The Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group’s Outreach Committee met on Thursday, February 21, at 9:00 a.m., in the offices of the Fifth Avenue Committee, at 621 Degraw Street.
CAG Members Present
Karen Blondel
Louis Kleinman
Eric McClure
Guests
Natalie Loney, Community Involvement Coordinator, EPA Region 2
Reggie Philip, Director of Business Development, Fairfield Inn Hotel, 181 3rd Avenue
Vijay Lilboy, Fairfield Inn Hotel
Memorandum of Understanding moving forward, should have word fairly soon.
The tunnel concept presented by NYC DEP is of great interest to the CAG; EPA is still analyzing it, and will let the CAG know once they’ve reached a conclusion. There is a signed agreement between the EPA and NYC regarding the storage tanks.
Christos Tsiamis and Brian Carr will be present at the February CAG meeting.
Louis Kleinman: there’s a stark difference in cost for the Newtown Creek tunnel vs. the Gowanus tunnel. CAG would like to have a better understanding of the cost differences.
Natalie: Layperson’s take is that the land acquisition is more expensive in Gowanus, and that the engineering would be more complicated in Gowanus.
Louis: tunnels have surpassed tanks as a remedy around the world because of scalability. People in Gowanus are deeply skeptical of the city’s motives.
Newtown plan has always been for a storage tunnel, not tanks.
Owner of the Fairfield Inn Hotel is interested in the Gowanus rezoning, and the canal cleanup.
Superfund Town Hall
Need to coordinate dates between EPA and Dan Wiley. Aiming for April/May. Weeks of April 15 or April 22 or May 28 (Congressional recess those weeks).
EPA might be able to cover the cost for using PS133.
Weeknight vs. weekend day? Weekends are a challenge for EPA, since that’s outside of regular work hours. Do residents of public housing have a preference? Maybe attend a Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition for Justice meeting to ask?
Send a letter to Red Hook East & West, Wyckoff Houses, and Gowanus Houses to remind them that they have a role in the CAG.
Natalie will discuss internally whether EPA is comfortable with DEP presenting at the Superfund Town Hall regarding the tunnel concept.
Louis: we should do a version of the Newtown Creek Acronyms and Glossary of Terms. Would be great to have available at every CAG meeting for people attending meetings.
Louis: public housing representatives should post info about each upcoming meeting on their bulletin boards. Create a one-pager.
More timely production and approval of CAG meeting minutes? Something to raise with full CAG.