Once more, thank you Lukas!

Our good friend Lukas Herbert, who happens to be a city planner in Westchester County and who is also a member of Community Board 4 here in the Bronx, has read through the 700 page Draft Environmental Impact Statement. He was kind enough to take notes so those among us who are not trained as he is to understand these things can keep up. He was nice enough to provide Save Our Parks with his notes, which we have been publishing on this blog over the past few days.

This is what Lukas says about the Guide he has provided us for unlocking the DEIS:

"Fortunately, I have had the time to read the EIS. I also have a lot of expertise reading EISs though my professional life as an urban planner. I am familiar with the format of these documents, and I have seen over the years how they have sometimes been used to sell projects which may have impacts that are detrimental to society. While the EIS process was originally intended to be used to identify serious environmental impacts which would then allow local decision makers and elected officials to take a “hard look” at the benefits and costs of a projects, modern EIS documents are often used as tools to discount the obvious environmental flaws of projects and prevent them from being considered as part of the “hard look” involved with the decision making. However, the EIS is the main source of public information when it comes to the details of any large project. It is therefore something we all should be able to examine thoroughly if we care about the decision that is to be made. This Guide attempts to bring some of this information to everyone in a way that is easier to read than pouring over a 700+ page document. It also offers opinions on the issues to show what some people are thinking about each issue."