Big day at the Sunset Park Piers, by George Fiala

There was a big ceremony today at the foot of 39th Street in Sunset Park. The occasion was a press event heralding what is called the reactivation of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.

In the old days in Brooklyn, most of the waterfront in this part of Brooklyn was a full of commercial activity – most of it the loading and unloading of ships bearing products from all over the world.

For the past ten years or so, the piers in Sunset Park lay barren. The last attempt at commercial activity was from a car importer who spent a long time haggling with EDC to get a long term lease. Once they got the lease though, their parent company went out of business and the only work they did was to sue the NY Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to keep the lease.

EDC won and in 2014 and went to the City Council to receive a 49 year net lease on the property, something that until then was a pro-forma request, since EDC basically represents the wishes of the mayor.

Carlos Menchaca, then a brand new City Council member representing Red Hook and Sunset Park, stood in their way and demanded it be only a 39 year lease, as well as community input for use and planning of the property. EDC gulped, and the mayor took a bit of revenge on the councilman, but all survived to this sunny day for the formal announcement of a new 35 year lease on the property to the RFP winner, the Red Hook Container Terminal, LLC.

What this means is that after some hard political haggling, maritime use, together with community input, will guide the use of the terminal for decades to come. Congressional reps Nydia Velazquez and Jerrold Nadler, both longtime maritime advocates, spoke of the travels this project has taken. Menchaca spoke of his work to guarantee community input. Mike Stamatis, CEO of the Red Hook Containerport, LLC, gained a nice round of applause when he spoke of well paid dockworkers still employed at the pier long after everyone today is gone.

The only possible negative of the sunny afternoon was the fact that not one of the speakers said anything about the future of Red Hook’s container terminal. Stamatis has received one five year renewal, but after that, it’s quite possible that all of the container operations will be shifted to Sunset Park, opening up our own piece of the water to development, most probably similar to what has gone on further north, at Brooklyn Bridge Park and Williamsburg.