Friday, November 24, 2006

CB 7 Set to Build a Wall of Shame

Former Community Board 7 chairman and now vice chairman Joseph Longobardi may be one of the richest and biggest landlord’s in Windsor Terrace but he’s certainly no air quality expert.
He was recently quoted saying that a one million dollar wall approved by the community board, to surround the New York Power Authority (NYPA) power plant on Third Avenue, “was essential to the health of the community.”

I say we start a fund to pay for the mental health needs of the community board. One million dollars for a wall is a colossal waste of money and will not, I repeat WILL NOT, improve the quality of air for the residents of Sunset Park.

As a gesture of good will, some may call it hush money or a kick back, NYPA agreed to provide the community with a grant for one million dollars in exchange for allowing the plant to be built here in the first place (like we had a choice).

But, instead of using the money to do something useful for the community, several members of the community board decided that a one million dollar wall would be a nice way to shield the community from a noxious power plant we never wanted or needed. See no evil, smell no evil.
In Spanish there’s an expression, “no se puede tapar el cielo con la mano.” You can’t block the sun with your hand. Nor can you stop noxious fumes and particulate matter with a wall. This doesn’t require a Ph.D. folks.

This wasteful wall building effort would almost be funny if the lives and lungs of so many weren’t at stake.

As a member of the community board, I voted against this stupid idea and proposed that we spend the money on revolutionary things.

How many trees could we buy and plant along our congested avenues and streets with one million dollars? How many garbage cans can we place on corners throughout the neighborhood? How many HEPA filters can we purchase for nearby homes, schools, churches and businesses?
I’m sure the readers of El Barrio News and other members of the community could come up with even more creative and useful ways to spend one million dollars too. Community input … now that would have been revolutionary!

Given the screwed up priorities of certain officials, I wouldn’t be surprised if this one million dollar wall were built before the new high school we’ve been promised for decades. While other communities across the city are getting community centers, schools, affordable homes and parks, we’re building walls.

One million dollars that our working poor community critically needs are being wasted, squandered, thrown away on this NYPA/community board wall of shame.

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