Dear Task Force,
I have lived in the Cobble Hill Towers building for over 20 years. I am opposed to the BMT development project for many reasons but primary among them is traffic and transportation. I am in favor of continuing to see this area as working waterfront, but using high density housing to pay for it should be a non-starter.
Every day I look out my windows and see northbound Hicks street turn into a parking lot. Traffic diverts off the BQE at Hamilton to try to get an edge via surface streets (including giant trucks that have no business on surface streets), folks come to these neighborhoods to get to Brooklyn Bridge Park or NYU’s ER, etc… and then they sit. I can’t quite see it from my windows, but I know that Columbia street has the same issue. It wasn’t always this way — I have seen it devolve in the years I’ve lived here. Neighborhood traffic wasn’t always an issue, but it is now.
And the EDC wants to add thousands of housing units to the Columbia Waterfront without first addressing access to that neighborhood with a master plan?!? As it stands, between Atlantic Avenue and the Tunnel, there are four surface streets across the trench of the BQE – two going in, and two going out. Even if zero of those new unit dwellers brings a car, moving the unit dwellers via taxi, shuttle bus, bike, scooter will add chaos to already critically congested streets. And if a significant percentage own cars (as you know they will), fuhgettaboutit!
The die on the Columbia waterfront (and Red Hook) was cast when Robert Moses cut those neighbors off with the tunnel and the BQE. Once separated, nothing but the existing low density was ever going to work on the Columbia waterfront. If you want to build high density down there, first get rid of the BQE and knit these neighborhoods back together with a master plan to move people and goods in and out.
Short of that, this plan should be a nonstarter. I urge you to do your service to your neighbors and vote no on the EDC’s plan to develop the BMT. Sincerely, Katie Sigler
This NYCEDC proposal that advances private real estate interests at the expense of public good, community voice, and long-term climate and economic resilience.
From the start, this process has been flawed, too fast and jarring with arbitrary time lines —serving to attempt to deflect from a purposely opaque and exclusionary process driven by developers with a long history of donations and of longtime lobbying for the rights to single handedly control this community’s future.
Our community mobilized not because we were invited in, but because we were shut out. In response, NYCHA tenants, small business owners, and local residents came together and agreed: we want a fully operational, green port—and we reject the idea that its future must be tied to luxury housing. Our future should be based around a fully operational, green port that meets the needs of the city today and in the future—not a port held hostage by a speculative housing scheme. Red Hook deserves real investment—not another speculative plan that puts developers first and our needs last.
The EDC plan ignores environmental justice, racial equity and circumvents ULURP. It continues their pattern of mismanagement and broken promises and echoes the allegations of corruption for which they are charged in the Bronx.
It is unacceptable that a proposal with such sweeping consequences has proceeded without open task force meetings or a fair alternative analysis.
Let’s be clear: this was never about port revitalization. This is about real estate. The EDC has offered no comprehensive layout for maritime uses under its “Blue Highways” plan. New York needs this port—for freight resilience, clean air, small business survival, energy independence, national security, economic benefit and climate adaptation.
We’ve seen this playbook before: outside developers pushing their agenda, using public land for private gain. Don’t let that history continue to repeat itself. Instead of leveraging this maritime revitalization opportunity, EDC is instead using the port’s underperformance and engineered blight —something they’ve had 20 years to address with the Port Authority—as a pretext to justify rezoning.The port’s long-term mismanagement mirrors that of the cruise terminal, where EDC diverted revenue away from reinvestment and shifted resources to unrelated projects. That track record tells us everything we need to know about their current intentions.
Red Hook is being asked to solve all the city’s crises—housing, jobs, development—with one site. That’s a lot for a neighborhood that’s been neglected for decades.
If the proposal before you reflects the priorities of the politically connected over the communities most affected- and it does- we ask you to stand with us and vote NO.
This vote is not just procedural—it’s a decision about who shapes the future of our city. Will we continue decades of top-down planning that displaces and disrespects working-class communities?
Or will we demand transparency, accountability, and a real investment in community-led development?
