Tag: petition

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Petition to prevent a bar cafe from being created inside WNYC Transmitter Park

I was scrolling through Reddit when I came across this post and I immediately related it to our class. This post is a petition to prevent a cafe from being built in WNYC Transmitter Park, which is the same location where Smorgasburg pops up once a week. Smorgasburg is obviously a very creative class targeted market, selling burgers with buns made out of ramen noodles, overpriced mangoes in the shape of flowers, and whole coconuts to drink out of. A cafe in this location is perfectly suited for this population, as well as the population of the rest of the neighborhood around it (that being Williamsburg). It is so interesting to me that the community is in fact, AGAINST building this kind of establishment. The end of the petition reads, “A COMMERCIAL BUSINESS AT THE HEART OF THIS PARK WOULD RUIN THE TRANQUILITY OF THIS SMALL, SPECIAL SPACE.” Just like that, bolded and in all caps. This petition shows that although developers might think it’s a great idea to further provide for the targeted population, sometimes enough is enough. Hipsters like to have a place of peace and quiet too, just like the rest of us.

https://www.change.org/p/friends-of-wnyc-transmitter-park-prevent-a-bar-cafe-from-being-created-inside-transmitter-park?recruiter=9094127&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink

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Community Action in Bensonhurst

Though not directly related, the reading “From Protest to Community Plan” by Tom Angotti reminds me of the residents of Bensonhurst taking action against a garbage station that was going to be built in Southwest Brooklyn, near Shore Parkway and Bay 41st Street. Here is the petition on Change.org that calls for the NYC Department of Sanitation to “Dump the Dump” (this phrase was popularly used during community rallies).

Although residents aren’t being displaced if this garbage station was to be installed, my mind immediately went to rallies condemning the garbage station as I pored over Angotti’s work. This was an issue that affected my community (Bensonhurst), as well as other surrounding neighborhoods (Bath Beach, Gravesend, Seagate, Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Sheepshead Bay, Bergen Beach, Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Mill Basin, Gerritsen Beach, Canarsie, Manhattan Beach). It shows the kind of issue that can bring a whole community together to stand up against. And perhaps like much of community action that voices disapproval against city planning, the rallies in Bensonhurst fell on deaf ears. Construction of the Southwest Brooklyn Marine Transfer Station began in 2014 and unsurprisingly, was stalled after asbestos were found at the transfer station. In the original petition that argued against the construction of the dump, it stated:

“If built, this garbage station will cause serious public health, environmental, and safety concerns for neighborhoods throughout southern Brooklyn and all along the waterways of New York City and adjacent states.”

How ironic that something involving environmental and safety concerns would be the thing that stalled the transfer station’s construction?