Greetings. We have some exciting updates to share about our efforts to be represented in future BMT planning, and to help ensure a more comprehensive planning process.

1. We’ve issued our first press release!
2. We’ve selected a candidate to represent our Columbia Street Waterfront neighborhood on the BMT Advisory Task Force–and you can help support his inclusion in the Task Force.
3. We have some BMT City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) updates. The scoping period has been extended, an additional public hearing will be added, and EDC has (finally) scheduled a session to review the final EDC BMT Vision Plan.

CSWA’s First Press Release!

We began circulating a press release announcing the formation of our neighborhood association on Wednesday! Feel free to send to friends, neighbors, and any news reporters and editors you may know.
​The Columbia Street Waterfront Association Comes to Life, Motivated by an Undemocratic Redevelopment Process for the Brooklyn Marine Terminal​

Supporting CSWA’s Choice for Columbia Street Waterfront Rep to the BMT Advisory Task Force

As the press release notes, we have nominated James DeFilippis Ph.D., as Columbia Street Waterfront’s representative to the BMT Advisory Task Force. James’ bio is here:https://bloustein.rutgers.edu/people/defilippis/.

EDC informed us that the BMT ATF Leadership will choose the CSW representative. As far as we are aware, the ATF Leadership is the same as for the original task force – US Representative Dan Goldman, State Senator Andrew Gounardes, and District 38 Council Member Alexa Avilés. Council Member Avilés supports our nomination. We have yet to hear from Messrs. Goldman and Gounardes. You can show your support for CSWA’s nomination by:

• signing this petition supporting James as our nominee.
  ​ Call On Your Representatives to Accept the Community's Candidate for the BMT Advisory Task Force​
• calling Dan Goldman’s and Andrew Gournades’ offices to tell them you support CSWA’s nomination for CSW rep.
  Representative Dan Goldman: (718) 312-7575
  State Senator Andrew Gounardes: (718) 238-6044
• forwarding this newsletter to everyone you know in the Columbia Street Waterfront neighborhood. And tell them to sign up for our mailing list: ​

​Columbia Street Waterfront Neighborhood Association Email List​

BMT CEQR Updates:

The Scoping Sessions for the CEQR review are almost upon us. Many, including our Council Member Shahana Hanif (as noted at the end of the latest Brooklyn Eagle article) have called on the City to extend the scoping period, add additional scoping hearings, and hold a public review of the final EDC BMT Vision plan.

Today, we learned that EDC will also offer a third, in-person hearing to be scheduled for the first week of December in a BMT-adjacent neighborhood. The public comment period will also be extended for 10 days after that hearing, until mid-December. EDC will provide scheduling information about this hearing in the coming weeks.

EDC’s virtual meeting to review the final version of their BMT Vision Plan will be on Thursday, October 23, 2025, 6:00 – 8:00 pm via Zoom. Please register using this link. We recommend everyone who can join this meeting attend as this will help give you context.

In the meantime, you can register for one of the scheduled scoping hearings. If you are available and plan to testify, please register as soon as possible. We understand the order of speakers may be based on when participants registered.:

• In-person: Tuesday, October 28, 2025, 6 pm at the Joseph Miccio Cornerstone Community Center Gym, 110 West 9th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231. Please register ​using this link​​
• Virtual: Thursday, October 30, 2025, 4 pm via Zoom. Please register using this link.

The Pratt CEQR training session this week provided a few tips on preparing testimony, and Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon suggested a few areas everyone should include in their oral and written testimony.

1. For oral testimony, each person will have three minutes. That equates to about a half page of text. You can mention several points you think should be included in the CEQR but speak mainly to one that you feel is the most important and personal to you.
2. Even if you sign up to give oral testimony, you can submit written testimony. The written testimony can be as long as you need to cover all your points.
3. One point we recommend you include is that the Study Area needs to be expanded. In the Draft Statement of Work (DSOW), the Study Area is a 400-foot perimeter around the BMT site. For the Columbia Street Waterfront, this extends to the west side of the BQE trench in the north and not even to Columbia Street in the south of our neighborhood. This must be expanded to account for traffic impacts throughout CSW as well as Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, and Brooklyn Heights, not to mention flooding risk across the entire waterfront. Assembly Member Simon suggests requesting the study area be expanded to 3rd Avenue.
4. The CEQR requires evaluation of alternative plans be considered. Assembly Member Simon suggested recommending assessment of bifurcating the plan (Port renovation first, then everything else later).

Here are instructions from the Mayor's office on how to submit written comments and how to access all the documents related to the CEQR (City Environmental Quality Review):

Written comments will be accepted by the lead agency through the end of the day on 10 days following the additional in-person hearing in December, date TBD, and may be submitted at the public scoping meeting, or to the addresses below. You can obtain copies of the Environmental Assessment Statement, Positive Declaration, and Draft Scope of Work for the project from CEQR Access, Project Search (search CEQR # 25DME018K), and by reaching out the agency’s contact person:

Mayor’s Office of Environmental Coordination
Attn: Emily Spokowski
100 Gold Street, 2nd Floor
New York, New York 10038
Phone: 212-788-6801
Email: espowkowski@moec.nyc.gov