The 17-8 vote gave the go-ahead to the $3.5 billion redevelopment of the 122-acre maritime site stretching along the East River from Atlantic Avenue to Red Hook. 

The BMT Vision Plan includes a modernized, 60-acre maritime port reduced to roughly half its current size, light industrial and commercial space, with 6,000 new homes (40% affordable) in a new, “pedestrian-friendly” high-rise neighborhood approximately twice the size of Manhattan’s Hudson Yards.

Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon shared the video, one of several, as part of a harsh critique of the New York City Economic Development Corporation-controlled process, which she called “rushed from the start, constrained by an artificial timeline, heavy-handed, and mired in backroom deals.” She also castigated a “disheartening lack of courtesy, transparency and meaningful community engagement in this process,” with an important transportation plan blocked “by bylaws that don’t even exist.”

Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon said the BMT Vision Plan process was “mired in backroom deals.” Photo courtesy of Simon’s Office

Simon was just one of several task force members questioning the validity of the process. One member told the Brooklyn Eagle that the original BMT Vision Plan procedure was changed at some point before the vote with no explanation.

Even some members who voted for the plan can be heard (on other videos supplied to this paper) expressing discomfort with the way things unfolded. “Moving forward, I want to make sure that the development corporation — the new task force — and then the oversight task force, have a much more transparent process with the public,” Councilmember Shahana Hanif was heard saying. “I’m not sure what that would look like, but coming out of this and feeling rotten is not how I want to feel.”

Task-force leadership, however, told the Eagle that members were invited to suggest revisions to the final plan in the months before the vote, but they chose not to.

 

Roll-call vote hastily scheduled

The 28-member task force (later reduced to 25) was chaired by Goldman and co-vice chaired by state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Councilmember Alexa Avilés. Once EDC had the number of votes required to pass their preferred plan, however, Avilés was excluded.

The roll-call vote had been postponed five times amid unaddressed issues, including the shrinkage of the already-diminished maritime waterfront, the lack of a transportation plan for the area’s congested streets, a fuzzy financial plan, and the effect of roughly 18,000 new residents in an area with failing infrastructure in a floodplain, among other points. 

The vote was hastily scheduled for Sept. 22, however, after Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Hanif, who had been holdouts, dropped their opposition when the EDC modified the plan to address their individual concerns. Other members were notified “out of the blue” the Thursday before the vote was scheduled, having not met for months.

Reynoso, on the Brian Lehrer show before the meeting, said one reason he changed his vote was the city’s agreement to issue a Request for Expressions of Interest from the maritime industry. The RFEI would present an opportunity to showcase viable alternatives to a much-reduced port, he said. (On Oct. 2, EDC released the RFEI. EDC said that the responses “may further inform the refinement” of the already-approved Vision Plan.)

 

Assemblymember Marcella Mitaynes said she was taken aback by the tactics used to approve the BMT Vision Plan. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn EagleProtesters outside the room, discourtesy inside

In the video, Goldman can be heard repeatedly shutting down discussion on the recent changes and blocking a rider addressing the area’s longstanding traffic and transportation concerns.

Above the sound of angry chants from community members outside the building, Assemblymember Marcella Mitaynes can be heard asking Goldman to pause the vote for a couple of days since “a lot of changes have been made, and not in this space where it should have. We should at least be able to digest the changes.”

Goldman repeatedly denied her request, saying, “That’s not the process. We are here to have the vote, and that’s what we are going to do.” Over her protests, Goldman began the voting roll call. “The first of the roll-call votes will be Congressman Dan Goldman. I’d like to vote yes.”

Tension in the room increased as Simon attempted to offer a motion to vote on the transportation rider. “I’d like to make a motion,” she said, to which Goldman replied, “There are no motions. We are here to vote.” No more discussion would be allowed “according to the bylaws,” he said.

Simon expressed disbelief that the bylaws did not allow motions, and, overcoming Goldman’s objections, read the entire transportation rider. She was reading it “to have it on the record,” she told Goldman. 

Task force member Hank Gutman, former commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, had been negotiating the transportation rider’s wording with City Hall since July. Gutman has been working on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway issue since former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure, when, as commissioner, he announced the strategy to preserve the crumbling Triple Cantilever for at least 20 years, buying time for a more comprehensive highway redesign.

