Statement From Congressman Dan Goldman, State Senator Andrew Gounardes, and City Councilmember Alexa Avilés On The Future of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal

Brooklyn, NY – Congressman Dan Goldman, State Senator Andrew Gounardes and Councilmember Alexa Avilés today issued the following statement on the future of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal after the announcement that the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) will be taking over ownership of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal and initiating a community-led master planning and visioning process for the future of the Terminal. Congressman Goldman will serve as Chair and Senator Gounardes and Councilmember Avilés will serve as Vice Chairs of the Task Force that will have oversight over EDC’s master planning process.

“After decades of inertia at the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, today's announcement finally offers us a path forward to bringing much-needed and long overdue investment in the Brooklyn waterfront.

“The disjointed ownership structure that has governed the Brooklyn Marine Terminal for the last 50 years has resulted in a status quo of attrition and an increasingly shrinking footprint for the Terminal – to the detriment of our communities and the New York Harbor.

“As Chair and Vice Chairs of the Task Force that will be charged with oversight of New York City’s effort to modernize and expand operations at the Terminal, we are excited for the future of the waterfront and the unique opportunity to create jobs for the community and revitalize the Brooklyn waterfront. We intend to center the development process on the local community, ensuring community voices are leading the planning for the future of the Terminal.

“The City’s upfront commitment of $80 million to stabilize and improve Piers 7, 8, and 10 is an excellent first step and a good-faith indication of the City's commitment to a working waterfront with container shipping and modern maritime infrastructure at its core. We are also grateful to Governor Hochul for her commitment to invest a further $15 million in cold storage at the port to help modernize the waterfront to efficiently transport goods in a way that can reduce truck traffic and emissions in environmental justice communities.

“As representatives for this community and members of the Task Force, we will work tirelessly to ensure the promises that the City and EDC have made to this community are iron-clad and that there is accountability at every step of the way.

“Today's announcement is just the beginning of this process. The final vision and master plan for the Brooklyn Terminal must be borne out of intensive conversation with members of the community, who we, as leaders of the Task Force, will ensure are the ones ultimately deciding what the future of their community looks like.”

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