Photo from Google Maps
UPDATE [Tuesday, November 3rd]: The plot thickens. Bedford + Bowery has just posted an extensive piece, NuHart Building Co-Owner on the Superfund Rave: "I Panicked," describing the scene at last night's Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (NAG) meeting in Greenpoint, which was originally set in place to discuss the oversight of hazardous waste cleanup at the former plastics manufacturing site (and Superfund zone) in the neighborhood that was set to host the Cityfox event last weekend.Apparently, things porgressed as words were exchanged between a geologist (?) hired to represent the building's new owners—a group of seemingly clueless land developers—and a group of Greenpoint residents. Meanwhile, CityFox has issued an official statement about the brouhaha, suggesting they were unaware of any violations in preparation for the party.Long story short—there's some sketchy-ass shit going down right now.
This past Saturday night, The Cityfox Experience was set to throw a Halloween rave featuring the likes of Lee Burridge, M.A.N.D.Y., and Behrouz at a warehouse in Greenpoint, at the harmless-seeming location of 20 Clay St, Brooklyn, NY 11222. Sounds like business as usual, right?Wrong. It turned out the address was the very googleable NuHart Plastics Factory, which is known to harbor a subterrannean toxic plume containing 40,000-60,000 gallons of phthalates (ie, a group of chemicals used to make plastics more flexible and harder to break), as well as various noxious petroleum compounds and TCE, a dry-cleaning solvent associated with face numbness and liver cancer. The location is in fact partially designated a "superfund site," meaning that it has been targeted by a federal government effort to clean up land in the U.S. contaminated by toxic waste.In a statement prepared for Gothamist, NYC Department of Buildings spokesperson Ben Colombo had this to say about the police intervention: "The event was shut down due to flammable chemicals being hidden behind flammable curtains," he explained. "Additionally [CityFox] sold 6,000 tickets but the space was only cleared for 3,500." Nothing like good ol' flammable curtains to hide flammable chemicals.At 12:06 AM on November 1, The Cityfox Experience posted to the event's Facebook page saying the FDNY had (thankfully) shut down the event. Heated discussion by would-be patrons is still active in the comments section of that post.Thanks to Gothamist for the tip.
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This past Saturday night, The Cityfox Experience was set to throw a Halloween rave featuring the likes of Lee Burridge, M.A.N.D.Y., and Behrouz at a warehouse in Greenpoint, at the harmless-seeming location of 20 Clay St, Brooklyn, NY 11222. Sounds like business as usual, right?Wrong. It turned out the address was the very googleable NuHart Plastics Factory, which is known to harbor a subterrannean toxic plume containing 40,000-60,000 gallons of phthalates (ie, a group of chemicals used to make plastics more flexible and harder to break), as well as various noxious petroleum compounds and TCE, a dry-cleaning solvent associated with face numbness and liver cancer. The location is in fact partially designated a "superfund site," meaning that it has been targeted by a federal government effort to clean up land in the U.S. contaminated by toxic waste.In a statement prepared for Gothamist, NYC Department of Buildings spokesperson Ben Colombo had this to say about the police intervention: "The event was shut down due to flammable chemicals being hidden behind flammable curtains," he explained. "Additionally [CityFox] sold 6,000 tickets but the space was only cleared for 3,500." Nothing like good ol' flammable curtains to hide flammable chemicals.At 12:06 AM on November 1, The Cityfox Experience posted to the event's Facebook page saying the FDNY had (thankfully) shut down the event. Heated discussion by would-be patrons is still active in the comments section of that post.Thanks to Gothamist for the tip.