Linda Mariano, a founding member of both the Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group and local advocacy organization Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus (F.R.O.G.G.), passed away on Thursday, April 1st, according to a report by fellow CAG member Katia Kelly on her news blog, Pardon Me for Asking. Linda was a passionate advocate for Gowanus,… Read more »
Committee: Gowanus Life
Salvatore “Buddy” Scotto, 1928-2020
Salvatore “Buddy” Scotto, a founding member for the Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group who represented the Carroll Gardens Association on the CAG, passed away on Friday, September 11, 2020, at the age of 91. Buddy was a long-time advocate for the cleanup and restoration of the Gowanus Canal, among many other community-minded endeavors. He founded the Carroll… Read more »
Dredged material from Gowanus Canal 4th Street Basin: lots of junk, some artifacts
Recent dredging of the Gowanus Canal’s 4th Street Turning Basin, where contractors are conducting pilot work to test the efficacy of methods for cleaning and capping before rolling out the effort to the rest of the canal, have turned up a lot of junk, especially old tires. But not everything being removed from the canal’s… Read more »
Tonight: Learn About Plans to Replace the Union Street Bridge
Tonight, April 21, at 6:30 p.m., the New York City Department of Transportation will present a proposal for replacing the Union Street Bridge to Community Board 6’s Transportation/Public Safety Committee. The meeting will take place at the 78th Precinct, at 65 6th Avenue, in Prospect Heights.
Parks and aggravation: Canal-side builders leaving cars on sidewalk
Via the Brooklyn Paper: Workers who are building a controversial apartment complex on the banks of the Gowanus Canal are parking on sidewalks, say neighbors, and they haven’t stopped despite multiple warnings and tickets from police. “They just park on the sidewalks every day,” said Michael King, who lives on Second Street, across from developer… Read more »
More Than 56,000 People Applied for 86 Affordable Apartments on Gowanus Canal
Via DNAinfo… More than 56,000 people are vying for a chance to live next to one of America’s most polluted waterways. Some 56,058 applicants entered an online lottery for 86 affordable apartments at 365 Bond St., a new high-rise overlooking the contaminated Gowanus Canal, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development said. HPD… Read more »
In Memoriam: Bette Stoltz
We are terribly saddened to learn of the passing of our Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group colleague, and long-time local activist, Bette Stoltz, who died Thursday, November 19 after a brief illness. Our most sincere condolences go out to Bette’s family and many friends. The CAG’s Katia Kelly posted a touching tribute to Bette on her… Read more »
Waste watcher: Historian dredges up Gowanus Canal’s dirty history
Author, historian and Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group member Joseph Alexiou has just published a new book – about the murky past of the Gowanus Canal. Story via the Brooklyn Paper: “The Gowanus Canal is a lens through which you can look at the development of Brooklyn as a city,” said historian Joseph Alexiou. “You could stand at… Read more »
Boat Captain Dreams of Gowanus Canal Teeming With Life, Not Pollution
John Lipscomb (Photo: Leslie Albrecht/DNAinfo) Via DNAinfo and Park Slope/Windsor Terrace/Gowanus reporter Leslie Albrecht: John Lipscomb loves boats, open water and the scent of fresh ocean air, but on a recent humid evening at low tide, he couldn’t wait to steer a bathtub-size aluminum vessel onto one of America’s most polluted waterways. “Shall we?” Lipscomb… Read more »
A Photographer Finds Abundant Life in and Around the Gowanus Canal
From the July 3, 2015 edition of The New York Times: The photos here are part of an exhibition called “Gowanus Wild,” which will be at the Brooklyn Public Library until Sept. 25. Already they are documents of a vanishing world. Since Mr. Draskoczy started shooting in 2012, most of the sites he photographed… Read more »