[CPEO-BIF] New York City's brownfields plan

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Developing Brownfields The Right Way

opinion by Mathy Stanislaus and Jody Kass
Gotham Gazette (NY)
May 7, 2007

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to build on an estimated 7,600 acres of 
contaminated land, known as brownfields, will eliminate health hazards 
that plague poor neighborhoods and communities of color and create space 
for desperately needed housing. The mayor's plan is visionary, 
courageous and insightful, and the implementation plan includes 
provisions that empowers residents and community based organizations and 
directs funds where they are most needed.

A Transparent Process

A dozen groups, including New Partners in Community Revitalization has 
lobbied the city to create a centralized office focused on redeveloping 
city brownfield sites. The mayor included such an office in his plan, 
but it now needs the authority, staff and funding to develop and 
implement his agenda. Moving forward, the office will also need to 
ensure that the projects it assists have emerged from a community 
planning effort or have support of the local community. And any project 
that seeks city help to develop a brownfield must demonstrate that their 
projects are consistent with the city's sustainability goals.

Dual Role

The primary focus of the city's new Office of Environmental Remediation 
is to advance the redevelopment of the city's brownfield sites, but it 
will also be charged with regulatory oversight. When the same agency 
that develops a project also has the responsibility for regulating it, 
an inherent conflict arises. To avoid that, the new office will needed 
to develop policies and procedures and hire the right personnel to 
assure a user-friendly program while achieving regulatory goals.

Making the Best Use of Funds

The mayor announced that the city will provide $15 million for a 
public-private revolving loan fund to finance remediation and related 
costs. But it is not clear how the city will get these dollars into 
specific projects. The city government should maximize its funds by 
leveraging private dollars for remediation through partnerships with 
community lending institutions such as NY Metro Brownfields 
Redevelopment Fund Program, which uses federal and city funds to credit 
enhance remediation loans.

...

For the entire column, see
http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/issueoftheweek/20070507/200/2171

--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

_______________________________________________
Brownfields mailing list
Brownfields@list.cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org/mailman/listinfo/brownfields