Reporters Notebook: An annoying waste of time

I attended the March 11 meeting at Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen Church about the bogus environmental review process sprouting from the NYC Economic Development Corporation’s “Vision Plan” for the Brooklyn Marine Terminal that they steamrolled through the community. Most absurdly, it involves installing at least thirty high-rise apartment buildings (35 to 45 stories) along the waterfront of the Columbia Street Waterfront and Red Hook neighborhoods. The purpose of the meeting, which was enthusiastically hosted by the Voices of the Waterfront community organization, City Council member Shahana Hanif, and State Assembly member JoAnne Simon, was to discuss the process of giving testimony on the environmental impacts of EDC’s legally approved plan for the 122 acres of public land.

Sadly, just like so many other meetings about the unpopular Vision Plan, this one turned out to be an annoying waste of time.

It began with talks by three panelists: Jennifer Sun, executive vice president of the EDC Planning Division; Jennifer Montalvo, another EDC executive vice president; and Hilary Semel, director of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Environmental Coordination. Each one of them delivered boring, bureaucratic, and dryly factual presentations about the role of “community input” into the vision plan’s environmental review process. During the question-and-answer session following their speeches, they deftly deflected every single thoughtful question put to them by community residents. The panelists came across as obstructionist and patronizing, because, frankly, it was their job to do so. This was not a discussion. It was a bureaucratic dog and pony show.

Inconsequential babbling
Some attendees lost patience with the rambling and unproductive talk. John Leyva and Dave Lutz, both high-profile neighborhood activists, demanded to know why attendees’ questions were not being respectfully addressed. Leyva pointed out that the EDC’s claim that the construction of all the luxury buildings is needed to finance waterfront’s redevelopment is spurious, because other, much better plans have been proposed (and officially ignored) by local experts such as prominent businessman Jim Tampakis. The panelists blabbed some inconsequential response, but it didn’t matter. It was obvious to everyone listening that the only reason for the inclusion of new luxury housing in the “vision plan” is to enrich local developers, who have been bullying and bamboozling city officials for many years. Now, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is in danger of getting caught up in their net, as indicated by his own appointee’s bland and noncommittal presence at the meeting.

One attendee demanded to know why the BMT project cannot be funded publicly, like with bonds. Another resident cited a warning in a well-regarded nature publication about imminent flooding along our coastline. Another attendee asked why the vision plan had to be formally finalized instead of leaving it open to the environmental review process. One gentleman wanted to know what would happen if the environmental review process revealed major, unmitigable flaws in the vision plan. Another community member pointed out that the planned two-and-three-bedroom apartments will not be affordable to the typical “middle class” New Yorker and will end up being subdivided by roommates. One more resident (yours truly) expressed concern about the height of many of the proposed buildings, which would cause them to tower over the existing community rather than be integrated into it.

Just another politician
Former NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, who is running for Congress, was there, and what he said to everyone was not memorable, but when everyone was leaving, this writer chased him down and asked him how he personally felt about a plan that will double the area’s population, create intractable problems, and is not even viable; while hurrying away, the erstwhile public servant sputtered an answer about waiting to hear “alternatives.” Well, what else was he going to say? He’s just one more politician unable to control the powers-that-be that continue to gobble up and spit out chunks of the greatest city on earth while they hide behind their LLCs.

Vanish into the wind
The meeting was supposed to enlighten us on how to give compelling testimony about the environmental review process to the EDC. But our time would have been better spent watching Netflix. It’s no secret that the EDC is hellbent on carrying out their vision plan. If it is implemented (and hopefully it will not be), it will create a luxurious “neighborhood on a hill” consisting of 14,000 to 18,000 new residents, more than doubling the total population of the Columbia Waterfront District and Red Hook. This will destroy the character of our community and create a cultural wasteland similar to the “new” Long Island City or Greenpoint. It will also dredge up every kind of problem imaginable. It will exacerbate our traffic congestion. It will necessitate major transportation and sewage reconstructions. It will create years of noise pollution. It will block the sunlight and waterfront views of the residents facing the water. It will endanger an already vulnerable flood zone. It will drive up prices all over the neighborhood. And in the end, our two vibrant waterfront villages will be encapsulated into a new, suburban-like “mini-town,” while their unique identities will vanish into the wind.

Community residents have been expressing vigorous objections to this plan ever since it was revealed in late 2024. The EDC has treated the objections like crumbs brushed off a banquet table. Eloquent testimonies are fine, but in the long run, it will take some powerful political maneuvering to prevent rapacious private developers from being the principal beneficiaries of the entire BMT project, leaving neighborhood residents with its scraps after the feasting is done.

A postscript: As usual, there were no or very few people of color at this meeting about the future of the BMT, which was unfortunate. Most people of color in our community live in the Red Hook Houses, and the resident “leaders” of the Houses who are in bed with the EDC have persuaded many of the residents that the Vision Plan will bring wonderful improvements to their homes and their lives. This is similar to the successful brainwashing of the residents by the Public Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program, which will replace NYCHA management of the Red Hook Houses with private management under the umbrella of the Section 8 program. The housing officials are telling residents that this privatization will help to fund essential repairs of their buildings, but really its purpose is to transfer municipal power from public entities to the endlessly acquisitive private sector.