October 31, 2025 - Happy Halloween!

Here are a few important items we are sharing with the community.

Still No Response about CSWA's Nominee for Columbia Street Waterfront's Representative to the BMT Advisory Council!

It's now been a month since we first submitted James DeFilippis' name for our neighborhood's representative to the new BMT Advisory Council. We have followed up numerous times. And the first Advisory Council meeting was held last week!

If you haven't done so already, PLEASE sign our petition calling on US Representative Dan Goldman and State Senator Andrew Gounardes to respect the CSWA's recommendation for the neighborhood's seat on the BMT Task Force.

Call On Your Representatives to Accept the Community's Candidate for the BMT Advisory Task Force

You can also share this flyer with your neighbors and friends. Scanning the QR code will call up the petition form.

Support the Columbia Street Waterfront Association

BMT City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) Updates

The first two CEQR Scoping Hearings, where community members gave testimony about what the environmental impact assessment needs to cover, were held this week. Responding to community members and several of our electeds requests for adding an additional in-person scoping hearing in a location closer to Columbia Street Waterfront, Cobble Hill, and Carroll Gardens, the BMT project team has scheduled a hearing for Monday, December 1, 2025, 6 pm at the Sacred Hearts- St. Stephens Church, 125 Summit St. Brooklyn NY 11231. Please register using this link.

This will be the last opportunity for us to state our community's needs and concerns. Whether you are for, against, or neutral about EDC's BMT Vision Plan, we all have an interest in assuring the environmental impact assessment fully addresses all aspects of the plan which will affect our neighborhood, from traffic to flood resiliency to pollution, etc. Look for more information about how to prepare your testimony in an upcoming newsletter.

EDC and the Mayor's Office have also extended the period for providing written commentary on the Draft Statement of Work (DSOW), to December 11. Voices of the Waterfront have prepared a letter asking for a 120-day extension of the scheduled hearings so residents can fully review and respond to the materials. You can use this template to make your request (or write your own). Please also contact your elected officials by phone or email and urge them to support a 120 extension.

Community News - Supporting our fellow New Yorkers who will lose their SNAP benefits this Saturday

On Saturday 3 million New Yorkers will lose their SNAP (food stamp) benefits, plunging already vulnerable populations into food insecurity. Residents of Columbia Street Waterfront are collecting food to be distributed by Food First, Inc, a Brooklyn-based food bank. Please bring your donations to the collection box at House of Pizza Calzone - 132 Union St. If you would like us to arrange pick up, please text Zoe at 503-956-1284.