1. EDC BACKGROUND

  A. The most talented and skilled individuals in City government.

  B. But with blinders on - narrowly focused, so much so that they make their decisions  without including all the elements of the equation called Sunset Park and      thus are doomed to repeated failure in their quest to create jobs..

  C. But in partnership with the community the success that we can achieve is boundless.

  D. The City must never be in competition with private industry.  Private industry has one goal - profit.  The City must play the role of "leading" industry towards       being profitable in ways that are not in conflict with the "good" of the people of the City - via a variety of incentives. (thank you: Paul Anthony Basile)

 

2. BRIEFLY - HOW DID EDC BECOME LIKE THIS?

   A. PDC - Public Development Corporation 1966

      a. Barbara Wolfe

   B. But then they started accumulating power - see flow chart

      1. Other agencies, additional power

      2. Ports  Trade - billion dollar portfolio

      3. Industrial Development Agency

         a. Power to issue tax exempt bonds

    C. By 1991 - we had the Robert Moses of the 21st Century - a power broker - a power unto itself- answering to no one (or so the Mayors would have liked us to        believe for expediency).

 

3. EDC INVOLVEMENT IN SUNSET PARK

   A. In all of NYC about 200 projects (60 million sq ft)

   B. In Sunset Park 7 listed projects, but they left several off of their map, they control directly

       or indirectly virtually our entire waterfront and the streets surrounding it.

   C. Quick look at their footprint beginning on the south and moving north:

       1. 65th Street Railyard (24 acres)  

          a. City had since 1981, 1991 EDC put $20 million in, but still mostly unused

          b. Port Authority bought in 2008 put millions (part of a $118 million investment)

             1. 2012 opened to partial use.

          c. They have huge hopes under Congressman Nadler’s Cross Harbor Tunnel plan

       2. BAT (97 acres) 

          a. 1981 city bought it & slowly renovating since

          b. Said to have over 100 businesses with 3,500 employees 

             1. Using all of building B and the finished half of A

             2. Renting at $10 sq ft - well below standards

          c. Next phase (in building A) half million square feet is funded and about to start 

             1.  Amounts to 11 acres on 7 floors

          d. Four story Administrative Building (55.000 sq ft) about to be restored

             1. First time EDC is using their "own" money ($15 million) on a project.

          e. BioBAT (investment of $53.5 million) expected to use 486,000 sq ft) of Bldg A

             1.  Last word only 40 employees in just 36,000 sq ft.

          f. NYPD K-9 unit seems to have extensive facility on south end

          g. Bay Ridge Ford rents a large area outside the buildings

       3. 58th Street Pier (Pier 4) - 4 ½ acres 150' by 1285' - a quarter mile into the bay

          a. Since mid-90s - 350 car parking - heavily subsidized ferry use for several periods

              1. Meant to mitigate Gowanus Reconstruction

              2. For two decades, Sunset’s only waterfront access.

                 a. Fishing, sunbathing, open space, relaxation, picnicking. 

                 b. 2014 - Vane Brothers deal for storing empty fuel oil barges - lack of further info

       4. Old Brooklyn Wholesale Meat Market - 

          a. 1970 blunder - to replace Fort Greene Meat Distribution Market

             1. Changes in the meat industry rendered it worthless as a Meat Market

          b. Two buildings - A & B have 175,000 sq ft of refrigerated space

              1. History of abuse of immigrant un-unionized workers

              2. Advertise at 20 minutes from Manhattan - but 20 minutes just to reach the 65th Street

                 & 6th Ave entrance (and only if they could maneuver turns)

       5. 50th Street Float Bridge 

          a. Was used by trains, might still be - was reconstructed.

          b. Operation was to move to 65th - don’t know the status of that

          c. In 2012 65th's float bridges moved 1,600 cars hope 23,000 cars by 2017. 

       6. Bush Terminal Buildings approximately 16 buildings

          a.  Nothing is heard of these buildings - nothing! 

              1. Most media sources mistakenly include them as part of Industry City

       7. Waterfront Park - 11 acres recently turned over to the Parks Dept.

          a. Opening delayed for decades, in last 10 years misinformation, maybe even lies

             from EDC as to why the 90% finished park was still totally closed to public

          b. Only access today is through gated, guarded property of EDC

          c. Access is purposely made difficult.

          d. Funding has been kept “secret” although EDC leases were publicly said to provide the funding.

          e. Access at times not available to the handicapped, no parking and lack of second entry.

