Gothamist: An Examination of the Greenpoint Toxic Blob

guest

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 13:09:13 -0500

Why in the world would brokers or developers point out Williamsburg toxic issues. Isn't that their bread and butter? Comment # 1 certainly is not a broker, but his facts about the lies in the story are accurate. I checked. The only discrepancy I could find is about the claim about high cancer rates in Williamsburg. Both Greenpoint and Williamsburg have very low cancer rates. Williamsburg does have slightly higher cancer rates than Greenpoint, but I wouldn't call them high. The New York Magazine article contains many lies. That cannot be disputed. The cancer victim never lived in Greenpoint. In fact he lived on Devoe Street in Williamsburg where there were three other cancer victims on the same block (one in his own apartment after he moved). There are NO cancer clusters in Greenpoint. Tom Stagg does NOT live above an oil spill. Tom Stagg changes his story every time he is quoted. The vapor study recently conducted by the NYS Dept. of Health showed NO vapors in the community from the underground oil (it was reported on News 12 last week). Scare tactics seem to be exactly what this story is all about. CB1, the Borough President, GWAPP and NAG were furious that they did not get the mandatory 40% affordable housing component they were lobbying for attached to the rezoning of the Greenpoint's waterfront. Since the rezoning, this scare campaign about Greenpoint has started. Hoffman and Holowicz are members of the affordable housing groups and when affordable housing is proposed in Williamsburg there is always an excuse for why it shouldn't be built there. When Toll Brothers' 29 story luxury condo was proposed, NAG, Waterfront Preservation Alliance, CB1 and the rest were silent. No request for the additional 10% affordable units was lobbied for by these supposed advocates when it is on the Williamsburg waterfront. Now when the developers of the Domino Sugar site proposed 50% affordable housing and landmarking one of the oldest refinery buildings, the outcry has now been to landmark the entire complex knowing full well that it will limit the percentage of affordable units because the project would become economically unfeasible to build. Instead of attacking commenter #1, how about attacking the authors of the clearly false articles being published over the past year.

Oldmark

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 10:32:19 -0500

Give me a break. #1's comments obviously represents some kind of broker or other special interest group. The NY Magazine article represents genuine reporting about a genuine, signficant problem. Among other things, it's obvious from the rhetoric about how "the people" favored rezoning when "the politicians" opposed it. Anyone who actually went to GWAPP and Community Board 1 meetings in 2005 knows that there was a wide range of opinions about the rezoning, including a substantial number of people opposed. I live in Greenpoint myself, btw.

guest

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 18:40:03 -0500

Mr Green Jeans - Greenpoint Archive is just pointing out lies being spread about Greenpoint. Although Toxic Brooklyn was the title, 5 of the 7 episodes were dedicated to spreading lies about Greenpoint. The above 4:52PM comment clearly illustrates a number of those lies. As for quoting VBS, Greenpoint Archive was actually quoting Luis Garden Acosta, Founder/President & CEO of El Puente, a highly respected community human rights institution, who called Williamsburg "the most toxic place to live in America". What is the problem with pointing out errors in articles? Is inaccurate reporting something you are looking to protect? Yours truly - Captain Kangaroo

Mr Green Jeans

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 17:40:32 -0500

The Greenpoint Archive is out of control. What is he talking about? The Vice piece was about Brooklyn, right? Toxic Brooklyn is the title. I don't think they or anyone yet has claimed one situation, whether in Greenpoint or Williamsburg, to be better or worse than. It is merely a bummer for all. All anyone featured in the PBS, New York Magazine, or VBS.tv efforts seems to want is some government attention. Why are you so angry at them? A stick cannot be swung without hitting one of your Greenpoint Archive 'copy and paste' posts reiterating that everyone is lying-- everyone everywhere but you. Huh? Please explain this archival "chip" on your shoulder. Your diatribe should be saved for the next rezoning meeting so you can get the whole of your beloved Greenpoint prepped for the luxury condos you no doubt hope to see built and used to displace all these Greenpoint liars. Swick, Stagg, Hoffmann, Crutchfield, Seggos! All of them in cahoots to ruin Greenpoint? As what? A tourist destination? Weird that you so love Greenpoint but hate the people who have lived the whole of their lives there. How intriguing you are Greenpoint Archive. How very intriguing. And finally, how on God’s polluted earth, can you claim that VICE is full of lies and purposefully slanted against Greenpoint when you yourself Greenpoint Archive quote their Toxic Brooklyn VBS.tv piece saying that Williamsburg is the “most toxic place to live in America." It seems to me Williamsburg was declared the winner of this Toxic Olympics. Not even a runner-up mention for Greenpoint. And silly me, I would have thought that would have pleased you. Hmm.

