{"id":16673,"date":"2026-07-18T15:44:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T19:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gowanuscag.org\/?p=16673"},"modified":"2026-07-18T15:45:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T19:45:01","slug":"minutes-of-the-gowanus-canal-cag-outreach-committees-meeting-of-july-13-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gowanuscag.org\/index.php\/2026\/07\/18\/minutes-of-the-gowanus-canal-cag-outreach-committees-meeting-of-july-13-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Minutes of the Gowanus Canal CAG Outreach Committee’s Meeting of July 13, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Attendees: <\/strong>Jason Schwartzman (Facilitator), Katie Bishop, Lisa Bowstead, George Fiala, Andrea Parker, Joan Salome-Rodriguez<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overview and Timeline for Town Hall on Soil Vapor Intrusion<\/u>
\u2022 Target Date: September, aligned with the timing of the Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) annual soil vapor investigation reports.
\u2022 Primary Goals: 1) To raise awareness of Soil Vapor Intrusion and the health impacts among Gowanus property owners and renters; 2) To encourage property owners to opt into DEC\u2019s free testing and mitigation; 3) To provide practical information on the nuts and bolts of what\u2019s involved in the testing and mitigation of a property.
\u2022 Target Audience: Property owners, renters, businesses and schools within the specific Gowanus soil vapor investigation area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immediate Action Items & Strategy<\/u>
\u2022 The committee will first approach local elected officials\u2014Council Member Shahana Hanif, Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon, and State Senator Andrew Gounardes\u2014to ask them to co-host the event and officially invite the DEC.
\u2022 Andrea volunteered to email the officials and their top staff.
\u2022 The committee will meet in August to finalize the specifics of the outreach campaign, hopefully with feedback from the elected officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community Outreach & Spreading the Word<\/u>
The committee emphasized that previous DEC meetings failed to draw a crowd because they were poorly publicized, and brainstormed outreach strategies, including the following ideas:
\u2022 George Fiala offered printing services and space in The Red Hook Star-Revue.
\u2022 Handing out flyers block-by-block and door-to-door.
\u2022 Partnering with neighborhood groups to get the event publicized through their networks.
\u2022 Reaching out directly to local PTAs to engage parents whose children attend schools in the area.
\u2022 Leveraging the email lists and newsletters of local electeds and Community Board 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Town Hall Structure & Key Topics<\/u>
The committee brainstormed the town hall agenda, which includes the following:
\u2022 A high-level presentation by DEC explaining what is soil vapor intrusion, the health impacts, and past investigation findings.
\u2022 A presentation from a local resident who has gone through the testing and mitigation process to describe what\u2019s involved from the perspective of a resident.
\u2022 Be transparent and specific about what mitigation looks like (e.g., drilling in basements, time frames, etc.).
\u2022 Create a breakout session that includes a space for renters who want testing–tips for how to influence their landlord or management company to opt into testing.
\u2022 A clear, actionable guide on how to sign up for testing, what is involved in testing, and if needed, what\u2019s involved in mitigation.
\u2022 Dedicated time for general audience questions.
\u2022 Set up a consultation table so residents can ask questions privately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venue & Format Decisions<\/u>
\u2022 In-Person vs. Virtual: The committee discussed the idea of virtual\/Zoom town halls vs in-person. The committee agreed that an in-person town hall is best, but for the moment is keeping open the possibility of one or more virtual sessions that might focus in on micro-areas of Gowanus where soil vapor intrusion is documented in multiple properties.
\u2022 Location: The committee agreed that the town hall should be held in the Gowanus neighborhood. While several schools were mentioned as possible venues, it was agreed the committee will look to the elected officials to help secure a space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attendees: Jason Schwartzman (Facilitator), Katie Bishop, Lisa Bowstead, George Fiala, Andrea Parker, Joan Salome-Rodriguez Overview and Timeline for Town Hall on Soil Vapor Intrusion\u2022 Target Date: September, aligned with the timing… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[96,12,6],"tags":[84,62],"class_list":["post-16673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-committee-meetings","category-frontpage","category-outreach","tag-meeting","tag-outreach"],"yoast_head":"\nMinutes of the Gowanus Canal CAG Outreach Committee's Meeting of July 13, 2026 - Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gowanuscag.org\/index.php\/2026\/07\/18\/minutes-of-the-gowanus-canal-cag-outreach-committees-meeting-of-july-13-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Minutes of the Gowanus Canal CAG Outreach Committee's Meeting of July 13, 2026 - Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Attendees: Jason Schwartzman (Facilitator), Katie Bishop, Lisa Bowstead, George Fiala, Andrea Parker, Joan Salome-Rodriguez Overview and Timeline for Town Hall on Soil Vapor Intrusion\u2022 Target Date: September, aligned with the timing... 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