This map reinforces my continuing site analysis of the Newtown Creek area. I am looking at the possibility that Exxon Mobile remediation funds might offer for the creation of a water commons. Funds are eligible for community groups that can contribute to remediation and reinforce environmental awareness in the area. This level of community involvement is nearly unprecedented. I began this map by looking at zoning in the area. The tactical way to deal with the use and remediation of residential, commercial, and industrial areas varies greatly, so a map delineating this is an important first step. I have also included the refinery sites that are suspected to have contributed to the majority of the petroleum plume. Lastly, I included the features that list specific bodies of water within the Newtown Creek watershed. This is useful for the discourse of remediation, as this is a way that some water remediation groups address given areas.
I will need to greatly enhance this map in the future. Moving forward I will create a new vector layer based of my resent georeferencing of the oil plume. I will do something similar with the areas where distributed funds are available. I will also include layers I've developed in my QGIS analysis that denote city and state owned land. These types of properties also affect the use and access strategies. I might also include the historical district as certain funds can be used for such areas. As I progress with my commons pedagogical work I will also map schools, after school programs, green spaces, and community groups as possible collaborators or sites for project implementation.
I think it would be helpful to have interactivity on a number of map layers, beyond those I included on this map. I would want to include access to information about each of the layers I described above. Utilizing land in alternative ways calls for creativity. I think that making such information accessible and available for people in the area with interactivity would call on a greater pool of creativity. I would hope that groups writing proposals or acting upon those proposals could use the map to make informed choices about strategic remediation. There is also an area in this same section of Brooklyn that has been approved for rezoning and the building of massive condo towers. It is my hope that groups may act with this information and remediation funds to come together in localized city-making, by which there is the possibility of politicization and greater ties and claims to the land. Keeping track of the areas of remediation in such areas is equally important. If land is sold at increased value based on a remediated status, achieved by actions taken by the community, perhaps percentage of funds form such a sale could be given to a community trust or other community fund.