Greenpoint Archive

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:52:37 -0500

Vice had so many lies in the video that it is a shame that you are linking to that piece of trash again. Here comment posted to founder of VBS after the video originally aired. Trace - The oil story is 30 years old and was never hidden. The clean up has been going on since the early 90's with regular annual public meetings in the community providing updates as mentioned in my first comment posting. Health data shows no abnormal spike in health related issues even after 50 years. The oil is not oozing up as you suggest. There are no vapors covering the community as you suggest, You never explain that Dorothy Swick's problem arose because a neighbor decided to illegally drill for a well in his backyard thirty feet down to reach a contaminated aquifer. Her vapor problem was created by that stupidity, not by any oil bubbling up. You say you were even handed. Even though you did cover some of Williamsburg's environmental issues in the first two episodes, you also carefully mixed in many clips of people saying how much they love Williamsburg. Even the narrator announces "everyone wants a piece of funkytown". The video is laced with attractive shots of billyburg shop and boutiques. When you come to Greenpoint, no such video. Only repeated clips of our notorious Laura Hoffman complaining and lying about the neighborhood. You never mention that she is one of only six residents who joined Riverkeepers lawsuit against the oil companies for the oil spill, or that none of the six plaintiffs live above the spill. It is a tragedy to be dealing with an illness in the family, but that does not excuse anyone from spreading hurtful lies about a community. She mentions the Greenpoint Incinerator even though there is no Greenpoint incinerator. The smoke stacks the camera zooms in on are the Con Edison stacks in Astoria. Tom Stagg, who is in the video, claims to be living on top of oil even though Newell Street is not where the spill is. What a sloppy fact checking job vbs did with this. You see, Mr. Stagg's property is adjacent to McGuinness Blvd which went through a major reconstruction including digging all of the old building foundations from the street. No oil was found during the project. Mr. Stagg is not telling the truth. Greenpoint has lower cancer rates than Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights and many other Bklyn neighborhoods. It also has some of the lowest cancer rates in all of nyc/nys. These stats can easily be seen at www.nyhealth.gov/statistics/cancer/registry/pdf/volume1nycneighborhoods.pdf But of course that was never mentioned in your video. Just 5 straight episodes dedicated to spreading exaggerations and lies about Greenpoint. Cutesy shots of hipsters frolicking in Williamsburg juxtaposed against two questionable individuals making claims that people in Greenpoint are falling victim to cancer makes it clear what your agenda is. We haven't spoken directly to you because we don't make it a habit of meeting with liars, we just expose them. Hope you got a nice check for your work. What's the going rate for slander these days?

DaveH

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:42:31 -0500

[2], Vice did address this some time ago. Our posts contains two links to its videos, in the sentence "Videos of the Roebling fiasco available here and here."

charles pratt

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:19:22 -0500

I agree with Greenpoint Archive. Just like Love Canal, this is way overblown. and Erin Brockavich is a fag hag.

Greenpoint Archive

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:19:19 -0500

Isn't it revealing how when the truth comes out about the lies being told about Greenpoint that commenters like Joe above resort to attacking the community. New York City smells sometimes. Greenpoint doesn't smell any differently that anywhere else. With the exception of the new condos being built, Greenpoint's housing has always been the most expensive in CB 1. Greenpoint's median income has also been the highest in the district. Landmark homes have fetched million dollar prices long before Williamsburg made it on the map. Greenpoint has always been a legitimate community with a real self sustaining economy. Williamsburg's hipster scene is just a disney creation financed by mommy and daddy's bank accounts. When the hipsters get bored and move to the next hot nabe, Williamsburg may revert back to the prostitute haven of its past.

joe

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:02:18 -0500

The neighborhood just plain out stinks though, due to the waste management plant. Yuck, only poor hipsters would live there. Greenpoint archive you might be technically right, but who cares?

