As Red Hook West considers the federal Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program to revamp the complex, residents in other NYCHA buildings that voted for PACT are sending warnings. Derrick Haynes, a longtime resident of the Manhattanville Houses which officially converted to the Project-Based Section 8 program in December 2024, says that the new program, which outsources renovations and maintenance, […]

The Red Hook Star-Revue is providing an update on the quality of Community Board 6’s website, four months after a first look. In September, we found a website displaying information about “talk of the town” issues: the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, the Gowanus rezoning, petitions for street redesigns, links to contact city agencies, and of course, information regarding the board itself. […]

Community Board 6’s December board meeting got off to a rocky start with tech issues plaguing communication from elected officials who attended virtually. Tuning in via Zoom, Red Hook Star-Revue got a front row seat to the malfunctions. The meeting kicked off with announcements from Council Member Alexa Aviles’ outgoing deputy chief of staff, Christina Bottego, who tuned in via […]

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, […]

The most recent Community Board 6 meeting featured the ongoing battle over Court Street’s new redesign, a narrowly-passed motion on a neighborhood traffic concept and an approval of the annual district needs statement. During the meeting’s public comment session, Carroll Gardens resident Edward Straka expressed skepticism about data pointing towards crashes on Court Street and shared his experience on the […]

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 […]

As the Gowanus Canal waterfront rapidly shifts to a residential face, other parts of Gowanus are also getting makeovers — but at a much different pace. The 2021 rezoning that spurred Gowanus’ development boom includes 56 commitments dedicated to area institutions, including $200 million to renovate the Gowanus and Wyckoff Gardens public housing complexes, paid for by city taxpayers. But […]

Now that the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Task Force has approved their “vision plan” to redevelop the 122-acre industrial waterfront site, the long process leading to a groundbreaking for the proposed $3.5 billion project has begun. The EDC plan says they will modernize and electrify the port, add new park space, prepare the site and surrounding area for climate change, add […]

The Mazzone surname is familiar to many Carroll Gardens residents, being associated with the neighborhood’s Ace Hardware store on Court Street, in operation for three-quarters of a century. Like many longtime establishments, it’s impossible to be immune to challenges while doing business for 75 years. It’s dealt with a franchise swap, severe supply chain issues and a changing clientele. Now, […]

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 […]

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 […]

Songs of love and pain and monsters. Thank God, or some benevolent power, that Daniel Johnston staked his ground long before the era of social media. These days he’d be consumed and forgotten in a matter of days—memed, mocked and left by the side of the road. But anyone who heard of Johnston back in the ’80s and ’90s likely […]

Local activists and the state environmental agency are at odds over how to clean up a toxic site in Gowanus that the agency determined poses a significant threat to public health or the environment. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has placed the site at 459 Smith St., formerly the location of a manufactured gas plant, into the […]