BMT Task Force member Hank Gutman clashed with Rep. Dan Goldman over the squelched traffic amendment. Photo courtesy of Hank Gutman

Just before the meeting, New York City First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro confirmed with Gutman that the rider’s language, after several adjustments, was acceptable to the city, and asked Gutman to touch base with Andrew Kimball, president and CEO of EDC, who was also attending the meeting. 

Community members said there was an angry confrontation between Goldman and Gutman in the parking lot even before the meeting had started, however, with Goldman vowing to block the transportation rider despite the city’s approval.

The rider included language addressing the current traffic congestion in the area (the Columbia Waterfront District, Red Hook, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens), and the additional volume of traffic that would be created by the 6,000 new units of housing. 

There was also a separate letter agreement in which the city committed to revert to the 2021 BQE stabilization plan, provided it was still viable and wouldn’t require an Environmental Impact Statement. (This paper has reviewed copies of the relevant correspondence.)

Local officials — including Goldman — have long been urging the city to return to that plan, which had been derailed during the first year of Eric Adams’ administration. In December 2024, Goldman was one of numerous officials who signed on to a joint letter to then-Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi formally requesting that DOT follow through with the rehab, to “preserve the safety and integrity of the Triple Cantilever section for the next 15 to 20 years.” 

Following Simon’s reading of the transportation rider, Gutman seconded the motion, only to be cut off by Goldman.

“There is no proper motion. You are not recognized,” Goldman said, citing “bylaws.”

“That’s fine, you can have me arrested,” Gutman shot back. 

“I wish Assemblymember Simon had brought those considerations and concerns to the city and other members of the task force within the last two months after we had postponed the vote in July and we could have figured out a way to incorporate them, but given that this is the final date by which we have to vote on this, we are going to move forward with the vote,” Goldman said.

Cranes at Atlantic Basin within the Brooklyn Marine Terminal site. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

Both Goldman and Gutman raised their voices. Goldman was well aware that the amendment was in the works, Gutman said, because it was Goldman’s office that wrote the first draft months ago.

“We are not going to debate this,” Goldman said.

“I’m not debating it, I’m stating the facts,” Gutman snapped. “I know why you want to shut me up. Because you were the author, as you bragged about, of the very rider that Jo Anne just read into the record.”

“You can cast any aspersions you want … We are going to go forward with the vote now,” Goldman said.

“That video really speaks for itself,” Gutman later told the Eagle. “A number of people who saw it were horrified and told me, ‘I’m so sorry, I can’t believe they did that.’ People I barely know. We worked very hard with City Hall to address the transportation issues — as Goldman knew — only to throw it all away,” he said.

A screen grab from the video depicting the acrimonious Sept. 22 BMT Vision Plan vote. Photo: Courtesy of video from Simon’s OfficeProcedure changes without explanation

Carly Baker-Rice, executive director of the Red Hook Business Alliance, who voted against the Vision Plan, told the Eagle there were no bylaws, but instead, a Task Force Decision Making Process document. “The stated goal was to achieve consensus on the whole plan,” she said. If members could not reach a consensus, members could ask EDC consultants to prepare alternate recommendations.

At some point, it became “very clear” that that process was not moving forward, “Because anything we said that they didn’t like, they just ignored,” she said. In the spring, the voting plan “was replaced with a straight up-and-down vote. They acted like nothing had changed, but it was totally different than what they gave us on day one.”

This graphic illustrates some of the traffic issues facing areas surrounding the Brooklyn Marine Terminal. Map: NYCEDC

“There were never any bylaws to speak of,” Avilés agreed. “There was never parliamentary procedure at all used throughout the whole process. In fact, 90% of the process was EDC and their consultants talking at people.”

After watching the video again, “I’m overtaken by what appears to be incredible rudeness towards all of the people who didn’t commit their vote,” Avilés said. 

Once the two-thirds approval number was achieved, congeniality went out the window, leaving her excluded from the conversation despite her status as co-vice chair, she said. “Congressman Goldman and Sen. Gounardes and EDC, who convened all the calls, did not at all reach out to our office about the vote, about how they were planning to incorporate or not incorporate anything — literally, there was no communication.”

The approval of the Vision Plan as is creates more complications down the road for the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, she said: “It is a laundry list of unfunded promises that the mayor was willing to make to get a win on paper, but it is going to be the problem of the next administration.”

