Comment Of The Day: On Dennet Place

On Dennet Place

Friend and reader Castillo left the following comment on Hey, Neighbor! Pardon Me For Asking, But...

My favorite block has been and always will be in my mind and heart, Dennet Place. The little block between Smith & Court, Nelson & Luquer st has an the air of a European village.

I moved onto Dennet Pl in 2000 and I was instantly welcomed not only into the neighborhood, but into families. I spent many nights with my neighbors eating dinner & playing with their children. So when I was going to get married the only place that it could be held was on Dennet Pl. The neighbors closed down the street where my wife & I were married on our stoop with 250 of our closes friends & family.

My wife and I bought an apt on Clinton st only a block away and many of the long time residents of Dennet moved away. I am still in touched with many of them who have become life long friends. We still have block party reunions now and then, but I will always cherish that little block called Dennet Place.

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New Jersey Reader Sheds Some Light On EPA Superfund Listing

Reader App has left this incredibly insightful comment on the post "Pardon Me For Asking, But Did You Get This Slick P...":

I am from NJ, and I am going to tell you the truth about getting on the Superfund list. (we got a lot of sites on the list in NJ)

They are right when they say it will cost local residents money. But this is a good thing, and here is how & why....

After the clean up, property values will increase and it is likely that taxes will too, because that is just how it works. And who wouldn't really want that? Who wouldn't want the value of their home to double?

The alternative is that nothing gets cleaned up, things get worse, property values fall even more, residents get totally fed up with it and sell out to get out before their homes are totally worthless and their children grow up and give birth to a generation of genetic mutants. Then developers can pick up the properties dirt cheap.

Then after they acquire the land, they finally agree that it should be a Superfund site, they get on the list, the clean up takes place and they make a killing off the increase in property values.

Residents have nothing to fear with regards to lawsuits. The only ones that will get sued are the polluters that made the mess. If you didn't cause the problem, you have nothing to fear. If you did cause the problem you will be forced to take responsibility for your careless disregard for the environment. It is only right that you should. If you made the mess you should be made to pay for the clean up, at least in part. They don't go after home owners. They go after the big companies that made the mess, the ones that have been poisoning you, your children, and your community.

Additionally, things are picking up speed with the existing Superfund sites, with money pouring in from the federal government, to put people to work and clean them up faster. This is part of the current stimulus package.

New Jersey is getting over $100 million in stimulus money to clean up 8 Superfund sites.

You guys deserve to have some of that too. You deserve to live in a clean safe community. You deserve to not lose the value of your homes. You deserve the jobs the cleanup will create.

You deserve it, not the developers that seek to steal your homes out from under you for pennies of what the properties will eventually be worth.

Thank you, App,

It is great to get this confirmation and encouragement.


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Reader Comment Of The Day

Reader comment left on:
Last Night's CB6 Gowanus Superfund Meeting: The Pros Vs. The Amateurs

I was glad that Bob Zuckerman asked the city's reps what exactly they meant by their flogging of the vague term "powerful incentives" to get the potentially responsible parties to willfully - nay, happily - step up to the plate and pay a portion of cleanup costs. Of course, the answer was simply that they'd possibly have to pay less IF (and ONLY if) the city's multi-faceted plan came together without a hitch (including four years worth of the TOTAL funding for this kind of project nationwide). Nonsense. Why do I get the feeling that their little bag of tricks would also include tax breaks equal to or greater than the sum total ponied up by these PRPs?

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Gowanus Superfund: City And Elected Officials Spinning As Fast As They Can

Reader comment left on:

Gowanus Superfund: City And Elected Officials Spinning As Fast As They Can

Thank you Senator Montgomery and Jim Vogel.
For a moment I feared for Tom Gray's safety when he asked why the epa is now trying to "cram the superfund down our throats." It was clear that the majority of attendees welcome the epa's involvement.
I suppose that Squadron is huddling with the city to see if they will come up with a viable plan that he can spin and support. Since, according to Coswell Holloway, they won't have a finished plan prior to the close of the comment period it might be difficult to form an informed judgment. Daniel Squadron is turning out to be another political disappointment.
Another important point that was made last night is that the city is not improving the flushing tunnel out of any goodwill or concern for the community but rather because they are obligated to pursuant to a consent order.
I also applaud my neighbors for their well informed and cogent questions and for refusing to put up with any more BS.
And thank you to Joshua Verleun.

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