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Locals: Test soil at skate park

By Ariella Cohen
The Brooklyn Paper
The Brooklyn Paper / Gregory P. Mango
Parks advocates want to transform the run-down Thomas Greene playground on Douglass Street between Nevins Street and Third Avenue into a skateboard park.

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Local officials want the city to test the soil at a Boerum Hill playground that federal officials say rests atop toxic waste before moving forward with a proposed makeover.

As reported in The Brooklyn Paper, advocates want to turn the under-used Thomas Greene Park on Third Avenue into a skateboarder friendly playground with new bathrooms and equipment.

But before any digging is done, the advocates want testing.

“It would be foolhardy for the city to spend public money on a park only to have to come back some time later for a cleanup,” said Craig Hammerman, district manager for the Community Board 6, which would eventually approve any redesign of the park.

Thomas Greene Park, which is between Douglass and Degraw streets, is one many tracts of land near the canal that was once a staging area for fuel refineries during the 19th- and early 20th centuries.

The Environmental Protection Agency says that a test done on the former Fulton Municipal Gas Company site shows that there is hazardous waste on the site.

But the city Parks Department says it has frequently tested the area. Others said any toxins would be too far underground to cause any threat.

Regardless, Parks spokesman Phil Abramson added that the agency would test the soil again before doing any reconstruction at the site.

“Certainly you would suspect the responsible party to do testing in advance of any building or excavation work,” said Basil Seggos, an investigator for the non-profit Riverkeeper.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper

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