Farriella, Christie M,, Freelanc
View of Newtown Creek from Greenpoint. The creek was the site of ExxonMobil’s massive oil spill decades ago.
A Greenpoint windfall is up for grabs.
Two years after a settlement agreement, locals are lining up to get their piece of a $ 19.5 million pot set aside to help beautify the oil-drenched neighborhood.
The proposals for “environmentally beneficial projects” are now being accepted, using cash forked over by ExxonMobil, whose decades-long oil leak contaminated Newtown Creek and the banks of north Greenpoint.
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“Directing $ 19.5 million toward Greenpoint’s priorities means this program will help reverse the legacy of environmental abuse and neglect in this vibrant neighborhood,” said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in a statement.
Available grants run from $ 5,000 allocations for projects like tree planting or a community trash cleanup to “legacy grants” which provide more than $ 2 million for major projects.
Anyone with a proposal must team up with a local non-profit to apply for and get money for a project.
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Farriella, Christie M,, Freelanc
Another view of the heavily-contaminated Newtown Creek.
It’s a tiny bit of cash compared to the damage caused by the massive 30 million-gallon spill — far bigger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill — that has festered below hundreds of homes and businesses and leaked toxins into nearby Newtown Creek for more than 50 years.
The cash is in addition to the tens of millions the oil giant must pay to clean up the gigantic mess.
But the community has shown it wants to help: hundreds turned up to a meeting last month that explained the grant process.
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The request for grant proposals was only released this week, so the fund’s administrators say it’s unclear how many groups will ultimately apply.
Proposals are due Dec. 18, with money to be doled out sometime early next year. A series of workshops is planned to further explain the process.
“We are actually giving technical support and advice to people who are filling out applications because we’re kind of a real homey operation,” said Richard Mazur, the executive director of the North Brooklyn Development Corporation, the fund’s general administrator.
“We are Greenpoint for Greenpoint,” Mazur said.
Community workshop on the grant process, Wed., Oct. 23 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., 80 Dupont St. between Manhattan Ave. and Franklin St.
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via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info
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