How could New York do things differently, what does “clean” even mean in 2020, and what right do New Yorkers have to a clean and safe place to live?

Reading the 3 assigned sources I tend to come to the same conclusion as Joseph Alexiou’s article. As he says, “Historically, the landowning industrialists and developers had a hand in the decision making throughout the process.“ The historical display he exposes through out the article indicated no clear progress over the years. Politicians and Developers are more interest in profit and budget cutbacks fo necessary plans engineers have created to allow progress. The very few progress that has been made in hindsight has really been when there is more interest from the people to creat a change. This mostly comes from locals of the area. There for New Yorkers should make allies with developers and push for a more beneficial zoning regulation of the area. They have the monetary power and the locals are the once that will be exposed to these changes.

The zoning change will creat a change in infrastructure and overall environment of Gowanus. According to the Department of City Planing the zoning proposal has been submitted. They say the next step is to have community input on the scope of work, and then an environmental review. It seems like at this point we are in a limbo period between the last community framework meeting last year in April and an environmental analysis to come? In reality the articles leave me with more questions than any concrete conclusion of what can be done to make this a better environment. There is no clear timeline of the next step to take. This just leaves the community to continue to push agencies and elected officials to move things forward. (197-a Plan, hmm?)

Maybe something will be done after sea level rise expose the rotten history of neglect from previous generations and things will start to move at a faster more urgent pace. The reality is that developers will continue to push for there economic gain and the community needs to step up to see this area get better. This needs to happen simultaneously because by the way things are going the canal will never be cleaned before development comes. Lastly, cleaning the canal seams imposible to clean 100 percent of the way given the CSO won’t be able to be contained unless massive container tanks are created to hold it all back. Unsustainable, according to Alexiou.

New York could do things differently by studying from the mistakes in the past and be more focused on the cleaning process. First, the government has to see this issue as a serious one. Second, corruption needs to be gone. And the last is that the unity of the community has to be strong. After reading those three sources, I can see that they have many great ideas of cleaning up the canal, but not once the solution has come true. According to Joseph Alexiou, he said, “..the fix is ineffective and often makes the problem worse. Those responsible then throw up their hands and back away quietly, hoping that the next generation of decision-makers will fix it.” The excellent solution is the zoning plan. It actually worked in Manhattan, and it will work for the Gowanus canal, but because it will cost too much money, the government decided to ignore the issues. The problems of the canal continue to kill the residents without any care of the government. It is also clear that the issue isn’t only in the water but in the air. The word ‘clean’ does not only mean the quilty and the outlook of the canal, but it is the development around the area. Make sure that it is safe for people to live their lives around the canal and care more about the citizens who live there.

In my own personal research there have been multiple plans created by the city  to clean up the Gowanus Canal for many years and nothing has been done. New Yorkers deserve a clean canal because its essential to healthy living. If denser residential developments is the future of the area around the Gowanus Canal than it is more than fair to also have a clean place to live free of hazardous waste.  According to the Joseph Alexiou article complaints date back to 1861 with reports of causing illness to people.  In all those years not much has been done to resolve the nasty sewage problem. I think New York could do things differently by looking back to the systems in place to contain the current waste and see what else can be done better to contain the smells and fumes coming from the water. Do i ever believe it will be clean? no. but i do believe that with the right motivation and plan the city can move toward a more effective way to contain/control the waste the surrounding structures produce.

According to Joseph Alexiou article, the Gowanus Canal has been in Brooklyn for 158 year and we the people have polluted this canal where cleaning it is  nearing impossible or too expensive to do anything. Over the year we the people started to build factory, which dumping oil or chemical into the canal was ok and later it fix itself. Throughout year design to clean the canal fail due to poor engineering or overflowing from rain. What could us New Yorkers could have done differently? For starter we could of just pay attention on the long-term effect on us dumping into the canal.  Another idea is if the people who live around the area Brooklyn could have made donate on saving the canal and push hard for the governor or government to pay attention. The word “clean” in 2020 meaning keep your area from being dirty mess into healthy or polish area. New Yorker rights to have to a clean and safe place is like no hot spot for crime and no trash line around your streets.

Joseph Alexiou provided details on the historical development and environmental issues of the Gowanus Canal. He also expressed doubt that the Gowanus will ever be cleaned. Joseph mentioned in the article “In 1999, the city finally began to repair the Flushing Tunnel just as Carroll Gardens and Park Slope were coming truly desirable to big real estate and expensive places to live. It was the “if you build it, they will come,” mentality of cleaning up toxic waste sites.” This brings me to the question of what is the definition of clean? The definition of clean is to be free from dirt or pollution and free from contamination or disease as defined by Merriam-Webster. Repairing a flushing tunnel does not solve the issue of the contamination in the water. NYC rezoning practices are mainly concerned about money making rather than the health of individuals. Everyone deserves to live in a clean and safe place. Without clean air and water people are at a higher risk of becoming sick and unwell. The idea of cleaning up the Gowanus Canal has been as ongoing issue and I can say that not much has been done. What is going to happen 50 years down the road? Will the city be repeating the same old mistakes? Will the Gowanus ever be cleaned? I believe that before the city continues with the rezoning they need to seriously clean up the canal. People living by the water will pay lots of money to live in the area, not fully understanding the big issues of the Gowanus. They cannot continue down the same path, something needs to be done now.