Brad Lander’s Bridging Gowanus series of meetings has spurred some local Gowanus activists to hold their own meetings. “Take Back Gowanus” will be held Wednesday evening at 7 pm at the Green Building, normally home for weddings and other celebrations. It is at the corner of Bond and Union Streets. The Green Building is itself a symbol of the change in Gowanus. It used to be a brass foundry, and was renovated to become an elegant catering hall some years ago. Now, it faces extinction as the whole block is on the market for future real estate development, which these days generally takes the form of luxury condo apartments.
The meeting will begin at 7 pm. The people behind it include a local Gowanus historian and a group called FROGG. These are groups who are somewhat resistent to wholesale neighborhood change, and in favor of neighborhood preservation.
These days it is tough to preserve neighborhoods in the face of the gobs of money that can be made by neighborhood transformation. Gowanus is only the latest Brooklyn neighborhood to face this situation. Come to this meeting and see how local activists can come to criticize even ‘progressive’ politicians.
The photos below are from a recent canoe trip on the Gowanus Canal. While some real estate interests were against the current Superfund program, a 10 year program they probably thought would delay Gowanus gentrification, a trip on the canal shows in close-up detail that the cleanup is sorely needed. 
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2 Comments
Don;t know where you got the idea that the Superfund Cleanup “introduced a time delay to cleanup the canal”. Prior to Superfund, there was NO PLAN TO CLEANUP THE CANAL.
Substituting an actual cleanup plan for no plan, is not a delay by any measure.
However, the city of New York, who wants to rezone the canal, is adding delay to the Superfund work, needlessly stretching out the cleanup process. Yet their whole basis for the claim to rezone is because of the resulting cleanup.
You are correct – I wrote too quickly. I changed it to more precisely reflect what I meant to say… thanks!