       8. 39th Street Wharf  

           a. Created through an act of congress, 

           b. City promoted the cocoa port (1989). 

              1. In 1994, in one day 100 longshoremen were unloading almost 8,000 tons of Nigerian cocoa from a freighter.  

              2. But in 2006 an ugly battle between EDC & American Stevedore of Red Hook.  

                 Lots of name calling & blame.  City seemed more committed to Brooklyn Bridge park than importing. 

                 a. 1988 - Fish Port in Red Hook - blew $25 million reminiscent to the Meat Market plan - total failure.

           c. Lubavitch Dinners & Time Warp Wave Event 

              1. No community involvement or advance notice

                 a. Time Warp was rejected by a community in the Bronx

                     1.  EDC brought it to Sunset with no “clearance” needed

       9. SBMT 88 acres, now 77 left

           a. 1960s inactive for about two decades as a marine terminal; 1999 city said it was the

              center piece of their waterfront revitalization; then became a police tow pound; 

           b. 2005 Axis Auto Group $40 million dollar auto processing facility but soon after went bankrupt.

               1. Up to 4% of profit was to go to construct waterfront park.

               2. Hiring was to be done through local not-for-profit - never happened.

           c. In December 2014, EDC told the Council they had NO written plan to share

              1.  Ferris Wheel developer wanted to bring the parts to Sunset at SBMT

                  a. Why bring them here and then truck to Staten Island?

       10. SIMS (11 acres) 2014 opened 

            a. Projects 212 Dos trucks a day, 78 SIMS trucks, 46 large scrap metal trucks, 254 

               small scrap metal trucks, 96 employee vehicle trips.

               1. Minor shifts in signal timing will resolve this..   

               2. It is determined that there will be no negative impact on air quality (because 

                  regionally it will reduce the number of trips of DOS trucks)  no call for 

                  monitoring- instead their word is good enough

            b. Contract calls for a second facility to relieve Sunset Park - no plan at present.

       11. Liberty View Industrial Plaza - 1,100,000 sq ft 8 story (15% - 170,000 for retail)

           a. Was known as Federal Building #2, #1 is now a Federal Detention Center

           b. Still 30,000 sq ft retail still available

           c.  NYC giving $3.5 million (plus $8 million and more from IMOD) to fix 160,000 sq ft

              (110,000 is manufacturing space) fashion incubator & manufacturing space (now some saying 140,000 sq ft) owners 

           d. The lessee Salmar put in $100 million.

           e. Plans for the world’s largest rooftop garden by Manhattan-based BrightFarms (100,000-square-foot

               commercial greenhouse) to grow 1 million pounds of organic produce on an annual basis.

       12. 25th Street - Lagarge Sand /Stone Pier (6.8 acres)

           a. 2005 EDC lease 30 jobs company invested 20 million, city should get 1.4 million a year for 20 years 

           b. Councilmember Sara M. Gonzales said “Lafarge’s commitment to invest in our community by providing capital improvements to our waterfront and by                 committing to provide funding or services for the Bush Terminal Open Space project that will provide the residents of the area with much needed                       parkland will prove to be of great benefit to the communities of the 38th district, the residents of Brooklyn, and all of the people of our great City of                   New York.” 

       13. 23rd Street Continental Terminals - active in 1990 - currently unknown

           a. Wharf has a 1,390' by 200', steel frame, aluminum- covered transit shed with concrete floor. Shed has a 20-foot inside height within a 185,000-square-

              foot floor area for cargo with load capacity for 500-pounds-per- square-foot

           b. Gerald Ponsiglione, vice president of Continental Terminals, which leases the cocoa and coffee ports from the city (cocoa beans are delicate). In 1988                      2/3rds of all coffee to nyc came through here.

