Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Superfunded!

The Gowanus Canal in summertime, with double-crested cormorants.

O sweet Gowanus, river of dreams, mystery, and romance! Flow on, flow on! (Sluggishly, but tidal.) O great greasy green Gowanus, the canal with the anal aperture in its very name! Long used as a depository for unwanted Carroll Garden babies -- genesis of the legendary Gowanuspeople, flippered, gilled, amphibian-like humanoid creatures -- the old industrial canal has at last been recognized by the EPA as a toxic landscape. Duh!

We have a Superfund site in the ‘hood. The developers, hoping their pal Mikey Dollars, a.k.a. the Mayor, would take care of things (all that money still can’t buy DC) like the South Brooklyn mobsters of old (“Crazy Joe, baby! Try the clams!”), are running. Troll Bros., one of the nation’s largest, grossest, suburban blighters, has already announced they won’t do their own kind of polluting in Brooklyn.

That said, the dozen years forecast for the clean-up of the noble ditch is ridiculous.

1 comment:

Lisanne said...

Hysterical free flowin verse that rings true...the timeline doesnt bother me..it took 100 years to pollute..and there is no need for development at the moment...come to the meeting tomorrow to hear what the EPA has in store..7pm at the school near carroll park..