Saturday, November 8, 2008

City fails to prove Willets Point contamination

Dear QueensCrap:

As you may know, as the primary justification for its takeover of Willets Point, the City has claimed that the area is in dire need of environmental remediation, and that such extensive remediation first requires the removal of all of the present occupants.

However: I have uploaded to YouTube a 4 minute video, showing the portion of environmental expert (the City consultant) Kevin McCarty's October 17, 2008 testimony, in which he apparently admits that there is NO direct scientific proof of the purported contamination at Willets Point private properties.

This testimony occurred during the October 17 meeting of the Planning, Dispositions & Concessions committee (which is a subcommittee of the Land Use committee). Councilman Monserrate sums up McCarty's testimony well: "As of today's hearing, you cannot give me, with specificity -- scientifically -- exactly what's contaminated, and how contaminated it might or might not be."

I believe that the Council must consider the absence of scientific evidence that would support the need for extensive remediation, when voting on the redevelopment proposal next Thursday.

This video is derived from material that I recorded as part of a comprehensive, scholarly documentary video program that I am producing, concerning all aspects of the proposed Willets Point redevelopment.

Best Regards,

Robert LoScalzo
LoScalzo Media Design LLC

And here's an update from Crain's. According to Iron Triangle Tracker, an affordable housing compromise isn't going so well.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, no blight. No contamination.

What's next?

Commissar Death and Taxes openly sends in his Brownshirts to club the private property and business owners into submission?

Why won't the Commissar just go away? Nobody needs him.

Anonymous said...

hey great job robert at least someone in willets point knows how to stand up for whats right instead of caving in to the commissar and eminent domain only to take 50 cents on a dollar and run and leave everyone else to die

Anonymous said...

spare us the edited partisan videos from WPIRA's paid hacks.

Anonymous said...

"spare us the edited partisan videos from WPIRA's paid hacks."

Is that you, Evan?

Anonymous said...

Video accurately reflects the testimony.

McCarty's purpose was to convince the Council that severe contamination requires that all occupants leave the area. Instead, McCarty got grilled by Monserrate, who revealed the alleged contamination as presumptive, unconfirmed, and likely relatively minor.

Anonymous said...

do you see little pinky sitting there licking leibers asshole? what a guy , how they ever put this little weasel in this job is crazy. pinky-pinky open your mouth and suck my winky

Anonymous said...

the streets are relatively clean.. Its the irresponsible landowners who need their land cleaned up.

Oh by the way.. the land owners WOULD NOT let the testers on their land to see the levels of contamination. Sounds like a cover up by the polluters.

Anonymous said...

If the land under the "polluters" was so contaminated, it would have infiltrated the water table, which is very high in that area, and been detected in the samples taken from the streets.

It's all bullshit.

Anonymous said...

Call Jim Gennaro, he'll tell you how contamination travels underground and would have been picked up had the land been as heavily contaminated as is being portrayed.