The board of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Development Corporation, which now manages the project, is the latest governing body to deliberate over the plans that will add thousands of new homes to the Columbia Street Waterfront District. It took the place of the earlier Brooklyn Marine Terminal Task Force, which largely met in private sessions, and voted last year to approve the project<\/a>, after much debate<\/a>.<\/p>\n The meeting was largely a presentation on the number of contractors potentially selected to redevelop the port.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s reasonable today might be different in terms of what is feasible in 15 or 20 years,\u201d said board chairperson Michelle de la Uz, who runs the non-profit developer Fifth Avenue Committee<\/a>. \u201cThis is 122-acres and it will be happening in a phased manner.\u201d<\/p>\n As many elected officials decided to send in representatives, among the board members who were there was Hank Gutman, who briefly served as Commissioner of the Department of Transportation during the DeBlasio administration, who said that his priority would be diverting jobs into the area.<\/p>\n \u201cHow do we make sure they hire locally? We make it part of the contract. When Wegmans came to the Navy Yard\u2026 all of their employment had to be through the Navy Yard\u2019s employment office and we then set up recruiting in NYCHA buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n The project <\/a>currently includes building a\u00a060-acre all-electric port, adding about 6,000 apartments, open space, manufacturing and community spaces, among other things.\u00a0<\/p>\n For Dave Lutz, among a handful of local activists who showed up to watch, the public meeting wasn\u2019t enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI want first the right to speak, I have a voice and I\u2019m told that I\u2019m not allowed to speak at the meeting,\u201d Lutz told BK Reader, while handing out print-outs distributed by the group BMT Neighbors Alliance<\/a>, which has generally been opposed to much of the development plans.<\/p>\n \u201cThese guys come in here with forty-story skyscrapers and they want to put a wall against the waterfront, so that you can\u2019t see the water,\u201d said Lutz. \u201cI don\u2019t want 16,000 additional people in a neighbourhood with no public transportation.\u201d<\/p>\n During the meeting, Lutz and other members of the Alliance put on masks that were affixed with large, candy-red Xs, as part of what the group called a \u201csilent demonstration.\u201d<\/p>\n But there were other tensions in the room between various community groups that want\u00a0a say in how the development proceeds.<\/p>\n Karen Blondel, president of the Red Hook West Resident Association<\/a>, said she was not happy with being “intimidated” by volunteers from the Columbia\u00a0Waterfront Neighborhood Association<\/a>, that allegedly\u00a0likened her to President Donald Trump <\/a>as she sees opportunity for the NYCHA housing complex\u00a0to join the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program, which would\u00a0fund overdue renovations by bringing in private management.<\/p>\n “I want that to stop,” she said of the alleged intimidation. “What you don\u2019t want is for us to get into this divisiveness where you guys think that you can just come into the development and retaliate against us for standing up for the needs of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile Lutz said his group believes the public should be able to speak at future meetings.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the agency is now promoting the meetings as \u2018open and transparent,\u2019 community members say the reality tells a different story,\u201d read a statement from an Alliance press release.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ![\"img_0830\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/img_0830.jpg;w=960.jpeg\"\/)
\nKaren Blondel, who runs the Red Hook West Resident Association, said the development was part of “a story that has been going on for decades.”\u00a0Andrew Karpan for BK Reader
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