Over the past few years, numerous last-mile warehouses have been planned for Red Hook. This has caused concerns about pollution and truck traffic. The facilities are being built “as-of-right” which means companies like UPS and Amazon are able to move into the neighborhood without having to worry about having their property rezoned. Their facilities are built according to existing zoning […]
Trucks
The Impending Red Hook Traffic Disaster, by Brian Abate
Red Hook is currently awash in the building of new warehouses. No doubt the biggest is the massive new UPS distribution facility that starts across Valentino Park, extending on the water all the way to the Cruise Terminal. The package delivery company paid $303 million for the property, which most recently was to be the hub of a new tech […]
Trucks Worry Civic Association
At the start of the Red Hook Civic Association’s February meeting at P.S. 15, Neighborhood Coordination Officers Krystal Class and Vegnel Jovin from the 76th Precinct announced that they’d distributed flyers to local truck drivers to inform them of Red Hook’s designated truck routes. For large vehicles, New York City’s official truck route map limits the neighborhood’s through-traffic to Van […]
How can Red Hook maximize waterways? One local has a plan
On June 1, aboard the NYC Ferry’s early-morning maiden voyage on the South Brooklyn route, Jim Tampakis felt inspired. “Look at the water,” he instructed a friend. “No traffic. There’s no boat traffic at all.” It being 7 a.m. rush hour, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway was likely bumper-to-bumper. The subway a series of overstuffed cars upset by delays. But here on […]
That crazy world of politics, by George Fiala
Red light district John McGettrick, co-president of the Red Hook Civic Association and longtime Red Hook leader, has been at the forefront of local traffic safety way before Vision Zero. When Fairway first opened, he led the fight for a stoplight on Van Brunt and Sullivan Street. That was achieved. Because of the imminent arrival of the new Red Hook […]
Editorial: Is Move NY all it is cracked up to be? by George Fiala
The Transportation Committee of CB 6 tonight approved a motion to support the Move NY program that “Gridlock” Sam Schwartz, former traffic commissioner who now runs a profitable traffic consulting business, has been touting for the past couple of years. This program is a redo of Mayor Bloomberg’s unsuccessful plan to institute tolls on the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensboro bridges, […]
Giant Red Hook Truck Parking Lot update, by George Fiala
In our current issue we wrote an editorial about the Revere Sugar Factory site that has been owned by Thor Equities since 2006. At times plans were floated for its use, including box stores and college dorms. Nothing materialized and it has remained basically unused since then. Last week it seemed to us that the Haddad Film Truck Company had […]