Erik

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 14:57:42 -0500

Vice did a report on this already a while ago... vbs.tv its called Toxic Brooklyn or something

Greenpoint archive

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 14:22:28 -0500

Greenpoint has lower cancer rates than Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights and many other Bklyn neighborhoods. It also has some of the lowest cancer rates in all of nyc/nys. These stats can easily be seen at www.nyhealth.gov/statistics/cancer/registry/pdf/volume1nycneighborhoods.pdf The above post is a perfect illustration of the smear campaign unleashed on Greenpoint ever since we had our waterfront rezoned for residential development against the wishes of the Brooklyn based politicians. The Borough President voted against the rezoning, but the community made an appeal to the Mayor and won. None of these attacks were directed at Williamsburg when development projects started their, even though the toxic issues and high cancer rates that exist in Community board 1 exist in the Williamsburg section and not Greenpoint. Williamsburg environmental issues have been ignored by the media. Stories have tried to divert attention away from Williamsburg toxic issues by lying about Greenpoint. The Roebling oil spill (aka Williamsburg oil spill) never even makes it in the press. It should be noted that the Greenpoint residential community was built on clean farmland in the 1800's. Even the waterfront industry in Greenpoint was clean. The major factory was a producer of rope. Not so with Williamsburg. The Eastern District terminal site along the Williamsburg waterfront is a designated toxic brownfield that was home to numerous polluting industries including the Astral oil site. These toxic brownfields are where the new residential properties are being built. Lets do a Greenpoint vs Williamsburg toxic score card. Liquid Natural Gas storage facilities in Williamsburg: Yes, in East Williamsburg Liquid Natural Gas storage facilities in Greenpoint: none Radioactive storage facilities in Williamsburg: Radiac on Kent Ave Radioactive storage facilities in Greenpoint: none Williamsburg oil spill size: Unknown (it might be even bigger than the Exxon Valdez) The Astral oil company operated on the Williamsburg waterfront for decades and may have spilled over 100 million gallons of oil into the ground under Williamsburg contaminating ground water and creating toxic vapors. Many of Williamsburg's cancer victims may have died because of this oil contamination. Williamsburg's high cancer rates may now be better understood. How many new residents know about the potential deadly health risks that this oil poses? Greenpoint oil spill size: defined and now half its original size. Williamsburg oil spill location: Under newly developed luxury condos and possibly under the majority of the developing community. The full devastating results can only be determined by a lengthy study. Greenpoint oil spill location: Under the remote industrial property next to the East Williamsburg industrial park. Greenpoint condos being built on former toxic brownfields: none Williamsburg condos being built on toxic brownfields: Many (including the Eastern District Site, and now the Williamsburg Oil field site) Blogs revealing the toxic hazards in Williamsburg: Hard to find Blogs dedicated to spreading lies about toxic hazards in Greenpoint: You can hardly swing a stick without hitting one. All of Greenpoint less desirable industries of the past were located in the eastern industrial section along the Newtown creek. Greenpoint's East river waterfront had been home to lumberyards, rope factories for a century and then was abandoned for nearly half a century. None of Greenpoint's East River waterfront has the toxic history that Williamsburg's Eastern district terminal has. The smear campaign unleashed on Greenpoint, just when we it was rezoned curiously excluded Williamsburg's toxic issues. The media still isn't covering the issues, just day after day coverage of hipsterville. Do a williamsburg search in the NY times. It's pretty revealing. Luis Garden Acosta, Founder/President & CEO of El Puente, a highly respected community human rights institution that promotes leadership for peace and justice through the engagement of members (youth and adult) in the arts, education, scientific research, wellness and environmental action has called Williamsburg "the most toxic place to live in America" in a documentary created by Williamsburg based VBS organization. Other rare cancer clusters in Willamsburg have been reported. As for the New York magazine article, The sarcoma victim listed in the article never lived in Greenpoint. This was uncovered and reported over 6 months ago. He lived on Devoe street in Williamsburg. In fact, three cases of this extremely rare sarcoma cancer are actually on that same block in Williamsburg (nowhere near the oil spill, not even in the same zip code). One more case is five blocks away and even further away from Greenpoint and the oil spill. In fact, one victim got cancer after residing in the same apartment as the cancer victim in the story. Tom Stagg in the article does not live above the spill. He lives on Newel Street. He also can't keep his story straight from news article to news article. It is not clear if he has mental problems.