CAG members and alternates, please review the proposed CAG committee resolutions (Outreach, WQ/Technical, Administrative) and CAG new member applications, all of which are either described below or attached. These will be voted on at the April 23 CAG meeting, starting at 6:30 pm at the Wyckoff Gardens Community Center, 280 Wyckoff Street. As usual, we have a very full agenda.
CAG New Member Applicants and Membership Updates
Alex Lechich has resigned from the CAG, having moved out of the area. That leaves the current CAG membership at 29 organizational members and 23 at-large members for a total of 52 members (see attached list). The admin committee has informed me that there are 6 new applicants to be acted on at the April 23 meeting. They are:
Organizational:
1) Good Shepherd Services (representative: Reg Flowers. Committees: archaeology, outreach. No admin committee recommendation)
2) NYCHA Warren Street Houses Tenant Association (Representative: Harriet Hughes. Committee: outreach. Admin committee recommends accepting)
At-large:
1) Phyllis Argento (at-large, Wyckoff Gardens. Committee: outreach. No admin committee recommendation)
2) Valerie Bell (at-large, Wyckoff Gardens. Committee: outreach. No admin committee recommendation)
3) Rafael Kapoluna (at-large, Gowanus. Committee: outreach. No admin committee recommendation)
4) Trudy Milburn (at-large, Carroll Gardens. Committees: Administrative, outreach. Admin committee recommends accepting)
Outreach Committee resolutions:
Attached are 2 resolutions the committee passed about 1) future press releases based on the resolutions that the full CAG passes and 2) the need for the CAG to be mindful of issues of diversity. Also attached is a proposed press release about the comment period coming to an end on April 27th and the launch of the CAG website. The committee has indicated that the language is nearly 100% taken either from the EPA’s website, or past CAG letters to elected officials.
Water Quality/Technical Committee proposed statement on EPA’s Proposed Plan:
As the Proposed Plan establishes methods for removal of contaminated sediments for the entire width and length of the canal, to the depth of clean native sediment, and has identified ways to prevent re-contamination and halt future toxic inputs; the Gowanus CAG supports the EPA Proposed Plan to clean the Gowanus Superfund site.
The CAG looks forward to continued open discussions with the EPA as project design details are developed.
(Please note that the WQ/Technical Committee passed this resolution as written above, but is in the process of potentially amending it before Tuesday’s vote to remove the word “clean” before “native sediment.”)
Administrative Committee Proposed statement on the EPA’s Proposed Plan:
The Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group, comprised of fifty plus (50+) members representing over thirty organizations and 20 non organizational members, wishes to thank our EPA Region 2 Team for their transparency, dedication and true to their word timeliness during these first phases of the Superfund process.
You came to us faced with a Herculean task and we knew it. We are appreciative of your continued commitment to community and in particular to CAG involvement. We know that it was precisely this respectful collaborative spirit -the constant exchange of information, sharing of concerns, ideas, hopes and possibilities which led us to the Proposed Plan before us today.
We are in support of the Proposed Plan’s which:
—cleans and caps the bottom of the Canal
—prevents recontamination from the uplands and
—effectively addresses the known toxic compounds contributed by the CSO’s at their source while simultaneously helping us get closer to our goal of CSO elimination in the Canal