On September 14, 2017 during our class we had guest speaker Joseph Alexiou join the class to speak to us about the Gowanus Canal. He began his lecture by explaining his history with the site. He got introduced to Gowanus when he was searching for a neighborhood to live in. When he came across Gowanus and moved in he started researching his neighborhood. As time went on he became more intrigued about the history of the canal and its origin. Questions came up like ,’ Is this a safe area to be in?” “What was the purpose of the canal?” and others. Doing further investigation he learned much information about the Gowanus Canal that he shared with the class. He spoke about the origin of the canal and its primary use. In the older days the canal was very prominent and an essential part of Brooklyn.

The Gowanus canal was a means of transport for many goods that were being carried up and down the canal at all hours. The industrial industry in New York City especially Brooklyn was booming. Brooklyn was a wealthy city and the canal aided the cities prestige. It became a place where many business and manufactures wanted to go because of the high reputation it had. When factories moved into the area their waste began being dumped into the canal. At that time bad thoughts did not come across because they were not thinking of the future. They were thinking of the canal in that moment and how it would convenience them.

One of the initial blueprints of the canal was created with two paths in order to create a stream in the canal strong enough to flush out all unwanted materials and build up at the bottom. That plan was expensive and those in charge of building the canal chose a different option, a cheaper one. If the canal was created how a successful plan was designed the site today would not be a superfund. A superfund site is a location that is highly polluted that the federal government needs to step in and take care of the issue. They find those responsible of causing the pollution and make them invest into the site to clean it up. The main culprit to the pollution of the Gowanus canal is the city of New York. When the site was suggested as a superfund the New York officials tried their best to oppose it. They did not want the site to be labeled as a superfund because it would be bad for their future real estate business. Also they knew that they were the primary party responsible for the pollution of the Gowanus because they had much time to fix the problem but they did not. With the protest and outburst of the community the site became a superfund and will take years to get cleaned up. By the community sticking together that shows that the public has a voice and they will be heard.

An issue that the Gowanus canal has is the sewer lines. The sewer is connected in one large tube that when it rains gets over flooded and sewer dumps into the canal. That was foreseen when the sewer was initially designed by someone who proposed a design to fix the issue. Again money plays an important role in decisions and the repair of the sewer and new additions were denied.The city instead of creating new developments should go back and make additions to the sewer of Brooklyn to aid the Gowanus canal. The canal went from a striving canal that hosted fish and oysters to a superfund site that is highly toxic. It is an example of people worrying about the wrong things in a city. When Joseph Alexiou was speaking of the Gowanus canal his passion for the subject interested me in both the area and his book. I will acquire the book to learn more information about the Gowanus canal.