       14.  Marine Transfer Station - Hamilton Ave 

            a. Brooklyn Community Boards 2, 6, 7,8, 9, 10, 14, 16, 17 and 18. 

            b. 1,900 tons a day for DOS and 1,240 private companies, proposed daily max is 3,520 and weekly 21,120

       15. Asphalt Plant - Hamilton Ave

           a. Modernized 2014, 450 tons per hour and a million tons a year.

           b. Regional emissions reductions: By further reducing the transport of asphalt and

              raw materials, the agency is reducing local truck travel by 530,000 miles each year.  But there is an emissions increase to Sunset Park.

           c. 12 workers per shift.  First built in 1979.

           d. “I am proud to join Mayor de Blasio and Department of Transportation

               Commissioner Polly Trottenberg in celebrating the reopening of the Fort

               Hamilton asphalt plant in the 38th Council District. Like this plant, many of the

               vital resources that serve the entire city’s infrastructure and keep New    

               Yorkers moving are located in my district. I thank the de Blasio administration

               for its leadership and look forward to continuing to work with his team  

               on creating safer streets and infrastructure planning,” said Council Member

               Carlos Menchaca.

           e. When first built the exhaust stack was too low and clouds of the emission fumes

               blocked the vision of drivers on the elevated BQE.

    D. EDC relationships with

        1. Industry City - 6 million sq ft in 16 buildings

        2. Electric Generation - Beginning in 1975 - now approximately 20% of City electric

           a. 54th Street - Narrows Station - 231 megawatts - floating generators

           b. 27th  Street - Gowanus Station - 551 megawatts - floating generators

           c. 26th Street - 100megawatts on barges (and land-based 25th to 28th, wf to 2nd/3rd Ave) 

              1. EDC conducted studies of the West Brooklyn Energy Vault and the Greenwood/Staten Island transmission-constrained sub-load pocket.  Is there a                       345KV cable between Sunset and Staten Island? (Also need to confirm the capacity of each of the generating stations and fuel used, data varies)

        3. Whale Square 

           a. 400,000 sq ft industrial building bought in 2011

              and $5 million in renovations now

        4. 20th Street Industrial Park

 

4. Our concerns:

   A. A City with 520 miles of waterfront seems to mostly look

      at our 2.5 miles for everything

      1. Less than half a percent of the entire waterfront to

         serve not just the entire City but the region

   B. Master Lease for SBMT - asking for 49 years of no

       oversight but didn’t come with a printed plan for the

       site - although it has been unused for years

   C. Nadler - 350 acre container port?

      1. Nadler- dam up the piers and fill with silt to creat the

         container port - reminder that the thought that we are

         a natural deep harbor is a lie - we are not...

         we require constant dredging all the way back to the

         first time when john ambrose got the feds to do it.

   D. 58th Street Pier

   E. The Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel - airports - freight movement

   F. Waterfront Park

      1. Only 11 of 24 acres completed, no plan for the rest.

      2. No parking although entrance is a quarter of a mile or more from public parking.

      3. Greatly needed 50th Street entrance not provided (adding a full mile to entry)

      4. Handicapped not only have no parking but vehicles cannot drop them off at park when EDC chooses to close the 1st Avenue gate -

          usually weekends and holidays

   G. Waterfront Access Points

   H. Job Development

    I. Air Quality

    J. Truck traffic - a simple thing like reversing the tolls on

       the Verrazano

    K. The 3,000 people living in an”Industrial Park”

    L. EDC seems to misjudge market trends very dramatically

       1. the Meat Market

       2. the Fish Market

       3. Containerized shipping at SBMT, then Red Hook, &

          now?

       4. Axis Auto Group. 

 

5. Our Solution

    A. The City as a Manufacturing Plant

       1. City Inventory - What we consume here & need daily

       2. Half way to Philadelphia, halfway to Boston, halfway

          to Pittsburgh is our market

       3. Look into production of these items in the City

          a. Guarantee return of manufacturing & jobs

    B. View Sunset as a whole, not a regional “toy”

       1. When Sunset provides for the region it must not be to our detriment

          a. Truck Traffic - side effects

             1. Subtle side effects - regulations & changes that impact us locally for the region a. parking rules, lack of bike lane, limited turns

    C. EDC must work with the local communities as equal partners.

       1. Think of air quality as if your own children will breathe the air.

       2. Think of truck traffic as if you would face it every day.

       3. Think of job development as if it was for the people of the host community.

       4. Think of balanced land-use - consider the impact on the host community. 

    D. Brooklyn Army Terminal

       1. Should follow Navy Yard model - control by a not-for-profit - not EDC alone