An extended network of Canarsie activists is now meeting regularly with one local elected official, who hopes to garner from them information about issues of concern to the community as well as to hammer out approaches to those issues.
State Senator John Sampson began the weekly meetings, he said, to expand his grasp of neighborhood problems. “I believe the community members are my eyes and ears,” he told this paper.
“I felt that, in order for me to understand all the issues impacting Canarsie and other parts of my district, I need to meet with civic leaders at least once a month to hear all the issues and work on solutions,” Sampson explained.
“I don’t know everything. I’m out of the district three days a week. I have staff, but you have to utilize those people who are really close to what’s going on. Community leaders know the pulse of the community and the district,” he stressed.
Among the issues discussed at the April 19th meeting at Sampson’s office were the 52-foot cell tower proposed by Omnipoint Communications for 1595 Canarsie Road, the medical waste transfer station proposed by Citiwaste Medical Waste Disposal for 100-02 Farragut Road and the down-zoning proposal now being worked on by the Department of City Planning (DCP).
Community members have already come out in opposition to the cell tower