Mitaynes told the Eagle she was taken aback by some of the tactics used to obtain “yes” votes. “First, they’re nice to you, and they’re like, ‘How can we work together? What is it that you need?’ And then they’re arm-twisting or offering stuff … Some of the stuff that I heard is just unbelievable.

“They went from saying, ‘Let’s dream big about a port of the future,’ to just cutting [the maritime portion] in half and saying, ‘OK, we don’t have the money for the port and this big vision about a highway of the future,’” Mitaynes said. “And the excuse all the time is, ‘We don’t have any money. We have to have private investment.’ Of course, the private investment is real estate.”

The plan may have been approved, “But that doesn’t change any of the fundamental flaws,” Simon told the Eagle. “You’ve got a water table that you can’t build on beyond a certain level in Red Hook, and you have no water and sewer out there —  certainly not enough for commercial purposes, let alone housing. And you’ve got no ability to get people in and out. Like, what are you talking about?”

BMT Task Force Chair Rep. Dan Goldman and co-Vice Chairs Councilmember Alexa Avilés and state Sen. Andrew Gounardes. Photos: NYCEDCGoldman, Gounardes: Those were the rules

Goldman’s spokesperson Simone Kanter defended the process.

“As chair of the task force, Congressman Goldman’s role was to enforce the task force policies and procedures that have governed the task force since its inception. All task force members also received multiple briefings on the voting process, and each member was well aware of the rules, which clearly prohibited changes to the vision plan during the vote,” Kanter told the Eagle.

“During the past two months, every task force member was invited to make any suggested revisions to the Vision Plan,” he said. “Unfortunately, some task force members only did so after the revised Vision Plan was distributed four days before the vote. In order to allow for task force members to digest the revised Vision Plan and discuss it with their various constituencies before the vote, task force leadership clearly stated that no changes would be made before the vote.” 

“The congressman looks forward to addressing many of the outstanding concerns as the process moves forward after more than two-thirds of the task force passed the Vision Plan,” Kanter added.

Gounardes agreed that the procedure was followed.

“After the vote was last delayed two months ago, Task Force members who were supportive of the plan worked to engage with members who weren’t. In the meantime, some individual Task Force members who had opposed the plan engaged in good faith on their own and suggested edits that would make them more supportive,” Gounardes said. 

“After we incorporated those ideas—including the RFEI and increased funding for school and housing—the full Task Force was sent the updated vision plan and given five days to review,” Gounardes continued. “The Task Force decided to vote on the proposal before us and approved it 17-8, meeting the threshold for a two-thirds vote required by the rules we set out at the beginning of this process.”

He added, “I look forward to continuing the conversation with all Task Force members in the next phases of this process to discuss recent changes and ways to further refine the plan.”

Councilmember Shahana Hanif wants more community participation in the BMT project. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn EagleHanif pushes to reschedule the scoping hearings

EDC has scheduled the public “scoping hearings” leading to the Environmental Impact Statement for Oct. 28 ( in person) and Oct. 30 ( virtual), perplexing community members and organizations who haven’t even seen the plan.

“They are doing the scoping meeting while still not presenting the final plan to the community,” Victoria Alexander, interim chair of Resilient Red Hook, told the Eagle. “And on top of that, Red Hook is in crisis mode right now because we’re still dealing with the fire,” she said, referring to the five-alarm conflagration that destroyed a massive warehouse, home to the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition and numerous commercial and creative tenants. 

Hanif is pushing EDC to host a public presentation before the hearings. “The final BMT Vision Plan has not yet been presented publicly, yet the city is proceeding with scoping as though informed engagement has already taken place,” she wrote in an Oct. 10 letter to EDC, the Mayor’s Office of Environmental Coordination and BMT Task Force leadership. Not doing so “undermines the [City Environmental Quality Review] process and prevents substantive input.”

Hanif also urged EDC to add a meeting within “the district most affected by the massive project, District 39,” which includes the Columbia Waterfront, Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill, and to extend the public comment period — currently set to end on Nov. 10, 2025 — by at least 90 to 120 days “to ensure meaningful participation.”  

She pointed out that the dates EDC chose, Oct. 28 and 30, interfere with local memorial events related to Superstorm Sandy and come just “days before a citywide election when civic bandwidth is limited.”