Summary(0:44) Activist in neighborhood since 1990s because of environmental issues around parks – (2:50) Learning about issues around NuHart & Company – (3:40) No access to Newtown Creek – (4:38) Diagnosed with Lupus and discovering that neighbors were also sick – (8:23) Fighting against power plant – (9:45) Family members coming down with illnesses – (14:38) Family members passing away from different cancers dependent on location – (17:40) Failure of State to accurately record statistics of Greenpoint health issues – (19:45) Resentful of neighbors who prioritize property values over community health – (22:40) Concern of development and remediation of brownfields – (25:57) Truck traffic and waste transfer station issues – (29:20) Childhood friend killed on Greenpoint Waterfront – (31:30) Working on plan for waterfront access before 2005 waterfront rezoning – (36:05) Manhattan Avenue Street end cleanups – (38:15) Crabbing on Newtown Creek – (43:20) Importance of people using Newtown Creek to draw attention to and put pressure on City agencies to take care of Creek – (46:08) First boat trip on Newtown Creek with Basil Seggos and Bill Schuck – (47:30) Bernie Ente, Queens resident who helped found Newtown Creek Alliance – (49:30) Swans in Newtown Creek – (54:28) Riverkeeper coming across oil spill and working with community to be plaintiffs in suit against Exxon – (58:00) Winning lawsuit for 19 million – (59:50) Kosciuszko Bridge development -- (1:02:50) DEP not being responsive and difficult to work with – (1:10:03) Getting enforcement of remediation protocols – (1:16:03) Racial makeup of neighborhood changing
NoteAudio interview conducted on February 8, 2019, by Acacia Thompson on Dupont Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Collected through Our Streets, Our Stories, an oral history project of Brooklyn Public Library. This project is funded through the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund.
SubjectLupus ; Newtown Creek (Kings County-New York County, N.Y.) ; New York (N.Y.). Department of Health ; New York (N.Y.). Department of Environmental Conservation ; Waste disposal sites--New York (State)--New York ; Oil spills ; Plumes (Fluid dynamics) ; Waterfronts ; Exxon Mobil Corporation ; Kosciuszko Bridge (New York, N.Y.) ; New York (N.Y.). Department of Environmental Protection ; Gentrification ; Cancer
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TitleOral history interview with Laura Hoffman conducted on 2019 February 8.