We believe in:
- A resilient, thriving green port as the central organizing use of the site
Truly Public governance that protects public assets, not the EDC
Infrastructure and truly affordable housing outside a flood zone and only after the port is secure and operational - Equity for workers and small businesses, with a focus on local hiring and community wealth with mechanisms for retention to avoid mass displacement
- Alignment with regional plans for freight, climate, and resilience
Strict environmental compliance and meaningful input from environmental justice communities - Authentic community participation, supported by independent technical expertise
We support a phased redevelopment that centers the port as a climate-resilient, job-generating maritime hub and starts with real port revitalization and allows time to evaluate any other future land use based on performance, community benefit, and actual infrastructure needs. We are not anti-housing—we are pro-housing with due process, and we believe development must be guided by planning, community leadership, and long-term resilience. The current plan fails every one of those tests.
This is public land. This is our waterfront. And this is your opportunity to lead with integrity—not fall in line with a broken status quo. We are asking you to rise to it—not with politics as usual, but with a vision for the public good.
With urgency and hope, The Community Members of the Brooklyn Waterfront
kate izor; [email protected]
Dear Members of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Task Force,
I am a longtime Red Hook resident and proud founder of a Design/Build firm. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to build a public/private partnership to design and build a BMT that can be enjoyed for generations to come. Take your time! Vote no to a quick and short sighted process that is only interested in the highest bidder rather than creating a visionary, all encompassing waterfront area that can be accessible to all. Allow for a thorough design process that includes all communities & interests.
Vote No. Dream bigger – Build Better
Thanks for your consideration, Andrea Trimarco 65 Dikeman St
Task force member writing in from Greece.
Good morning all, sorry everyone is getting burnt out with what the EDC is putting us through. I am in Greece and met a principal from Langan Eng at a wedding. He told me the EDC from the beginning wanted to create another Battery Park City in Red Hook and Carroll Gardens. They are down to 6000 units from 13,500.
That would still bring in approximately 18,000 new residents.
I have been saying all along we need to focus (as per Phaedra Thomas) on a Green Port, that could get thousands of heavy polluting trucks off our streets. Expand Red Hook Marine Terminal, and create a Major Blue highway Hub. Have freight come in via water and out via water with battery operated boats charged by solar panels on all port buildings New and old. Minimize trucks on our local streets.
Bring in some cold storage facilities to house freight coming in from South America and out for distribution via water to NYC’s 520 miles of waterfront along with small packages and other types of freight. Bring in some light manufacturing and maritime support facilities and then, if any space left, a little housing.
The EDC plan in 2006 which was similar, called for 350 units. The DOT came out with a study that the average age of our trucks on our roads today are 16 years old and heavy polluters. While they are sitting in Gowanus Expressway and BQE traffic, the adjacent neighborhoods are getting smothered with toxins.
Sorry for venting while on vacation, and on top of all this, have to find an internet connection in Greece to vote NO Thursday for another time. Thanks for all your support for this critical issue.
Have a good week.
Jim Tampakis,
Marine Spares International, Red Hook
Dear Senator Gounardes,
On behalf of the many residents and organizations working together to get the toxic SIMS facility closed and relocated, I’d like to thank you and our other local elected representatives, especially Shahana Hanif and Jo Ann Simon, for your collective hard work obtaining the SIMS plant removal commitment for our neighborhood!
This is absolutely great news and a huge “win” for the thousands of residents here.
As a community, however, we’re not able to celebrate that victory fully, feeling it’s also conveniently timed to pave the way for your continued support and eventual YES vote on the BMT plan. This underscores how abused, besieged and unrepresented we have been by the entire EDC/BMT Vision Plan “engagement” process.
A plan, built on a financial sleight of hand, which proposes “creating a new neighborhood” (as Andrew Kimball boasted) at the expense of those long standing, tax paying, voting residents.
Speaking of which, the EDC pledged in stage 1 of the “engagement” process to disclose the financial analysis backing up the patchwork quilt of promises made along the way in its attempt to sway individual task force members and representatives.
In short, you appear poised to vote in favor of a plan that was demonstrated early on to not make financial or logical sense, once one looked behind the curtain of color renderings and graphics.
