Stay in the neighborhood. Red Hook & Gowanus Independent, uncensored local journalism — free to your inbox. No spam · Unsubscribe anytime · Privacy policy It was a close one. March 31 was the last day for the public to comment on the scope of the environmental review for the Brooklyn Marine Terminal redevelopment, and into the evening, community members, […]
Author: Eric Newstrom
Lawyers may have figured out a way to get long delayed Public Place housing started
Stay in the neighborhood. Red Hook & Gowanus Independent, uncensored local journalism — free to your inbox. No spam · Unsubscribe anytime · Privacy policy Shovels might soon hit the ground on Gowanus Green, the affordable housing complex on the Gowanus Canal’s western bank. At least according to the consortium of developers behind the project. The developers and the New […]
NYPD Investigative Encounters Tracker
Welcome to the Red Hook Star-Revue NYPD Investigative Encounters Tracker. Since the How Many Stops Act went into effect in the summer of 2024, the NYPD must collect and report data on three levels of investigative encounters (interactions between a police officer and a civilian “for a law enforcement or investigative purpose”). A level one encounter is when police request […]
City lawyers admit BMT Task Force was advisory
Responding to a lawsuit claiming that the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) violated the New York State Open Meetings Law in creating the vision plan for the Brooklyn Marine Terminal redevelopment, the city admits for the first time explicitly that the task force—which voted to approve the plan in September of last year—was an advisory body. In a […]
A year of data reveals continuing racial disparities in NYPD encounters
New York’s finest over-police the city’s Black and brown residents, the New York Police Department’s own data shows. In February, the department released its latest batch of statistics on investigative encounters, which are interactions between a police officer and a civilian “for a law enforcement or investigative purpose.” Since 2003, the NYPD has collected data on so-called “level 3” stops—also […]
Changes to Gowanus Green cleanup agreement worry local residents and some local politicians
The former Citizens Gas Works on the western bank of the Gowanus Canal—one of the most polluted sites in all of New York State—is already a jumble of parcels with different owners, remediation plans, and regulatory statuses. Now, a move by the owners and developers of parcel one—the future home of Gowanus Green, a project that includes an affordable housing […]
A year in review: Progress on the canal, by Eric Newstrom
A lot happened in Gowanus in 2025. The development boom promised by the rezoning kicked off in earnest along both sides of the Gowanus Canal, but new neighbors still wake up many a rainy morning smelling the aftermath of a combined sewer overflow. The Environmental Protection Agency continues to dredge the canal, but some local residents and experts are worried […]
A year we’d like to forget: The seizing of our harbor, by Eric Newstrom, illustration by Adam Suerte
2025 was a year of extensive coverage of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal redevelopment process for the Red Hook Star-Revue. But so much happened that it’s easy to forget some of the twists and turns. So, here is the recap. While the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and then-Mayor Eric Adams began the public engagement phase already in the summer of 2024, […]
How to have a Swedish Christmas in Brooklyn, by Katherine Rivard
In 2017, three Swedish transplants living in New York started BonBon—a company that imports Swedish candies. The brand became popular fast, thanks to their fun branding (light pink packaging with “BonBon” in blue cursive), a wide selection of craveable candies (Swedish candy typically uses higher-quality ingredients than those found in their American counterparts, often with fewer dyes and artificial flavors), […]
Reporter’s Notebook: A day of Blue Highways, by Eric Newstrom
Braving a rainy and cold lower Manhattan, 40-or-so people, primarily members of the maritime industry, gathered on Nov. 19 in a conference hall in the back offices of Manhattan’s Staten Island Ferry Terminal. The occasion: the Blue Highways Freight Ferry Field Day, organized by the NYC Department of Transportation. The reason I was there was that the Brooklyn Marine Terminal […]
Dan Goldman’s flack calls BMT co-chair Avilés an opportunist, by Eric Newstrom
In our last issue, we wrote about the month leading up to the vote that approved EDC’s Brooklyn Marine Terminal Vision plan. In a tense meeting, where first-term congressman and BMT Chair Dan Goldman shut down discussions of the revised plan they were voting on in favor of a quick vote (before anybody could change their mind again), the plan […]
A little bit of behind the scenes from the Brooklyn Marine Terminal naysayer group ,by Eric Newstrom
Gathered inside a conference room inside the Brooklyn Marine Terminal on Monday, Sept. 22, were 25 task force members in charge of the future of New York City’s last working waterfront. The room was packed: In addition to the task force members and in some cases their staff, were also dozens of Economic Development Corporation staff, including President Andrew Kimball. […]
Greg O’Connell, Jr., remembers his visionary dad, by Eric Newstrom
Greg O’Connell died in his home on Saturday, Aug. 2, leaving behind a long legacy as a real estate and community developer in Red Hook. When O’Connell first began investing in Red Hook in the 1970s, it was a largely desolate neighborhood—especially the waterfront—but he had a vision, said Greg T. O’Connell, who in September spoke to the Red Hook […]
