Here is a letter from local resident Emilie Poisson about the effort to fight the proposed Rock and Roll Playhouse from opening on Degraw and Bond:
Hi everyone,
I wanted to alert you to some news in the continuing Carroll Gardens fight to stop the Rock and Roll Playhouse (RRPH) nightclub from being constructed on Degraw and Bond.
Over the last few months, nearby residents (including me) have spent thousands of dollars in two efforts. One was to force the Department of Buildings to honor a freedom of information act request seeking the public documents underlying its decision to allow the RRPH to be constructed at a non-conforming site within a residential street. The other was to force it to make a final ruling so residents could start an important appeal at the Board of Standards and Appeals.
The DOB failed to address the issues brought to bear by residents and the evidence it cited in defense of its position was, by any legal standard, totally insufficient. So, our appeal has now begun.
We have a very good shot at preventing this large and incongruous development on Degraw and Bond, but it is an expensive process and we are raising money for our legal fight. That is why I am writing neighbors on this board.
“We Are Gowanus (WAG),” the group we organized to fight the RRPH development, has recently set up a GoFundMe account called Defend The Hood to help defray further legal costs. I am passing this along in case any of you want to help support our cause.
WAG is made up of residents like you. We support reasonable commercial development of the Gowanus corridor. But the RRPH is not a reasonable use. It is a large late-night live music venue tucked into a residentially zoned block full of single-family homes. It is detrimental to the surrounding neighborhood and represents an abuse of zoning regulations.
Please consider supporting WAG in stoping this development in our neighborhood and the precedent it would set for streets west of the Gowaus canal.
For more information, please visit our website wearegowanus.org and facebook page We Are Gowanus.
Emilie
