Thursday, August 12, 2010

More brownfields to become housing sites

From the NY Times:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Pete Grannis, the commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, announced an agreement Thursday morning that paved the way for the city to start cleaning up “brownfields,” or light-to-moderately contaminated areas that are not toxic enough to qualify for federal or state Superfund cleanup programs. About 7,000 vacant or underused acres around the city could be readied for new development under the program, city officials said.

In 2008, the city created an Office of Environmental Remediation to run the program, which will kick off on a half-acre property at Stillwell Avenue and Pelham Parkway South in the Bronx. One of an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 brownfields around the city, it has been chosen as the site of Pelham Parkway Towers, an affordable housing complex.

City officials said the brownfields program, which offers financial incentives to developers to offset some of the costs of cleaning up properties, would speed the cleaning process and put an end to “self-directed cleanups” managed by the developers without government oversight.

10 comments:

Missing Founation said...

So who will step up to the plate to accept responsibility for, and to fund, the inevitable cancer lawsuits?

The developer gets a tax break and all sort of bennies from new sidewalks, trees and bike lanes by the front door, would then get a double dip because the public treasury would be used to satisfy the health claims from building on mini-Love Canals.

I say, make the developer sign a form that their family, and not the public, would be repsonsible for those claims.

That, dear people, is all that we need to convert this land into much needed public parks.

Anonymous said...

I cannot believe that this city, which has so much compassion for the supposed mistreatment of elephants at the circus or holds big fundraisers for Haiti turns a blind eye when poorer families are given housing on toxic brownfields right under their noses.

This is appalling.

Anonymous said...

Prime land is extremely valuable especially in New York City.

But when you run out of the good land stock then you build upon shit and sell condos to the newly arrived immigrants (i.e. in Flushing it's the Chinese since they're used to living on dung piles back home).

Yep...isn't crap brown?

That's why these sites are called "brown fields....no?

A very wise & funny Will Rogers once said,
"Buy land. They're not making any more of it".

H-m-m-m-m....that's why Chuck & Gene of the CB# 7 variety show did their part in handing over a VERY VALUABLE public municipal parking lot to EDC/TDC.

Thanks you political machine gummy puppens (puppets.

But I preffer the Germanic "puppen" because it reeks of poop just like these 2 crooks.

Anonymous said...

What's the big deal? They will put a sheet of plastic under the foundation and it will be as good as new.

Snake Plissskin said...

What's the big deal? They will put a sheet of plastic under the foundation and it will be as good as new.

Yes, and cardboard is great protecton for radiation.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, what a great idea! Lets cram more people into NYC. Services are sparse as it is. Bloomburg is so out of touch with reality. Why doesn't he improve the NYC infrastructure first and transportation problems and lack of hospital services before he builds anything? Our taxes keep increasing, yet our services keep decreasing. How about freezing everything and catering to the already overburdened residents who are here? All this asshole cares about is tax revenue. Doesn't care how many people he can cram into this city, just tax revenue.

Anonymous said...

Will the real estate brochures mention that the buildings are on a former brownfield site?

Anonymous said...

"Bloomburg is so out of touch with reality. Why doesn't he improve the NYC infrastructure first and transportation problems and lack of hospital services before he builds anything? Our taxes keep increasing, yet our services keep decreasing."

________


Yeah, our taxes keep increasing BECAUSE of all these 'tax abatements' to his developer swine friends.

What do yo think a tax abatement is? Who do you think picks up the slack? The transplanted Republican yuppie trust fund kid?

No! It's the homeowner!

Anonymous said...

Prisons, jails, municipal hospitals, public schools, NYC courts, welfare offices, Dept of Motor Vehicles, dept of health buildings, nyc archives, NYC municipal buildings, boro city halls, NYCHA housing projects, senior centers, Staten Island Ferry Terminal, subway stations are all built on BROWNFIELDS. the jokes on you because you go into a building in NYC that was built on a brownfield

Queens Crapper said...

There's a difference between going into one and living in one!