The Last Week of July (and a stormy one) for Columbia Street Waterfront!
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In this issue:

1. It happened, thanks to neighborhood advocacy! Crosswalks and Stop Signs at Summit and Columbia Streets!
2. Brooklyn Marine Terminal (BMT) news: the new CEO and Board Chair announced, a BMT Advisory Committee Meeting this Friday, July 31, and another EDC BMT Public Session on Wednesday, August 5.
3. Mother Cabrini Park's Sprinkler is Fixed (but turning it on and off is still an adventure)

Another Hard-earned Victory for Neighborhood Traffic Safety!

On Friday, July 17, DOT installed long sought after stop signs and cross walks at the intersection of Columbia and Summit Streets. This is the fruition of the focused advocacy by our neighbors since November, when an accident at President and Columbia where a young girl was struck by a car galvanized us to organize and bring DOT to our neighborhood. The success at Summit/Columbia follows the stop signs and crosswalks implemented this spring at President/Columbia, where work is underway on installing a stoplight. This will enhance pedestrian safety even more!

Back in June, we wrote that before our amazing community celebration on May 28, Dan Teicher led DOT's Deputy Commissioner Leroy Branch and Derek Walker, along with Council Member Shahana Hanif and her team and several CSWA members on a tour of Summit Street, between Hicks and Hamilton. Summit and Columbia Streets do not have stop signs, crosswalks, or a traffic signal. Dan did a great job illustrating to everyone that with a preschool nearby on Columbia St, and frequent groups of children making their way across the Summit Street footbridge to the skate park at Hamilton and Van Brunt, this intersection needs strong consideration for safety improvements as well.

A wonderful example of the power of sharing the "ground truth" directly with our electeds and city officials.

We thank and congratulate Dan and Laurie Torres, and all of you who joined this campaign. We also thank Council Member Hanif and her office and the DOT for working with us to make the neighborhood safer, especially for our children.

BMT

First, thanks to all of you who did attend EDC's BMT Virtual Public Info Session on July 14. Community members raised important questions about the process and timeline. CSWA President Randy Gordon spoke to the difficulty of holding these meetings during the summer, as well as the fact the extremely dense presentation needed to be shared with the public before the meeting. You can find the recording of the session here - scroll down to Recordings. Q&A begins at approximately 33'. The presentation is here.

We also thank those of you who joined CSWA's Zoom debrief following the public session. We were graced by the presence of Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, who generously expanded on her comments at the meeting and answered questions from community attendees.

New Leadership at Economic Development Corporation

On July 22, Mayor Mamdani made a long-awaited announcement of the new President and CEO of EDC, Anthony Shorris. He also named Lina Khan, former Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, as Chair of the NYCEDC Board of Directors. You can read more about these appointments and what this may mean to the future of the EDC and projects like the BMT:

Official announcement: Mayor Mamdani Appoints Veteran City Leader Anthony Shorris as President and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation - NYC Mayor's Office​

Gothamist: Mamdani appoints antitrust crusader Lina Khan as chair of NYC economic development agency​

Hell Gate (subscription needed) Welcome to Zohran’s Economic Development Corporation: We Quote David Graeber Now​

Guardian: Mamdani taps Lina Khan and Tony Shorris for key New York economic posts​

CSWA looks forward to the opportunity to share our views on the BMT and EDC with Mr. Shorris and Ms. Khan, as well as with Deputy Mayor of Economic Justice Julie Su, to whom the EDC and Mr. Shorris report.

BMT Advisory Task Force (ATF) Meeting this Friday, July 31, 12:30–2:30 pm

The EDC scheduled this meeting for a summer Friday in July. It will be devoted to a topic of immense importance to the Columbia Street Waterfront - Transportation.

CSWA, along with several of our electeds and a number of BMT Development Corporation (BMTDC) directors, pressed EDC to reschedule this meeting to September. We argued that having a meeting on a subject of such great interest to the public and ATF members alike in prime vacation time didn't make sense.

EDC has chosen to hold the meeting this Friday anyway. They did agree to one of our requests. They made a draft version of Friday's presentation available yesterday on the BMT/EDC site, rather than releasing it to the public the day before the meeting. You can find it here. If you have time to review, take particular note of slide 13 (especially the footnote) and slides 23-32, Transit Priorities.

A few contextual items to keep in mind as you review these slides:

• The NYCEDC Brooklyn Marine Terminal Vision Plan calls for "a maximum of approximately 6,000 units of housing", 3,800 of which will be built in "BMT North", west of Columbia Street, between Degraw Street and Atlantic Avenue.
• The presentation does not address questions raised at the last BMTDC meeting about the future of the BQE North on-ramp at Atlantic Avenue.
• Also not addressed is the ongoing issue of large trucks driving illegally on Columbia, Hicks, and Henry.

The public may observe the ATF meeting virtually. If you can't join the Zoom this Friday, and have questions about this topic and presentation, you can email admin@columbiastreetwaterfront.org and we will send your questions to our BMTATF reps, Bryan Woll and Sharon Gordon.

EDC stressed during our discussions that aside from this meeting, there will be other opportunities for ATF members and the public to address transportation and other aspects of the project. EDC said that during the summer they plan to reach out to community stakeholders directly. EDC did meet with our ATF reps and our President this Monday and we had a constructive dialogue. We've expressed our willingness to work with the EDC, writing "CSWA is ready to work with you as well. Many of our residents have found past public meetings impractical to attend, difficult to understand, and discouraging to active participation. Our neighbors need to understand the impact of this massive project on them and their families."

Our board and BMT Committee are reviewing the transportation presentation. We will draft a response following Friday's meeting.

EDC's Brooklyn Marine Terminal Virtual Public Info Session Wednesday, August 5, 6:30-8:30 PM

EDC will review the same presentation as the July 14 meeting. CSWA recommended to EDC that this meeting also be rescheduled for September. We noted that even more community members will be on vacation in August than in July. And those that attended the July 14 meeting would not need to hear the same presentation again.

Again, if you are available and wish to attend, you can use this meeting as an opportunity to raise questions and concerns. You can register here.

Mother Cabrini Park's Sprinkler is Fixed (but turning it on and off is still an adventure)

In our July 9 issue we reported that this vital source of refreshing water was broken. But on July 20, our Family Committee told us the good news - the sprinkler was up and running again! Thanks to Jessica Setton and all who raised this to the Parks Department, and thanks as well to Council Member Hanif's team for following up on CSWA's requests.

However...turning it on and off still requires a person to lie on their stomach and reach down into the pit to get to the valve. But the pipe does look new!

Questions? Email us at admin@columbiastreetwaterfront.org. Also, please share our mailing list sign-up page with your friends and neighbors: Columbia Street Waterfront Association Email List.

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Media Contact:​
Randy Gordon, President
Columbia Street Waterfront Association, Inc.
Phone: 917-593-2674
Email: admin@columbiastreetwaterfront.org​​