Wall Street Protests continuing (as reported today by the NY Times)

Hello from CORD

Today the NY Times is reporting on the on-going Wall Street Protests

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/protests-stir-up-voices-on-the-web/

September 30, 2011, 10:35 PM

Protests Stir Up Voices on the Web

By JILLIAN DUNHAM

"As the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York cycled through their 14th day, with a surge of attention and confusion over a Radiohead show that wasn’t, an overwhelming amount of information continued to flood the Internet, from snarky Tweets to informational Web sites to blogs representing individual experiences during the economic crisis."

The protests were in many ways born on the Web, with calls to action on multiple organizing sites, including Adbusters and NYC General Assembly. Anonymous, an Internet hacking group that has taken a leadership role in the movement, continues to spread information through its blog and Twitter feeds.

The organization Occupy Wall Street has been using its Web site to spread news to supporters and the news media. As controversy over the Police Department’s use of pepper spray intensified, Occupy Wall Street posted videos of the episode and published the name of the deputy inspector involved, Anthony Bologna. Inspector Bologna was later taken to task on “The Daily Show” by its host, Jon Stewart, and the actor Christopher Meloni, a former star of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”..... see the NY Times for more coverage

Community Disappointment with the DEP

Hello from CORD!

Wednesday, September 28, was the first annual CAG meeting helped at PS 58 in Carroll Gardens. This meeting was free and open to the public. As most people know by now, CAG stands for the Community Advisory Committee.

The CAG meeting for September was held at PS 58 on Tuesday September 27th with a presentation by the Commissioner Carter Strickland and his associates from the NYC Department of Environmental Protection. The main focus of the discussion was two fold:

• Water Quality and Its Components
• Green Infrastructure

According to the DEP presentation:

Water quality deals with the conveyance system of moving stagnant Cana water through tubular tunnel pipes and oxygenating it. The DEP is currently upgrading the flushing tunnel and pumps that will increase the flow and capacity of water. When completed in 2013, the new pumping stations will reduce the CSO's, the combined sewer overflows by 34 per cent and improve the water quality. Three new pumps are being installed to replace the existing one to cover any anticipated breakdowns in the system. The new tunnel is made to work during both high and low water levels in the canal. This action will increase oxygen levels and reduce floatables (solid sewage waste) by 78%. The DEP agency will be responsible for cleaning and inspection of storm sewers and their upkeep.

Also according to the DEP presentation:

The Green Infrastructure Plan involves the installation of storm water controls, anything that involves catching the rainwater before it reaches the canal, such as catch basins, water absorbing plants, rooftop gardens, and oxygenating trees. Grants will be available in the near future for nearby residents to apply.

The Community Response:

The Community at large is appreciative of the well deserved and long awaited clean up by the joined efforts of EPA Superfund and the DEP.

Nonetheless we feel it is a travesty to this community which has endured the troublesome, Gowanus Canal for years, to find that improper and outdated water level estimates were used to determine the needs for maintaining acceptable water clean up. With the future in mind, it stands to reason that the higher rain levels and the increase in housing development should be factored into the water plan. This community will not allow $400,000,000 to be spent wantonly, without regard for the future.

Let us do it right!!!

warmly, CORD

For more information on this extremely important issue please see:

PMFA blog

http://pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com/2011/09/community-to-deps-commissioner.html Community to DEP's Commissioner Strickland: Water Quality Improvement Plan Doesn't Go Far Enough

Violence on Wall Street as Protests Escalate

Hello from CORD!

There is chilling news from ABC re: Wall Street this weekend. Indeed, the Police and the Wall Street Protesters got into violent scuffles this weekend.

By ABC News 'Occupy Wall Street' Protests Turn Violent; Video Shows Police Macing Women

Sep 25, 2011 1:03pm

(Tina Fineberg/AP Photo)

ABC News’ Olivia Katrandjian reports:

Video posted by the group Occupy Wall St from the eighth day of protests against corporations show police using Tasers and mace to control the crowd, which the group says has only made it more committed to keep up the demonstrations in lower Manhattan for the long haul.

A New York Police Department spokeswoman today confirmed the group’s claim that approximately 80 people were arrested Saturday, mainly for disorderly conduct and obstructing vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

“One person was arrested for assaulting a police officer,” she said.

She added that no arrests have been made today.

The spokeswoman could not confirm whether police officers are using mace, Tasers or netting against protesters.

Among the video clips on the Occupy Wall Street website is one that shows a police officer macing a group of young women penned in by orange netting.

http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/201139/7649/Occupy-Wall-Street-protest-turns-chaotic-and-violent-Roundup?page=2

Another video has circulated of a police officer throwing a protester to the ground, though it is not clear why. The video shows the man standing in what seems to be a non-threatening manner before the incident.

