🌞🍦Happy July, Columbia Street Waterfront!🍦🌞
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In this issue:

1. July 4 fireworks from the Mary A. Whalen in Red Hook!
2. BMT (Brooklyn Marine Terminal) news - Notes from Advisory Task Force and BMT Dev Corp meetings in June, and EDC's (Economic Development Corporation) Virtual Public Info Session next Tuesday, July 14 - join CSWA BMT Committee for a Zoom debrief and discussion afterwards.
3. Hear our CSWA VP John Leyva join a distinguished panel discussing Housing is a Human Right on Equal Rights and Justice radio! And sign up for Public Land 4 Public Good's webinar next Thursday, July 16!
4. 57 pounds of trash collected in less than 2 hours? Really? A look back at Columbia Street Cleanup Volunteer Project on Saturday, June 27!
5. No sprinkler at Mother Cabrini Park - amid the worst heat wave in recent memory!
6. And speaking of that heat wave, how to report electrical brownouts.
7. Huge trucks and charter buses drive illegally in our neighborhood, causing havoc - an update from Senator Gounardes' office.

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Watching Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks from the Mary A. Whalen

​PortSide NewYork has been a great friend to CSWA since we started, and CSWA included comments supporting Portside in our BMT DSOW (Draft Statement of Work) comments. Those of us lucky enough to book tickets to watch the 4th of July fireworks from their retired oil tanker MARY A. WHALEN at Atlantic Basin in Red Hook witnessed a fantastic aerial display. Appropriately, one of the BMT's cranes stands in the foreground.

But making the evening more special, the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater anchored next to us! Fresh from being removed from Sail4th250 for daring to display messages of clean water, indigenous rights, and calling for climate solutions, the Clearwater sailed up to Red Hook once the exclusion zone expired. All of us on the MARY A. WHALEN gave the Clearwater's crew (below) a lot of love and were happy they could enjoy the fireworks with us!

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BMT News

BMT Advisory Task Force (BMTATF) and BMT Development Corporation (BMTDC) June meetings

At the BMTATF meeting on Friday June 26, EDC, WXY Consultants, and the Department of Transportation presented on topics including Sustainability, Resilience and Open Space. ATF members, including our CSWA representatives Bryan Woll and Sharon Gordon, and members of the public watching online raised many questions.

• Where are the data and the report of the supposed phase one drainage study?
• How will the BMT site storm drainage be treated for contamination before being released into the East River.☀️

As one ATF member noted, the presentation did not include any challenges or risks with the Vision plan's proposed approach to flood, electrical, and sewer infrastructure needs.

The BMTATF meeting presentation for June 26, as well as previous meeting materials and BMT Advisory Task Force Responses are available here. Scroll down the page to Meeting Materials. As always, if you have questions you'd like raised at meetings, please email them to admin@columbiastreetwaterfront.org. We will pass them along to Bryan and Sharon.

The June 30 BMT Development Corporation meeting's agenda included:

• Approving the BMTDC's budget.
• Reviewing the process for selecting an Executive Director of BMTDC, including creating an ad hoc executive director search committee. BMTDC Director and CSWA Board Member James DeFilippis was named to this committee.
• An update from WXY Consultants on the BMT ATF and the BMT project.

WXY's update included a timeline indicating the project team's expectation is to release and “certify” DEIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement) in Q1 2027, as well as Draft GPP (General Project Plan) adopted by the NY State Empire State Development Corporation (ESD) Board. Given that the Mayor's Office of Environmental Coordination (MOEC) stated during the BMT Draft Statement of Work review and public testimony sessions that the EIS process for a project of this scope could take two years, completing the DEIS by Q1 2027 seems aggressive.
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BMTDC Directors raised important questions following the ATF update, including:

• Have any new solutions been developed to the traffic challenges of getting into and out of the new housing developments at BMT North and South, beyond the "new BMT electric shuttle"? Answer: not yet, but project team intends to provide something at the next ATF meeting in July.
• How can the existing B61 bus on Columbia Street support the proposed influx of new residents when current Red Hook residents must wait an hour or more for the bus today? Answer: none given.
• This is the Brooklyn Marine Terminal project, but the presentation on the BMT ATF did not include anything about marine. Where will the work be done to make sure the port is designed and equipped to fully support the Blue Highway concept, and get trucks off our streets? Answer: the ATF meeting in the fall will cover limited aspects of the Blue Highway, primarily related to truck access. EDC is pursuing broader aspects "in parallel". "The BMTDC is going to actually play a big role in helping to figure out some of the planning around that to select the port operator." It's unclear what role BMTDC will have in maritime planning before GPP approval.
• Do we know the future of the BQE North on-ramp at Atlantic Avenue? If we don't, how can we develop a traffic circulation solution for the BMT? Answer: EDC and DOT are coordinating closely to "ensure that whatever planning is happening with BQE, BMT is aligned."
• Have we had strong foundation engineering or geologic work done on the ability of the land to absorb the kinds of buildings proposed in the Vision Plan? The Columbia Street waterfront has a long history of repeated building collapses. The land may not support buildings of this size and density, or it might be exceedingly expensive to do so. Answer; this was discussed for a year at the BMT task force meetings. There is no answer today. Expectation is that EIS will address this.

A recording of the June 30 meeting, along with meeting notices, links, and materials, is posted on the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Development Corporation webpage.