The EDC’s response to our challenges of the economic viability of these projections was, counterintuitively, to add more expense (in the form of unbinding promises) while subtracting what they themselves claimed from the start were crucial revenue streams.
The detailed financial analysis backing up the EDC’s powerpoint financial “plan” has yet to be released, and ongoing requests for them to do so by area residents remain unanswered.
A more politically strategic effect of your YES vote is also troubling.
September 26th of last year you wrote (correctly), “Mayor Adams must step down”, after he was indicted on federal corruption charges, including conspiracy, wire fraud, bribery, and campaign finance violations.
Since then, even more allegations of possibly criminal, and certainly unethical, actions by our current mayor have come to light.
Yet for some reason, you intend to vote YES on this plan, knowing full well your vote will hand Eric Adams— a lame duck, felony indicted mayor, who is running as an Independent AGAINST the nominee of your party— the majority control of the next BMT Task force, and give him a huge “win” to bolster his candidacy. This amounts to your tacit endorsement of his re-election!
Your proposed YES vote will be helping disgraced Mayor Adams fulfill back door deals and promises to his “friends” and real estate developers, and perpetuate and entrench his corruption into the next administration.
Surely you must see that it would be better to rethink this plan under a new administration? One that we know is committed to democracy, transparency and public good, not mired in corruption, scandals, felony indictments (which may be recharged at any time) and cronyism.
Regardless of how you intend to vote, we appeal to you to honor the commitments made at the start of the process to a fixed timeline for the EDC to make its case and hold a final, binding vote on this project as currently outlined, and permit no further rescheduling of a “final” vote.
Senator, the residents of the affected communities, by and large have supported you in the past, and would like to be able to in the future, as we stand on the threshold of a bold, new administration.
We would like to know we have an elected representative we can proudly continue to support and work with on a new, better, safer, saner plan for our waterfront. May we?
James Morgan, Columbia Street Waterfront.
Dear Task Force,
I have lived in the Columbia Street Waterfront neighborhood for over 25 years. I am so grateful to call this beautiful enclave my home. The current BMT Vision being voted on would devastaste multiple aspects of our community. I am writing to you to vote NO on this plan.
The Atlantic Yards failed attempt at development is a prime example of why you should take deeper consideration for the BMT development. We can not turn our community over to the hands of greedy developers who just want to turn a profit. Our community deserves better. This neighborhood is too special for this opportunistic disastrous plan to take place.
Vote NO on this plan and go back to the drawing board to come up with a better plan that includes our community needs and input.
Kind regards, William Clark
Dear Members of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Task Force:
First, I am writing about the concrete recycling facility located in the port adjacent to Columbia Street in Brooklyn. My wife and I are long-term residents of the Columbia Waterfront neighborhood and live on Columbia Street directly across from the facility. Since the facility started operation, we have endured the pervasive presence of fine dust in the air which is sometimes visible and can even be tasted. The operator’s efforts to suppress the dust are largely ineffective. Exposure to crushed concrete dust is unhealthy; it is obvious that this location is inappropriate due to the thousands of residents being a very short distance away downwind. Additionally, the facility generates quite a lot of noise from the crushing operations, which is clearly audible indoors hundreds of feet from the machinery.
I’m aware that you have visited the facility and, in cooperation with other electeds, have contacted the DOT about this matter. We have been told that the facility is ‘temporary’, but I don’t have confidence that the agency is moving promptly to find a new, appropriate location. I am urging you to redouble your efforts to have the facility shut down as soon as possible.
I am writing to urge you to please vote NO on any EDC plan that does not clearly reflect our community’s Seven Planning Principles.
In the last eight weeks, our community came together with urgency and purpose. We gathered neighbors, small business owners, public housing residents, and local organizations to do what this process has not: work collectively to define what we, the people who live and work near the Brooklyn Marine Terminal (BMT), actually want and need from any redevelopment plan.
What emerged from this intensive community-led process are Seven Planning Principles—a living document that reflects our shared vision for a resilient, just, and community-serving waterfront. These principles are grounded in local knowledge, regional coordination, and the lived experience of a historically underrepresented and disinvested community.
