Congresswoman Yvette Clark Leaves Community Waiting, Wanting

Last night Conresswoman Yvette Clark (D-NY) held a community roundtable last night at Christ Church, courtesy of the Cobble Hill Association. After showing up half an hour late, the Congresswoman gave updates on topics ranging from joblessness to health care to housing. After a short discussion on health care, the discussion moved to the topic that everyone knew it would, Superfunding of the Gowanus Canal.

Congresswoman Clark explained her (non) position thusly: The Superfund process is slow, and the EPA currently does not have enough money to complete the process (this is debatable). The Mayor's plan (which itself lacks many details), will be faster and will include private sector money. She claimed that she is still waiting for details to emerge on both plans before endorsing either plan. See some of her comments in the video at the bottom.

The vast majority of those there endorsed Superfund designation and peppered the Congresswoman with questions about why she refused to endorse Superfund status. She kept on repeating that in fact, she had no endorsed EITHER plan. What she failed to realize was that in fact, by not endorsing the Superfund designation, she was implicitly endorsing the Mayor's Plan, or, at the very least, supporting those who oppose Superfund designation.

The rest of the night was spent with the Congresswoman attempting to straddle the fence on the issue, and with her parrying the citizen's concerns. While composed and cool under pressure, at a few points, she and her staff did break down and begin bantering with residents.

Congresswoman, the issue is simple. It will soon be a year since the issue has been raised. On one side of the issue are residents, your voting constituents. On the other side, people who stand to make loads and loads of money.

Who will you support?

More detailed writeup at Pardon Me For Asking, with additional video.