EDC's Brooklyn Marine Terminal Virtual Public Info Session Tuesday, July 14, 6:30-8:30 PM

EDC discussed this session at the BMTDC meeting on June 30. The description indicates their presentation will be similar to the ATF update at the BMTDC meeting: "This virtual session will feature BMT North and Atlantic Basin site plan updates, including circulation, urban design, and open space. There will also be Q&A with the project team".

In her June 28 newsletter, Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon noted that when her office got word that this session (as well as two in-person sessions which EDC had scheduled for this week and subsequently cancelled), "please be advised that we are asking them for a delay so there is more time to notify the community, or that the workshops are repeated at another point besides the height of summer."

CSWA shares the Assemblymember's concerns. This is summer, and many of you are on vacation or busy with family activities with the kids out of school. We are disappointed that EDC did not heed the Assemblymember's reasonable suggestions. Nevertheless, this is an opportunity to publicly raise your questions about the project. If you are available and want to attend, you can register here.

CSWA BMT Committee will host a Zoom debrief and discussion after EDC's session, from 8:30 to 9:30 PM. Please join us if you have questions or thoughts to share.

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Voices for Protecting Public Land and Reclaiming our City

Two programs, one today and one next week, strike close to home to those of us concerned about the future of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal.

This morning, on Mimi Rosenberg's Equal Rights and Justice radio show on WBAI 99.5 FM, our CSWA Vice President, John Leyva, representing Public Land 4 Public Good, joined Renee Keitt, President, Elliot-Chelsea Fulton Houses Tenants Association and Ron Shiffman, nationally renowned urban planner, Co-founder of the Pratt Center for Community Development, and Professor Emeritus at Pratt Institute. The discussion's focus: Housing Is a Human Right Not a Commodity for Profit. Public Land Is Not for Sale to Profiteers. You can listen to this fascinating and timely discussion here.

You can join Ron Schiffman and panelists for a webinar presented by Public Land 4 Public Good, "Reclaiming our City", next Thursday evening, July 16, 6-8 pm. Register here or scan the QR code below.

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Columbia Street Cleanup Volunteer Project - Saturday, June 27 - hitting way above our weight!

Thanks to all who volunteered and to the District 39 Cleanup Crew for organizing and providing tools for our Columbia Street Waterfront cleanup on Saturday, June 27! Our partners at District 39 Cleanup Crew said we picked up 57 pounds of trash in less than 2 hours! Simply amazing! Those of us who volunteered received thanks from neighbors as we made our way from street to street. We hope you all can join us next time!

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During the Worst Heat in Recent Memory, No Sprinkler at Mother Cabrini Park!

As many of you know, the sprinkler at our beloved Mother Cabrini Park has been out of commission for weeks. As the New York Post reported on June 25, Exclusive | NYC’s cooling splash pads facing 'outages' in record numbers – with dozens of playgrounds affected this summer, this is a city-wide problem. At Cabrini Park in Brooklyn winter weather damaged an underground water line and halted all spray functions. Family Committee member Jessica Setton is quoted in the article: “This is a failure to meet basic needs, to assume that everyone can just go to a beach or go to another park is unfair.”

The Parks Dept told the Post that excavation will be needed to fix the sprinkler but gave no timeline.

CSWA raised this with Council Member Hanif's office and will continue to do so.

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Summer Brownouts are Most Definitely Here

Residents of Tiffany Place lived through repeated brownouts during the incredibly hot weather before and during the July 4th weekend. Given the neighborhood is experiencing these electricity shortages now, even before anything is built on the BMT site, it's critical to understand the limitations of the existing electrical grid.

CSWA discussed this with Council Member Hanif's office, and her team suggested community members should report these to Con Ed on their Report an Outage or Service Issue page. Here you can also check outage status. Please notify Council Member Hanif's office as well.

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What about all those Huge Trucks and Charter Buses Driving Illegally on our Streets?

As we've written before, John Leyva's Columbia St Waterfront District BK Instagram page has featured videos of the havoc caused by 53-foot trucks and large charter buses attempting to navigate the narrow streets and shop corners of the CSW. The results include smashed cars. We are fortunate no one has been hurt.

On June 29, Randy Gordon, President, CSWA President, received an email from Nathaniel Goodyear, Community Liaison, Office of State Senator Andrew Gounardes. Mr. Goodyear summarized a meeting Senator Gounardes' office coordinated with the NYPD and DOT about trucks illegally using streets in Columbia Street Waterfront and Cobble Hill. The meeting resulted in these action items:

• DOT committed to "installing cameras to monitor the areas and determine which trucking companies use the illegal routes. DOT will then conduct outreach to the companies, working with them to determine alternative routes."
• Senator Gounardes is working with DOT to reach out to GPS companies such as Google Maps, which often route trucks onto residential and non-truck route streets.
• Senator Gounardes, with input from DOT and NYPD is determining what new legislation could help provide more systemic solutions to this problem.

Mr. Goodyear concluded with "Senator Gounardes and our office are committed to continuing the work with the NYPD, DOT, and the greater Columbia Waterfront and Cobble Hill communities on this issue." He also said the office is ready to help follow up on reports community members make to the 76th Precinct about these issues.

CSWA thanks Senator Gournardes' office for this update and consider the above useful first steps to address this extremely hazardous situation.

Please continue to report these incidents to the precinct. If you do have videos of these incidents, please share them with admin@columbiastreetwaterfront.org.

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