Agenda of April 20 th Meeting:
7:00 – 7:05 PM: Welcome, Introductions, Agenda Check
7:05 – 7:20 PM: Discuss Any Updates on Consulting Party Role/Structure/Process
- Identify specific questions for EPA.
7:20 – 7:40 PM: Finalize Memo Describing Concerns about the 1st Street Basin
- Discuss feedback received at the full CAG meeting on the concerns about the 1st Street Basin
7:40 – 8:00 PM: Begin Discussing Other Sites of Concern
8:00 – 8:20 PM: Discuss Organizational Follow-up Items from Full CAG Meeting
- Facilitation Team Representative – Who will it be?
- Administrative lead – Review responsibilities and identify a person
- Help with scheduling/securing space
- Prepare summaries
- Record attendance
- Developing agenda?
- Time keeping/facilitation?
- Facilitation Strategy – What do we think our facilitation needs are moving forward?
- Have some outside support?
- Internal facilitation lead?
- Regular meeting times –Monday before the week of the Full CAG Meeting at 7:00 PM
- Need to establish regular meeting location.
- Committee membership review (see attachment)
8:20 – 8:30: Next Steps
- Confirm timing of next meeting
- Identify who will organize and help manage the meeting
- Determine what we want to report out to the full CAG
Meeting Participants, April 20, 2015
Updates on Consulting Party Role/Structure/& Process
The group discussed the Consulting Party, and identified the following questions and concerns they have:
- How does the group call the Consulting Party to meet, and how can people be brought together?
- What is John Vetter’s role as the lead for the Consulting Party?
- What are some of the site-specific concerns that the committee wants people to know about, and can they be used as a foothold to begin consulting?
The group has acknowledged that it can be difficult to proceed without a clearly defined role for the Archaeology Committee. Additionally, the lack of starting materials for consultation poses another challenge. The group has decided to create a specific letter to Kristos to request clear explanations about how the process will work, how and where the Consulting Party will meet, and what other groups are members of the consulting party.
The group also wishes to reinforce a need for written materials from EPA regarding Superfund issues.
Finalizing Memo Concerning 1st St Basin Concerns
- The memo concerning the concerns of the CAG regarding work in the 1st street basin requires refinement. The memo itself highlights several potential archeological findings in the 1st street basin, including the remains of the old water mill public landing and road, artifacts from the Battle of Brooklyn and the Revolutionary War, the existing 19th Industrial cisterns and structures for cotton paper manufacture, and 20th century urban renewal debris.
- Eymund requests the addition of a historic spring used during the time of the mill, and which will have structural effects on the remedy of the site. The group will add this into the bullet point about the historic Mill
Other Sites of Concern
The committee noted the following sites as other areas of concern:
- Brewers Mill Site from Sackett St to Union Street along a diagonal
- Special treatments at bulkheads
- Figliolia Site & Historical Island Area
- Coles Mill Site at 9th St (one of the oldest slave works in NYC)
- There could be remnants, but the space could also be a memorial
- Reconnecting the Old Stone Site to Gowanus
The group also wants to work on spending tie getting the CAG and community excited about history at large, and to work with elected as champions of Archeology in the neighborhood.
Organizational Follow Up
- The group decided on Ute as the representative for the Facilitation Committee
- Diane Buxbaum has offered to assist in the securing of meeting locations
- Meetings will occur the second Tuesday of each month, potentially at Proteus.
Next Meeting
The next meeting will be Tuesday May 12, potentially at Proteus (pending calendar review)