One reason not everyone was supporting the EPA slapping a Superfund sticker on the Gowanus Canal was because of the stigma that comes along with that label. Bloomberg and certain developers were fearing the fallout of a decision to Superfund, and the Toll Brothers were even facing a multimillion dollar lawsuit after signing a $21.5 million contract with owner Joseph Phillips, which they refused to pay. more ›

What's to be done about the Gowanus Canal? Any ideas? If so, the Department of Environmental Protection wants to hear them. The DEP sent out a notice indicating it is seeking proposals for how best to remove storm water from the sewer system and how best to treat it before it is discharged back into the Gowanus Canal watershed and Flushing Bay. The agency plans to award grants totaling $2.9 million to the potential projects, equally divided between the two areas. You better hurry though, because a retired engineer, Bart Chezar from Park Slope, thinks he has a plan that "will not only prevent raw sewage from continuing to foul the already polluted waterway, but also modify the behavior of local residents so that they do their part to keep the waterway clean." more ›

Though most of the neighborhood around the Gowanus Canal has not yet been rezoned for residential construction, one development company has just won approval for a big condo project with buildings up to 12 stories high and a public park along the canal. Blogger Pardon Me For Asking sat through a "long and drawn out" Landmark/Land Use committee meeting last night (so we didn't have to). She calls the near-unanimous vote "a sad outcome for the community":

Let me just say that no amount of testimony from concerned residents at last month's meeting, no concerns about pathogens in the waters of the canal, nor warnings that the land is in a flood zone were able to sway a majority of our board members from voting yes for Toll's spot rezoning.

The development company that's pushing for a special rezoning approval to construct several residential buildings by the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn came under fire at a Neighborhood Association meeting in Carrol Gardens last night, with two local architects dismissing the project renderings as deceptive. Chris McVoy and John Hatheway maintained that the developer, Toll Brothers, has provided renderings that make their tallest building—which would be 12 stories and 125 feet high—look more like 85 feet. more ›

Last decade's decrepit property along a foully polluted industrial canal is just next decade's prime waterfront lots, ready for development by one the nation's premiere luxury homebuilders. The Gowanus Lounge uncovered a "scoping" document filed with the Department of City Housing by the Toll Brothers construction company. The early renderings portray a spread of mixed-use development between 2nd and Carroll Sts. and bounded by Bond St. and the Gowanus Canal itself. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Hillside Ave. in Queens, commercial robbery on 16th St. in Brooklyn, and a bomb threat on 70th St. and 2nd Ave. in Manhattan.
• We hope some Brooklynites' leases are ironclad, because getting tatooed with an image of your building is the new fashion.
• Mayor Bloomberg conjures the ghost of Teddy Roosevelt and the Bull Moose Party by suggesting the likeliehood of a third party candidacy for President.
• Students are sick after partaking in free samples of a milk-beverage product.
• Toll Brothers wants the Jehovah's Witnesses' Brooklyn waterfront property and we can only pray that the buildings will have ludicrous Splendido-ish names
• 7 line trains are set to run on a near-constant basis while the Yankees visit Shea Stadium..
• The federal government is paying a large sum of money every month to house homeless people and criminals in a building once owned by Vincent Astor on 45th St.
• Wild accusations and recriminations are flying not in the pages of the New York Post, but about it, and The New York Times observes; plus, many more pages of fun at The Smoking Gun
• Brooklyn is now officially the new suburbs as dangerous art is removed from a show in an effort to be "careful" and not offend sponsors.

For the second time since construction started, there was a serious accident at the One Ten Third, the Toll Brothers project at...110 3rd Avenue and East 13th Street. This time, it wasn't a crane that came crashing down, but glass falling to the street below. It's unclear at this time whether it was just one piece of glass, but 3rd Avenue was shut down. It appears that there are no injuries and we're told that 3rd Ave. is open again. more ›

A Sunday NY Times roundup of development and community planning process in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn contains this hidden threat: more ›

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Whoa, via labs about a half-hour ago: "crane just dropped a giant block into traffic 15 floors down smashing thru a cab! i got pics on the scene." (Pix are from Selectroclash.) The wires are saying that the police are calling a level one mobilization because the crane is still unstable. Six people have been injured, and three buildings are being evacuated. More info as it develops. more ›

Long Island City may be losing MetLife, but now it seems like media conglomerate Viacom is considering a move to LIC. The Sun has a very interesting article about how the a move east would help reduce Viacom's cost (and improve its bottomline) if its various occupancy costs went down:

The company currently leases 1.4 million square feet (or 78%) of the space in the building run by S.L. Green (which, incidentally, is also bullish on Long Island City) at 1515 Broadway, the former headquarters of W.T. Grant. Insiders say they believe the executive and corporate offices would remain in Manhattan, at rents of about $80 a square foot when its lease is renewed in 2008. more ›

Be still our beating heart: The ever-so-successful builders of McMansions is coming to NYC. The NY Times details the Big Apple Dreams of the Toll Brothers. Chances are, if you've driven through the 'burbs in NJ, Pennsylvania, NY, and about twenty other states, you'll have seen a Toll Brothers home (oversized, gleaming homes clumped together). The company's website says this about it's "City Living" concept in NYC:

Toll Brothers, America’s Luxury Homebuilder, will soon bring its signature quality and design to the greatest city in the world with homes in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. The unparalleled amenities, spectacular architecture and unsurpassed expertise that has become familiar to discerning homebuyers across the country will become available to New York homebuyers through our City Living brand. more ›