LISTEN: Gowanus rezoning highlights city’s love for development
The polluted 1.8-mile Gowanus Canal has been subjected to decades of sewage contamination and industrial pollution, and while it’s nowhere near clean, the city is pushing forward with a plan that could sprout 30-story towers and bring waves of new residents to the banks of the waterway.
“Without a doubt every story in New York City is a real estate story and the people calling the shots here first and foremost are the developers who are going to want to throw the money into building this stuff,” Joseph Alexiou, an author, tour guide and neighborhood activist, said on the Brooklyn Eagle‘s podcast, Brooklyn This Week. “The [city officials] insert what they want into the conversation and it appears there and what people keep saying are issues, don’t appear.”