There will be six massive last-mile warehouses open in Red Hook by 2022, totaling more than 3 million square feet. These warehouses include Amazon, UPS and Fedex facilities and right now the plan is for them to bring tons of trucks in and out of Red Hook every day.
The designated truck route runs down Van Brunt Street, which would lead to numerous issues, including excessive pollution and congestion and would make the street more dangerous for children as well as motorcycle and bicycle riders.
Health issues have to be prioritized and doctors have called the neighborhoods surrounding distribution centers “diesel death zones.” On average, 10 percent of New Yorkers have asthma but 25 percent of children in Red Hook have asthma.
Jim Tampakis of Tamco Mechanical, located on Richards Street in Red Hook, has been pushing for last mile warehouses to take advantage of New York City’s 520 miles of waterfront to transport materials. This would decrease both pollution and traffic in Red Hook. Tampakis has been in Red Hook for 46 years, doing ship repairs as well as supplying spare parts for ships. He has maintained his business despite enormous changes to Red Hook.
Tampakis has made some progress and two weeks ago a Cross Harbor Trailer on Barge RoRo Service made a successful test run. “This would use barges to bring in freight to Red Hook Marine Terminal and down to the UPS sites via pier 11 and 12, as well as the Hughes site on Columbia Street,” according to Tampakis.
Tampakis also went on a walk with local leaders last week to discuss suggestions and ideas for how to best deal with the many last mile warehouses which are coming to Red Hook. The walk was led by Council Member Carlos Menchaca, members of Community Board 6, members of Community Board 7, representatives from the DOT (Department of Transportation) and EDC (Economic Development Corporation.)
“I thought it was a positive experience because it brought more awareness to the issues,” Tampakis said. “I think everyone was open to the idea of utilizing the waterfront.”
Another possibility that was bought up during the walk is opening Halleck Street. The street ends because it leads into Red Hook Park, however that part of the park hasn’t been tended to in years. It’s overgrown with plants and is closed to the public. Opening up Halleck Street would give trucks another route to use which would decrease congestion and reduce the number of main trucks going down main streets like Van Brunt Street and Court Street. However, as of now the Parks Department has no intention of opening the street.
In addition to the walk there was a community meeting held on June 16th called “Community Conversation: Last Mile Delivery Warehouses.” Some of the key issues mentioned about the warehouses were destruction of historic neighborhoods, few and low-paying jobs at the warehouses, noise and air pollution and decreased quality of life. The meeting once again helped bring awareness to the issues Red Hook will face as more and more last mile warehouses move into the neighborhood. Just over 100 people attended the meeting and over 80 stayed till it ended over two hours later, according to Tampakis.
A study done by five Columbia University students echoed the issues that were brought up in the meeting.
“There is no clear definition of a last-mile warehouse for the city,” the study said. “The result is numerous loopholes that allow many companies to build these facilities ‘as-right’ without the consent of community boards, zoning boards, or the city, leaving communities without a say in what happens in their own neighborhood.”
This means that last-mile warehouses aren’t closely regulated which allows them to do what’s best for them rather than what’s best for the community.
After conducting their study the Columbia University students recommended “a more rigorous consideration of the currently optional night-time and electric vehicle programs within the city. We also encourage considerations into the potential use of rail and especially maritime transportation as the majority of these facilities have access to a waterfront.”
These suggestions are logical since the last mile warehouses in Red Hook are all close to the waterfront. In the short-term it may seem more expensive to use the waterways since they would have to implement cranes to move materials. However, in the long-term relying on waterways would save money for last-mile warehouses by avoiding tolls (in particular the toll for the Verrazano Bridge, which they would have to pay repeatedly if they rely solely on trucks.)
“Tolls for a tractor trailer coming in from Elizabeth NJ to Brooklyn are above $150 per round trip and there would be lots of trucks making the trip each day,” Tampakis said. “Amazon has signed a 20-year lease and the costs of site work, cranes, labor for loading and unloading 40 foot containers amortized over a 20-year period would cost about $300.”
While the long-term cost may be beneficial to last-mile warehouses like Amazon it may still be difficult to convince them to rely on the waterfront rather than trucks.
“One of the toughest things is a lot of the time, people just aren’t open to doing things differently,” Tampakis said. “They may not have used waterways in other locations but it’s a great resource that can help the community and help them too.”
In addition to pushing for last mile warehouses to use the waterways, Tampakis also wants them to use electric vehicles for transportation. Another possibility is using bikes to take pods carrying materials to make deliveries rather than trucks. Either option would be much greener than relying solely on trucks to make deliveries.
“Although a shift towards maritime and rail transportation can help absorb this freight demand, trucks and other commercial vehicles [including cars and cargo bikes] will still be needed to make these ‘last-mile’ deliveries,” wrote Hank Gutman, commissioner of the DOT, in a letter to New Yorkers. “As long as trucks remain part of our freight infrastructure and travel through our communities, we need to reduce their size and weight, shorten their trips, ensure that they obey the laws related to truck size and adhere to dedicated truck routes.”
While Gutman stresses the importance of trucks adhering to laws and sticking to their designated routes I saw multiple trucks driving on streets they weren’t supposed to be on, while driving in Red Hook with Tampakis. Right now there isn’t strict enforcement of truck routes and the expectation is there will be more and more trucks going through Red Hook as new last-mile warehouses open up, which will exacerbate the problem.
Tampakis stressed the importance of enforcing these laws. He also spoke about what he believes is one of the root causes of all the last-mile warehouses moving into Red Hook.
“I think that people here are fed up with rising prices,” Tampakis said. “The people who sold the land that’s going to be used for the warehouses had to spend $15,000 per year on flood insurance. Small businesses have been hurt financially so it makes sense that they would sell. It would be nice if the DDC [Department of Design and Construction] can install or design a FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] approved system that reduces the cost of flood insurance.”
The current flood protection plan in Red Hook uses temporary Tiger Dams as well as pre-deployed Hesco flood barriers. There is currently construction going on to try to add additional Hesco barriers on Imlay Street, Summit Street and on Clinton Wharf. Even in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, flood protection is an issue that still needs to be addressed in Red Hook. It’s one of they key reasons why so many people have sold their property in the neighborhood which has allowed last-mile warehouses to move in.
Right now, there seem to be a lot of ideas for dealing with the warehouses but nothing is set in stone. Trucks continue to cause pollution and congestion in Red Hook and ideas that involve greener modes of transportation will need the support of local leaders and Red Hook residents in order for them to be put to use.
There are going to be more meetings with the DDC, DOT and Community Board members this summer and it’s important that these issues remain in the spotlight and that there continues to be a push to use the waterways and electronic vehicles. Last mile-warehouses are becoming a very big part of Red Hook and these issues will become huge problems if they aren’t addressed.
