Gowanus Framework Ideas and Feedback

Proposed Building Heights

The current proposed building heights are entirely too tall. Adding this kind of height would dramatically change the framework of the neighborhood. No new buildings should be higher than 6 stories with in the Gowanus neighborhood. The city needs to take a much more serious approach to solving affordable housing, they need to look within and use the powers of their office instead of flooding the market with more units. Raise the affordable housing unit minimum from 20/30 to at least 40%

Don't shoot me, but what about parking?

The plan ignores many realities in Gowanus, including parking needs. With more people, come more cars: PLAIN AND SIMPLE, no matter how many use public transportation. A search of the complete proposal mentions "parking" 35 times. More than half of those references are included in language similar to this: "Alleviate unnecessarily high parking requirements for new construction and enlargements." As a lifelong resident of this area, parking used to be simple to understand. If you moved your car from a Gowanus spot during the workday, you wouldn't be able to get a parking spot until the factories closed at 3-5pm. But after 5, and on weekends, no worries. Heck, we'd have weekends where there were no cars on 2nd avenue at all. Since the residential development began on 4th Avenue, losing spots to bioswales/ CitiBike, and the changes in the mixed commercial/industrial use blocks, including the Parole Center, parking is a nightmare ALL THE TIME and it is impacting residents and businesses alike. We've lost many wonderful, long-time, businesses in Gowanus to parking problems. Why should we care about cars and parking? Because: parking availability means jobs for our industrial friends in Gowanus, cars & parking mean jobs for many blue collar workers, cars mean mobility for our disabled residents, cars help keep our older residents more engaged and active, and, essentially, cars, and more parking, make it easier to live here. We pay a premium to live in Brooklyn, and that premium has been growing exponentially lately. Parking is a commodity, and it's becoming reserved for the affluent in our community, and that's not fair. I am ALL for more people coming to Gowanus, for many reasons. I am privileged to live my life here, and raise my family here, but let's be real. Unless we make a REAL plan for PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, PUBLIC PARKING, and SOLVING THE RAIN WATER/SEWAGE RUN OFF PROBLEM, bringing more people to Gowanus is just going to make it a mess. This plan helps make a lot of money for a small group of people, at the expense of many more.

Do a thorough pollution assessment of the department of transportation Hamilton Ave. plant and other industrial plants in Gowanus

Frequently the plant on Hamilton Ave. emits enormous amounts of smoke. Sometimes, the air smells like sulfur or other toxic chemicals. It is clearly unsafe. There is also considerable truck traffic on 3rd avenue. Air pollution is a serious and so far neglected issue in this neighborhood.

Green Spaces

Although the preservation of Thomas Greene Park is wonderful it was sad that there were not more proposed green spaces for Gowanus. Green spaces are GOOD! and make for healthy communities. Some of the greatest NY neighborhoods, have an abundance of green spaces. With such a polluted past it would wonderful too see Gowaus do about face and become a leader in neighborhood green spaces. Gowanu deserves its day in the sun and in more than one park.

I understand there are tall building surrounding Thomas Greene park - this is a REAL problem - we need light and air in this park.