On Wednesday we reported that a new (fabulously looking) outdoor “urban oasis,” Nowadays, which includes a bar, restaurant and games such as bocce ball, Ping Pong, chess and backgammon, is slated to open in Ridgewood close to the Halsey L train stop.
Besides the general excitement, we have received a couple of emails and comments from you, dear readers, raising health concerns because Nowadays is located at 56-06 Cooper Ave in Ridgewood, which is very close to the most radioactive site in New York City, the Wolff-Alport site.
We reached out to the owners of Nowadays, Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin, who assured us that they’ve done their homework (read: the radioactivity tests) and they all came up negative, and their patrons are not at health risk (other than a hangover or achy muscles from excessive bocce ball playing.)
“We wouldn’t have signed a lease and opened our business to expose our customers, our staff, our families or ourselves. We’re a small business, started by three guys with no investors, and we’re all here all the time,” Justin Carter told us.
The owners also sent us the test report from Wolff-Alport site done by the EPA, NYC DOH and NYS DOS. In addition Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) noted:
“There have several surveys been completed at the site including the 2013 Multi-Agency Former Wolff-Alport Chemical Company Neighborhood Radiological Assessment… While we do not have any sampling data from the 56-06 Cooper Ave. property itself, we do have data collected from the railroad spur adjacent to the building as well as from Cooper Ave. which show that gamma radiation levels are at or near normal background levels outside of the Superfund site itself. The 2013 assessment concluded that there is no off-site exposure from on-site radiological contaminants to the surrounding community.”
It is also important to note that Nowadays is separated from Wolff-Alport site by a 30,000 square foot building and railroad spur, the latter of which has been included in the tests show “gamma radiation levels are at or near normal background levels.”To remove any doubt, since the EPA has not actually tested on the 56-06 Cooper Ave property, the Nowadays owners and some of the other tenants in the building teamed up and have done radioactivity tests on the indoors and outdoors at 56-06 Cooper Ave. The tests came back negative, told us Justin.
So now that we’ve addresses that radioactivity issue, let’s have those grass fed burgers while playing that oversized chess, because Nowadays is gearing towards their first weekend!