Author: George Fiala

News

BWAC not able to return to Van Brunt warehouse, by George Fiala

As a result of September’s fire at the Beard Street Warehouse, BWAC, which has occupied three stories there since the 1990s, will have to relocate, as they just announced in this press release: “Following the devastating fire at 481 Van Brunt Street in Red Hook last September, the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC) had high hopes that they would be […]

News

Column: One of the weirder NYCHA meetings I’ve ever been to, by George Fiala

Last night I went to a meeting at the Miccio Center that was about two very important things: 1 – Introducing the neighborhood to the GIANT block sized development that has sprung up on Lorraine Street between the chicken place on Duane and the bodega on Columbia, officially called 498 Columbia Street. That’s where the laundromat, bank and 99 cent […]

News, Uncategorized

OPINION: Maybe it’s not the housing supply, it’s the distribution, by George Fiala

Unlike last year, the elections this year turned out more to my liking. Except for the ballot initiatives. It’s sad for me to see that groups like Open New York have convinced a majority of otherwise progressive New Yorkers to think that taking away local land use decisions and giving them to a central executive is the right thing. Regular […]

Feature Story

What the PEOPLE say Over a thousand mostly individual letters were sent to the EDC and to the Task Force members from community members. Most of them were not happy with the EDC BMT Vision Plan. Here are just a few of those letters.

Dear Task Force, I have lived in the Cobble Hill Towers building for over 20 years. I am opposed to the BMT development project for many reasons but primary among them is traffic and transportation. I am in favor of continuing to see this area as working waterfront, but using high density housing to pay for it should be a […]

News

The People Win! by George Fiala

Last May the NYC Economic Development Corporation, backed by Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul, gave Red Hook a death knell. They fully expected the community to remain quiescent while they pushed through their plan to add a large number of thirty, forty and even fifty story high rise buildings, mostly filled with luxury condos, along the waterfront—from Atlantic Avenue all […]

News

Dead Man Walking – EDC’s zombie BMT plan postponed again, by George Fiala

At 9:15 pm on Wednesday, July 16,  the evening before the  Brooklyn Marine Terminal Task Force was to vote on the future of the EDC Vision Plan for the Red Hook and CWD waterfront, members received the following e-mail from Congressman Dan Goldman’s office. Goldman is the leader of the Task Force. Hi everyone, Senate Republicans are currently working to […]

Feature Story

An auspicious beginning for Red Hook’s Lundy revival, by Katherine Rivard

“2 IN LUNDY FAMILY SLAIN IN BURGLARY,” read a front-page headline of The New York Times on September 19, 1975. The victims were the sister and brother-in-law of Frederick William Irving Lundy, the founder of the famed Lundy Brothers Restaurant, and their deaths marked the beginning of the end for the historic restaurant. Lundy’s is no longer a household name […]

News

Toxic vapors and pollution hold up Public Place plans

Almost 20 years since the first decision document outlining the remediation plan for Public Place, a site along the Gowanus Canal which used to be the site of the Citizens Manufactured Gas Plant but now was supposed to become the flagship development of the rezoned Gowanus, with affordable housing and green space, sits desolate. As one of the most polluted […]

News

EDC wheeling and dealing trying to pass their BMT, plan by Eric Newstrom

New York City’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) has delayed the vote on the vision plan for the Brooklyn Marine Terminal redevelopment. Again. “I’m very frustrated,” said Jim Tampakis, task force member, maritime expert and owner of Marine Spares International. The Brooklyn Marine Terminal task force, a 28-member advisory body that since last summer has been working with EDC to shape […]

News

The Community wins – Kimball loses, column by George Fiala

FRIDAY MORNING UPDATE: As Kimball sees the writing on the wall about today’s vote – an email was just sent out to all the Task Force members announcing a two or three week delay, into the middle of July likely interrupting Dan Goldman’s vacation. My guess is that Eric Adams leaned into Governor Hochul to try and find more funding […]