If the EDC proposal fails to reflect these priorities, we urge you to do the right thing and stand with us by Voting NO. Do not move forward with a plan that falls short! Work with us to develop a more equitable and visionary use of this irreplaceable public land.
This is about more than one site—it’s about who shapes the future of our neighborhoods, and whether this process perpetuates extractive practices or advances restorative planning and investment.
We’re counting on you to uphold these principles and insist on a process that includes real community leadership, follows all applicable laws and policies, and prioritizes long-term public good over short-term gain.
This is our neighborhood. This is our future. And this is public land—it must be used for the public good. And not cause us injury from the SIM toxic concrete facility.
Joyce Sangirardi, 135 Columbia St.
To Whom It May Concern,
Please vote NO to EDC’s proposal to build out the Brooklyn Marine Terminal. This will negatively impact multiple neighborhoods. It will overwhelm the existing infrastructure and will be constructed in a flood zone. The build out will inhabit a decade of construction noise, pollution and disruption to small communities and businesses which will be overrun with heavy traffic.
A typical bus ride on the B61 already takes a half an hour from Red Hook to Atlantic Avenue. We don’t want luxury housing in our backyard, eclipsing our light, views and quality of life. This is not the spot to develop! Again, please vote NO.
Many thanks,
Kris Kruse
40 Wyckoff Street
good morning dan (Goldman)!
I am writing today over my concern about the possible development of the Brooklyn water front. I am not opposed to developing and modernizing the waterfront, but it seems like it needs to be done carefully and only after all of the local studies have been completed. Based on what I have read of the current plan, it seems that those studies have not been done, and so the plan should not proceed as it is.
I am not sure if you have visited the area, but you should – on a general map it looks like that waterfront would be a great to develop. But if you look closer, and look at just how small the streets are you’ll start to get an idea of the issues. Cobble Hill / Carrol Gardens and Red Hook have very small one way streets. There are no avenues or 4 lane roads. It’s not like Manhattan, nor is it like Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Williamsburg / green point are framed by Metropolitan, Meeker, Manhattan ave. and McGuinness Blvd. The Cobble Hill / Carrol Gardens / Red Hook does not have that. There is much less main access.
I moved to Cobble Hill nearly 20 years ago. Since then, it has risen in popularity. It’s roads are dense. Clinton, Smith, Hicks and Columbia are slammed any morning or any weekend day. I live on Cheever Street with my wife and my daughter. The only street we can take to get to our house, by car or by bike, is Kane street. I gather that Kane street will become a trucking lane to get to the waterfront.
That would be awful for the neighborhood. Kane street is a quiet one way Street. It goes right past PS 29, the elementary school my daughter will attend starting next year.
I have written to other local officials involved in the project, and have gotten a response asking about the Kane street trucking lane plan, look at a map that shows street directions – there’s only 2 streets that get to the waterfront, Kane and Sackett. All others don’t cross the BQE.
The infrastructure in the neighborhood is already maxed out. There is only 1 subway line that goes to the area, and it’s not very reliable, and a far walk from this far west.
I’ve read that the BQE that leads in/out of the area is crumbling, that the cantilever section will fail by 2026 – shouldn’t that be fixed before planning a massive development that would rely on that road?
The area is a quiet, family driven place. Part of it’s charm and draw is there are very few buildings higher than 5 stories. Certainly any housing built in this new development would also adhere to such rules? To build apartment towers on the waterfront would certainly change the existing neighbors for the worse.
Please, take your time and do it correctly. Come visit the area on a busy fall morning. No need to rush into a half cooked plan.
Thank you!, the evans family
Letter to the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Task Force
Subject: Critical Community Concerns Regarding the EDC’s “Vision” for Brooklyn Marine Terminal
As a resident of the Columbia Street Waterfront District / Red Hook, I write to you at this pivotal moment as you approach your vote on the EDC’s “Vision” for the Brooklyn Marine Terminal project. While I recognize the need for thoughtful development in our community, I urge you to ensure that any approved plan meaningfully addresses the pressing quality-of-life issues facing current and future residents of our neighborhood.
The Missing Elements
What concerns me most about the current proposal is the absence of comprehensive planning for the people who call this area home. The “Vision” fails to address fundamental infrastructure challenges that have reached crisis levels, particularly as our neighborhood continues to grow without adequate support systems.
