Thursday, June 25, 2009

Bloomberg's Gowanus plan is full of crap

From the Brooklyn Downtown Star:

The city is relying on paying for a large part of its proposed Gowanus Canal cleanup with Congressional funding that the Star has learned is not available now or in the foreseeable future.

As an alternative to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund cleanup, the Bloomberg Administration has proposed a cleanup plan to be carried out by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that would be partly funded by a Congressional appropriation awarded through the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA).

City officials have said their plan would rely on up to, or potentially more than, $100 million in WRDA funding, and would only work if Congress appropriates the funds for the canal.

But an investigation into WRDA guidelines, and interviews with Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez - whose district includes the canal and who has led efforts to plan for its cleaning since 2002 - and with the Army Corps (USACE), shows that a cleanup of the Gowanus Canal has not been authorized for any Congressional funding and is not likely to receive any for the next several years, if not longer.

If this is true, it puts into question the legitimacy of a city plan that Velazquez criticized as infeasible.

1 comment:

Taxpayer said...

This Commissar's ability to think rivals the thinking ability of the turds floating along the Gowanus Canal.

He chooses an uncertain source of money over a certain source. Why?

So, he can claim his financial genius is required for the fourth term. He believes we will forget.

Well, let's clean up the sewage in city hall, starting on September 15. Let's dump this electoral pollutant.