Editorial: A good time for Red Hook

Councilman Carlos Menchaca, Commanding Officer Justin Lenz, and Water Taxi founder Tom Fox are three important assets that Red Hookers are lucky to have.

Menchaca is finishing his freshman year in the City Council. The Star-Revue has watched him grow in the office as he learns on the job.

There are no classes in how to be a councilman. What Menchaca knew about the City Council came from a short time working for former speaker Christine Quinn. Additional experience came from his tenure with former Borough President Marty Markowitz.

He came to office with seemlingly one big idea – the importance of opening up government to all citizens. This is a great beginning, and we have been pleased to watch him grow quickly in office.
The one thing that we did learn during his initial time in the neighborhood in the first month following Sandy was that he is a hard worker.

He has quickly gone from the elation of his election victory to an understanding of the nuts and bolts of city government. He is learning the importance of managing a staff that is attentive to the day-to-day needs of constituents.

We were most impressed watching him at a Participatory Budgeting session in Sunset Park a few weeks ago. Rather than speaking in the broad platitudes that he formerly used – and that many more experienced politicians never seem to get away from – he exhibited an understanding of how government should be transformed to adapt to the ever-changing needs of a growing district.

He spoke of the need to change the culture of career government functionaries. It is this culture that brought a hugely inappropriate bathroom plan to Valentino Pier. It is not that the Parks Department had bad intentions, just that this is the way they are used to doing things.

Menchaca listened to the community and to Parks and made a decision to nix the comfort station plan. He arranged to have the money earmarked for the park to be used for a more appropriate, and cheaper solution, with the leftover money available for other Red Hook park projects that we decide on.

For a couple of years, a roofing company has been emanating an unpleasant smell by burning tar in their Coffey Street building. Menchaca’s presence (as well as that of Karen Broughton, representing Assemblyman Felix Ortiz), at a community meeting sealed a deal in which the company agreed to heat their tar elsewhere.

Menchaca seems to be driven not by ideology, but practicality. Coming from an elected official, this is a breath of fresh air. If his sophomore year continues this maturation, we will agree with many who have said that we are lucky to have him.

Justin Lenz, who has commanded the 76th Police Precinct for the past year is another lucky break for Red Hook. In just one short year he has noticably changed the culture of the local police force.
For one thing, he has abandoned the good guy/bad guys approach of his predecessor. He is sincerely interested in improving the safety of all Red Hookers – front and back.

His officers no longer seem to glare at everyone, suspecting evil intent everywhere. Instead, he has set the tone for real community policing.

He has become a familiar figure at local events, including the annual Old Timers Day. He was at the Barnacle Parade, enjoying himself as the parade was officially sanctioned by his department this year.

At the monthly community meetings, he is not defensive – giving a stock answer to every complaint (which was to take your complaint to the Civilian Review Board), as was done in the past.

Instead, he listens carefully to everyone who shows up and, much as Menchaca does, tries to figure out a common-sense answer to each problem.
All this is helped out by his easy going personality and evident humanity.

The third leg of this good news chair comes from a meeting we recently had with Tom Fox.

As we cover local issues, we find many in the community to be reactive rather than proactive. Things happen to us, and only then complaints are made. We are very impressed when presented with an actual plan. Mr. Fox came to us with his plan for the Atlantic Basin.

The Atlantic Basin abuts the Cruise Terminal, and has been underutilized for many years.

Fox, along the Durst Organization, presented a similar plan around eight years ago, but for various reasons, it was not accepted by the EDC, the Port Authority and the Bloomberg administration.
With a new mayor, they will be trying again.

After years of covering with LICH and Brooklyn Bridge Park, it was refreshing to see not one luxury condo in the plan. Instead, Fox and company seek to maintain and further Red Hook’s maritime heritage.

The Basin will provide additional berths, and docking area for the Water Taxi. There will also be space for ship repair and other harbor related businesses. In addition, there are plans for a middle school connected with Governor Island’s Harbor School; some affordable housing, and a hotel. The hotel would help pay for the rest, but more importantly, create a reason for more ships to use the Cruise Terminal.

We expect more details to be released shortly, and you’ll be able to read it here.