Critical Issues Requiring Immediate Attention
Traffic and Safety Crisis: Columbia Street has become virtually impassable, with near-constant gridlock creating dangerous conditions for all users. The intersection at DeGraw and Columbia poses a genuine life-threatening hazard to pedestrians daily. While we celebrated the hard-won traffic light at Columbia and Carroll—which has provided some relief—we need comprehensive traffic mitigation strategies, enforcement, and fundamental changes to traffic patterns throughout the district.
Environmental Health Concerns: Our community continues to suffer from traffic-related pollution compounded by the problematic concrete recycling facility. These environmental burdens disproportionately impact residents’ health and quality of life.
Infrastructure Deficits: The lack of adequate parking, insufficient school capacity, and limited waterfront access create daily challenges for families and working residents. These shortcomings will only intensify with new development.
The BQE Factor: The deteriorating BQE section directly north of our neighborhood has exacerbated every single one of these problems, yet there remains no coordinated plan to address this critical infrastructure failure.
An Opportunity for Transformative Leadership
This project represents a unique opportunity for the Task Force to demonstrate visionary leadership. Rather than being remembered as another development that ignored community needs, you have the chance to create a model for how major projects can strengthen existing neighborhoods while accommodating growth.
- The solutions are within reach:
- Comprehensive traffic mitigation and improved street safety for pedestrians and cyclists
- Environmental remediation and pollution reduction strategies
- Creative parking solutions and improved public transportation access
- Educational infrastructure planning
- Enhanced waterfront access for all residents
- Coordinated planning that addresses the BQE crisis
A Personal Appeal
I am not opposed to development—I recognize that progress is inevitable and, when done thoughtfully, beneficial. What I oppose is development that turns its back on the people who have built their lives here and the newcomers who will join our community.
You have the power to transform this project from what many currently view as another profit-driven land grab into a celebrated example of community-centered development. The technical expertise exists, the community support is available, and the moment is now.
The Path Forward
I respectfully urge you to require that any approved plan include concrete, funded commitments to address these quality-of-life issues as integral components of the development, not afterthoughts.
The residents of Red Hook and the Columbia Street Waterfront District deserve a project that enhances our neighborhood rather than one that simply extracts value from it.
This could indeed become a crown jewel project—one that other communities look to as a model of how to balance development with community needs. The choice is yours, and the community is watching.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to your leadership in ensuring this project serves all who call this neighborhood home.Sincerely, Michael Phillips, Resident of Columbia Street Waterfront District/Red Hook
Dear Members of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Task Force:
Please vote NO on the proposal to redevelop the Columbia St Waterfront.
Among others, it glosses over two critical issues: traffic and infrastructure. Since the partial closure of the BQE, Columbia Street has become a seven-day-a-week traffic jam. I’ve lived here for 14 years – it’s never been this bad. This plan is logistically unworkable, at least until BQE repairs – which haven’t even started – are complete.
Transit access is another glaring issue. The F and Borough Hall stations are a 15-minute walk at best, much longer from Red Hook. Without a massive expansion of the ferry system, this neighborhood remains largely cut off. Increased ride-share use from luxury buildings will only worsen congestion.
From the community meetings I’ve attended, it’s clear: there’s not enough listening happening.
A project like this one holds potential, but this plan is a disaster. Without serious attention to infrastructure and real engagement with residents, it will be a complete detriment to our neighborhood, our families, and our lives. Please vote NO.
Heath Fradkoff, President St. Brooklyn
BMT Task Force,
The BMT Task Force has to vote NO on the BMT proposal on 7/17/25.
The vast majority of Cobble Hill residents oppose the current plan and feel it has been rushed through the approval process without realistic study and mitigation plans for the impact any development of the area will have on traffic, transportation, schools, local businesses and the environment.
We cannot let a few self-interested parties, intent on making money at any cost, exert out-sized influence on this process. If the Task Force wishes to truly represent the interests of the local Cobble Hill community, ALL of its members have to vote NO.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Regards,
John Hickey
501 Hicks St.
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