OPINION: Say NO to the Brooklyn Marine Terminal land grab, by John Leyva

The Brooklyn Marine Terminal (BMT) Task Force is barreling toward a decision that will irreversibly reshape Red Hook and the Columbia Street Waterfront. Let’s be clear: the proposed redevelopment plan is not about helping communities. It’s a land grab by developers disguised as “revitalization,” and it must be stopped.

This isn’t urban planning, it’s a bad real estate deal.

We Know What This Really Is
This is displacement. This is gentrification on steroids. This is a developer-friendly scheme masquerading as public good.

Red Hook and the Columbia Street Waterfront District have endured generations of underinvestment. Now, when there’s finally momentum to invest in the neighborhood, the money flows—so long as the community steps aside and lets real estate take over.
The task force is being strong-armed into a false choice: accept this bloated, developer-centric vision or get nothing at all. That is a cynical lie. We deserve better. We deserve a community plan that centers maritime jobs, real affordability, public ownership, and deep-rooted community participation—not one that’s rushed through with backroom briefings and glossy renderings.

A Sham Process Built on Secrecy
From the beginning, this process has been a farce. A predetermined outcome based on a false premise, with no consideration for alternate scenarios and using the state’s land review process to circumvent the local community. There has been no meaningful transparency, no real accountability, and certainly no genuine engagement with the communities that will bear the brunt of this project. In fact, the Columbia Waterfront isn’t even represented on the Task Force.

This Is Not a Plan. It’s a Power Play.
Meetings held behind closed doors. Key details concealed. The so-called “community engagement” process was a checkbox exercise—selective, surface-level, and rushed.
Even Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso—who sits on the task force—said, “I’m on the task force, and I don’t know what’s going on.” How can you vote yes on a plan you don’t understand? How dare they pretend this is democracy?

This plan is being shoved down our throats by the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC), an unelected, unaccountable body with a history of prioritizing profits over people. They rolled out a slick, sanitized vision, yet when challenged, they shift the goalposts. First 7,000 units of housing.

Then 9,000. Then 13,000. Now it’s back to 7,700 but for how long?
Enough. This is public land. It should not be auctioned off to the highest bidder under the guise of community progress.

That alone should be grounds to slam the brakes.

Initially we were promised a vision for maritime investment and community enrichment. They called it the “Harbor of the Future”. Instead, we got slide decks full of marketing fluff and vague promises about “affordable housing” with no binding guarantees.

This was bait-and-switch politics at its worst.

Public Land for Private Profit
The most infuriating part? This is public land. And yet, the city is more than happy to hand it over to developers—only 35% of the proposed housing units will be designated as “affordable,” and even that term has become meaningless in today’s real estate market.

Councilmember Alexa Avilés said it best: “Doing luxury development on public land is irresponsible.” But the truth is even harsher—it’s shameful. We’re being told the only way we can get investment in our communities is by paving the way for luxury towers and speculative profits. This is the logic of austerity: starve public resources, then claim private capital is the only way forward.

Meanwhile, this administration pretends this is a “community-led” process. But when community members raise real concerns—about traffic, infrastructure strain, rising rents, displacement and the complete erasure of working-class families—they’re told to sit down and trust the process.

No. We will not sit down. We will not trust a process that actively silences us.

Maritime Futures, Not Market-Rate Fantasies
The Brooklyn Marine Terminal is the Last Working Waterfront of its kind in Brooklyn. It has been a key piece of the city’s maritime infrastructure for generations. The city should be investing in that—in union jobs, port improvements, and a resilient working waterfront.

Instead, maritime use has been shoved into a corner of the plan, with no concrete commitments. The rest? Luxury rentals & condominiums, and vague “public amenities” that won’t truly benefit the people who already live here. I keep asking what is the upside for this community and no one can answer that.

This plan would gut the last viable working waterfront in Brooklyn for luxury housing that’s out of reach for the majority of residents in Red Hook and the Columbia Waterfront. It’s environmental injustice wrapped in urbanist buzzwords.

Demand Accountability.

Vote NO

The BMT Task Force has a moral obligation to reject this plan. Not tinker with it. Not delay it. REJECT it.

Send it back to the drawing board and start over—with the community in the lead this time. Not consultants. Not real estate interests. Not unelected agencies.

This is one of the last major pieces of publicly owned waterfront land in New York City. What happens here will set a precedent. If we give this away, what’s next?

We don’t need more towers. We need transparency. We need public control. We need a city that invests in people—not just property.

To every member of the task force: if you vote yes, you are voting to sell us out.

Vote NO

John Leyva is a community leader who lives in the Columbia Waterfront District and has been a strong advocate for the residents of 63 Tiffany Place.

Tariq Manon