{"id":213761,"date":"2026-04-29T07:36:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T07:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/213761\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T07:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T07:36:27","slug":"open-brooklyn-marine-terminal-task-force-meeting-this-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/213761\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Open’ Brooklyn Marine Terminal task force meeting this Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN \u2014 The New York City Economic Development Corporation said it is trying something new: an \u201copen\u201d and transparent meeting of the 32-member Brooklyn Marine Terminal<\/a> Advisory Task Force.<\/p>\n

The meeting will take place Thursday from 2-4 p.m. at Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon St. in Downtown Brooklyn. The public can attend in person or virtually via Zoom<\/a>. EDC says this is a new phase in community engagement in the redevelopment of the 122-acre BMT, which stretches along the East River from Atlantic Avenue to Red Hook, and includes a container port, the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, and other maritime and industrial tenants.<\/p>\n

The process leading up to the approval of the $3.5 billion BMT Vision Plan had been criticized by many residents, officials and good-government groups as lacking transparency, being \u201cmired in backroom deals<\/a>,\u201d and prioritizing high-rise luxury housing over maritime-industrial use.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe 122-acre Brooklyn Marine Terminal Project area. Photo: NYCEDC<\/p>\n

Stakeholders are hoping for a change under Mayor Zohran Mamdani.\u00a0<\/p>\n

EDC said the new transparency is guided by Deputy Mayor Julie Su\u2019s \u201cvision for a renewed approach\u201d to public engagement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have heard clear and consistent feedback from Advisory Task Force members and the broader public on the importance of transparency and timely access to information. In response, all task force meetings will be held virtually and open to the public to observe,\u201d EDC said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As part of this transparency, notices, meeting links, and materials will be posted on the task force webpage<\/a> in advance. Following each meeting, a transcript, along with action items, will be posted.<\/p>\n

\"CranesCranes at Atlantic Basin within the Brooklyn Marine Terminal site. Photo: Mary Frost\/Brooklyn Eagle
\nLawsuit in progress<\/p>\n

In December, three Brooklyn residents \u2014 John Leyva, David Lutz and Bruce Mazer \u2014 brought a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court alleging that EDC had violated state transparency laws by holding secret BMT Task Force deliberations<\/a> and the final vote, in violation of New York\u2019s Open Meetings Law. The plaintiffs are all residents of the Columbia Street Waterfront District, a neighborhood adjacent to the BMT site.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Task Force met for months behind closed doors, made major changes without public input, and then locked the doors on the day of the vote,\u201d Lutz said.<\/p>\n

Michael Pope, lead counsel for the residents, said, \u201cWhen public land is on the line, the public has the right to be in the room. That is not a policy preference. It is the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cargo-handlingCargo-handling cranes at the Container Terminal within the Brooklyn Marine Terminal site. Photo: Mary Frost\/Brooklyn Eagle
\nNew deadline for public comments is May 8<\/p>\n

The deadline for public comments on the BMT Draft Scope of Work was extended<\/a> to May 8 after Su approved a request<\/a> by Brooklyn officials for an extension at the last minute. A Draft Scope of Work<\/a> is used to develop a project\u2019s consequential Environmental Impact Statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN \u2014 The New York City Economic Development Corporation said it is trying something new: an \u201copen\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,5317,99,5324,9,24,9354,5325,63],"class_list":["post-213761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-marine-terminal-bmt","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-mary-frost","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-economic-development-corporation-nycedc","tag-no-paywall","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}