock. He and the E.P.A. have tried to build support by offering training at the plant for eventual jobs and promising to build a maritime park, complete with an Intrepid-like museum on a freighter.

But neighborhood activists like John McGettrick, a chairman of the Red Hook Civic Association, have accused the E.P.A. of trying to enrich Mr. Quadrozzi, the owner of several city concrete plants and someone they say has been cited by New York State’s environmental agency for illegally dumping in Gowanus Bay. Mr. Quadrozzi said that after years of waiting for state permits to repair a bulkhead, he paid $60,000 to settle accusations brought by the New York agency when the bulkhead collapsed into the bay.

The E.P.A. does have an alternative plan for treating the sludge: Shipping it all to states like Idaho and Texas where existing plants can process it. But that remedy is more expensive.

In an interview, Mr. Mugdan said the agency would not dispose of sludge in Red Hook “unless there is community acceptance.” He added, “So far, there’s been pretty vigorous opposition.”

i dont think gowanus or greenpoint are places you'd want to live for any considerable amount of time for fear of getting cancer.

Oh, haven't you heard?

There's no such place as "Gowanus" anymore.

Not according to the real estate agents.

That neighborhood is now called "Park Slope".

Don't know about Gowanus, but Greenpoint cancer rates are below most of Manhattan's. Shocking but true.

That's just because people in Greenpoint and Long Island City are so used to major health problems that they don't even bother reporting them anymore. They just die off quietly.

Take a good look at the last 4 letters in Gowanus.

That pretty much says of all.

And in this thread I clearly can't be blamed for being the first to mention C0C0.

walpurgis, you-know-who says LOL!

OMG...you mean you & Truth are actually a couple after all?!? She's there - with you, now?!? I KNEW it! I always had my suspicions...

What a model loving couple you make...you posting comments on SE, while Truthie Babes looks lovingly & longingly over your shoulder snuggling while you do so...sigh...some people are truly blessed, let me tell ya...

Please forgive me; I didn't mean to interrupt any post-coital bliss!

Truth: Why the charade this whole time? He's ALAN Hart - not Senator Gary Hart! Nothing to be ashamed of!!!

What I somehow forgot to point out are the last 4 letters in Canal.

'Nuf said...

i would definitely invest in gowanus if you have a long outlook. it is signficantly safer and better than crown heights/bushwick and the prices are not that much different. you are sandwiched between 2 great neighborhoods. just watch out for the aroma. when i lived on Carroll & Bond, back in the 90's, i had smell only 1 or 2 days. on park slope side, the smell carried to 3rd Ave from late spring to mid fall.

i think that's the only neighborhood that i'm bullish about for next 10 yrs in NYC.

The people in greenpoint are dying of hart-related illnesses faster than the cancer can get to them. I can't think of a worse diet than polish-American, in terms of health, for me in every way.

Someone likes LOL and SMH. I think he and truth have something special.

What do people think of South Slope- 16th st between 5th and 6th Ave.?

What's the transportation like? I seriously considered Park Slope ages ago but the commute was brutal.

>but the commute was brutal

Where did you need to commute to?

Transportation from South Slope isn't bad if you're mostly going to lower Manhattan. The R runs along 4th Av and the F is at 9th St. I'm in the neighborhood for a few months and my door to door time to Grand Central is 40-45 minutes.

6th and 7th Av are nicer than 4th or 5th though, generally speaking.

"South Slope" is a place that never used to exist. It's now come into use by way of sneaky RE agents as a way to mentally link a good neighborhood with a shithole. They did the same with "East Williamsburg." South Slope has a ways to go before it's anything enjoyable.

>
"South Slope" is a place that never used to exist. It's now come into use by way of sneaky RE agents as a way to mentally link a good neighborhood with a shithole. They did the same with "East Williamsburg." South Slope has a ways to go before it's anything enjoyable.

Like Brooklyn "Heights" and "East" New York, and "New" Mexico.

the reason why the stats are so low in greenpoint is because NO ONE REPORTS THEIR ILLNESSES in order to keep the property values up. If you really know long-time people in greenpoint, they will tell you that everyone on their block is sick. these people don't even go to the doctor. they wait until they cash out and sell their house for top dollar and get the F outta dodge before they deal with it. it was a terrible thing with a lot of the families of people i went to high school with. but you cant blame them, especially if they need all the financial stability they can get to battle the disease.

Actually, no, greensdale. "Heights," such as Crown Heights or Washington Heights, is often used to designate a northern area -- there is no NYC neighborhood called Crown or Washington. These are original names. As with Brooklyn Heights, it designates the upper portion of southern Brooklyn. East New York is actually in the east, and, well, I'll let you continue to think a RE agent named New Mexico.

Never northern, except maybe ironically. Altitudy.

New York is just what's left over between West New York and East New York.

>Actually, no, greensdale. "Heights," such as Crown Heights or Washington Heights, is often used to designate a northern area -- there is no NYC neighborhood called Crown or Washington. These are original names. As with Brooklyn Heights, it designates the upper portion of southern Brooklyn. East New York is actually in the east, and, well, I'll let you continue to think a RE agent named New Mexico.

Ok I believe you, thanks for clarifying.

Gowanus seems to flood a lot...as it did today with the heavy rains this morning.

It may be kind of annoying, but even the fact people are describing the 3rd-6th ave area south of 9th street as "South Slope" is an indication that the gentrification is spreading. Sure, it's probably being pushed mostly by RE agents, but that's how it goes. I think Gowanus/South Slope/whatever you want to call it, is probably a RELATIVELY good investment now, because the gentrification is rolling down the hills from the West and the East, with the requisite restaurants/bars/services popping up all over the place. And Whole Foods is like the adrenaline shot to the heart a la Pulp Fiction.