Another video shows police officers pushing male and female protesters off the street, and using a large orange net to move the crowd.

Last night, a group of protesters marched from Zuccotti Park to One Police Plaza and then to the 5th Precinct in Chinatown, in search of their friends who had been arrested earlier on Saturday.

“You can still leave without being arrested. Leave this corner,” police told demonstrators. But several were arrested.

Cristina Gonzalez, 25, was among those arrested last night. She spoke to ABC station WABC-TV when she called her sister from the back of a police van.

“We haven’t been charged, we don’t know what happened,” Gonzalez said. “We are at One Police Plaza, there’s 16 of us in the back of a van and we’re sweating. And there’s a man back here in who needs medical attention. He’s bleeding from his head and his handcuffs are too tight.”

The group claimed on its website that several arrested protestors were locked inside a police van Saturday morning, one with a “possibly life-threatening” concussion.

The website reported at least one protestor was arrested for taking photographs. An NYPD spokesman told ABC News Saturday that police were not targeting those with cameras.

The protests began on Sept. 17, when hundreds of protestors gathered at Bowling Green Park in Manhattan, home of the iconic charging bull in New York’s Financial District, as they prepared to “take the bull by the horns,” as a flyer advertising the event said.

“The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%,” said a statement on the website Occupy Wall Street......"

For the rest of this article please go to http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/09/occupy-wall-street-protests-turn-violent-video-shows-police-macing-women/

Our very own ZONE A, the "ZONE OF ANXIETY"

Ahoy there from CORD!

The latest AM NY "ZONE OF ANXIETY" article (See below) mirrors our sentiments exactly. And we wonder: Why would the City want to build MORE in ZONE A? (A KNOWN FLOOD ZONE) anyhow? Zone A includes the entire stretch along the toxic Gowanus Canal that was evacuated last weekend. We at CORD feel this is is a premonition of events to come, perhaps far more serious.

8/31/11By Graham Wood: "Hurricane Irene floods have some NYers eyeing a new nabe"

http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/hurricane-irene-floods-have-some-nyers-eyeing-a-new-nabe-1.3136400

excerpt: Unnerved after being forced to take refuge at a friend’s place on the Upper East Side while the East River swelled and imperiled her block at Wall and Water streets, Melillo said “it doesn’t feel quite as safe anymore” in the Financial District. As Irene exposed neighborhoods that are most vulnerable during natural disasters, New Yorkers have a fresh concern when deciding where to live: Am I safe here if this happens again?

Indeed, the areas most affected by Irene — from Battery Park City to Williamsburg and Long Island City — could be hit by a flood of people seeking permanent shelter elsewhere, at least in Irene’s immediate aftermath, real estate observers told am NewYork" (Wood, AM NY)


CORD wonders (Again and Again): Why build ANY NEW BUILDINGS (of any kind) in ANY ZONE A including the Gowanus Canal Corridor, anyhow? Isn't this the most obviously DUMB idea on the planet? Why put MORE people in MORE harm's way? Will not the City of NY, and the insurers and lawyers from seas far and wide, be flooded with foam filled, desperate phone calls from these terrible decisions? It will cause a deluge of problems for sure.

To make matters even worse, we seem to have an evacuation route from this neighborhood that also FLOODS becasue it takes us over the canal, that is through the flood zone to get out of the flood. Does this alarm anyone besides us?

Some of the the Gowanus CANAL Area Redevelopment ideas floated by NYC place thousands more innocent residents and others on the banks of the Gowanus...a flood zone and in obvious harm's way.

Monday, August 29, 2011

"Do Carroll Gardens and Gowanus have a viable evacuation route in case of emergency?"

http://carrollgardenspetition.blogspot.com/2011/08/do-carroll-gardens-and-gowanus-have.html

We at CORD wonder: What are the Mayor Bloomberg and his administration thinking when they propose planning to develop more buildings in an already dangerous flood zone? Perhaps Mayor Bloomberg will take this up with Mother Nature?

PMF covered this well on the weekend:

Sunday, August 28, 2011

"Hey, Mayor Bloomberg! Remind Us Again Why We Should Allow New Buildings In A Flood Zone"

http://pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com/2011/08/hey-mayor-bloomberg-remind-us-again-why.html

We urge you to let us know your thoughts at cgcord@gmail.com and/or to telephone your local representatives and or Mayor Bloomberg's office. Carroll Gardens and Gowanus deserve better! We need a proper evacuation route discussion ASAP and a sane plan for the future ZONE A.

CORD