Today’s issue of the NY Daily News mentioned Eco Brooklyn and quoted Gennaro Brooks-Church. They posted the below pic and had this to say about Eco Brooklyn and Gennaro:
Gennaro Brooks-Church and his 5-year-old daughter always wash their hands after they go canoeing on the murky green water. A green builder and real-estate broker, Church is renovating a five-story, 102-year-old brick home he bought a couple of blocks west of the canal. Eventually, the house will be a two-family residence and showhouse for Eco Brooklyn, Church’s building business.
Church likes the local public school, PS 58. He’s lived near the Gowanus for years and identifies with the neighborhood. While he acknowledges that living next to a designated Superfund site could flatten real-estate prices, in the long run he thinks having a clean waterway would increase home values. The canal “is a gem that has yet to be polished,” he says.
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Since it was an article on the Gowanus Canal the Daily News contacted Eco Brooklyn for two reasons.
One is that Eco Brooklyn is very vocal about being pro Superfund designation. As a real estate developer that is a strange stance to have. All the developers we know in this area are against the Superfund designation because it might adversely effect real estate prices in the short run.
The second reason is that Eco Brooklyn has a reputation through the Brooklyn Green Show House for renovating brownstones in a different way: One of the differences is the extended awareness of how the house effects the waterways.
We are very aware that the Show House it is a block from the Gowanus. When we flush the toilet on a rainy day there is a good chance the sewage will end up in the canal. The show house since is designed to reduce sewage and storm water run off into the Gowanus Canal through low flow fixtures, gray water, lots of vegetation in the yards and a green roof. Only when it really pours for a long time will water come off the property.
When people take a shower or use the sink in the show house the water does not go down the drain. It goes to a tank on the property and is reused for the toilets. This means that no potable water is ever used to flush toilets.
Lastly, the showers, sinks and toilets are the lowest water consuming fixtures on the market. All this makes for barely a trickle down the drain to the main sewer.
It is great to be recognized by the Daily News for these efforts. We feel very strongly about an increased awareness of how a house effects the surrounding world through its energy and water consumption and waste. For a mainstream mag like the Daily News to recognize that in a positive way is a step in the right direction.
Our efforts to completely green Brooklyn are supported by the article.