Op Ed: Watching neighborhoods transform, by George Fiala

Last month I had a chance to see the corporate mind working. I was invited to take part in a weeklong public relations event held by BASF, the world’s largest chemical company. At their NYC event held as part of their 150th birthday celebration, they decided to focus on Red Hook as a city of tomorrow. BASF is very excited to be creating technology to allow cities of tomorrow the ability to grow and absorb an extra two billion humans predicted for 2050.

At a brief media session, I got to ask the CEO of their North American operations a question.

I asked him whether it might not be a better idea to not get up to 9 billion. I kind of remembered Al Gore saying that it wouldn’t be such a good idea.
He looked at me as if I was some sort of Luddite, and said that man has always beat back challenges, including population growth.
My opinion is that there’s already a lot of people walking around, and my city is already pretty crowded, but his idea was that more people equal growing sales. I could see it in his eyes.

This exchange made me realize something. Our politicians are forced to speak out of both sides of their mouth.
One one side is the pressure to accommodate corporate interests who cheer for increasing population, ensuring ever growing profits. This is the segment of the population that currently funds much of the election process.

The other side is the perception that government also works for non business interests – which of course in many cases is often true.
Our recent story on the fate of the Long Island College Hospital (LICH) campus illustrates business interests versus the community of Cobble Hill.
Cobble Hill was once a blue collar neighborhood. It’s NYC Landmark designation in 1969 helped transition it to the highly desirable residential community it is today. A 50 foot rule on building height prevented an invasion of high rises.

Families who bought Cobble Hill brownstones did so with the belief that this would never change.

Because of a loophole it will change. Nobody thought to extend the 50 foot limit to the historic hospital. No one dreamed the one day LICH would be no more.
The market for high priced Manhattan and Brooklyn condos has become global, and money is spewing into the country faster than developers can create them. The temptation to use the LICH zoning loophole proved to be to much for the state government in tandem with their corporate sponsors, and so LICH was sold off, leaving the prospect of 44 story high rises for the Cobble Hillers.

The Brooklyn waterfront
The next great real estate frontier in our area are the piers extending from Atlantic to Hamilton Avenues. Once providing jobs for immigrants flooding our shores, they are now seen by the condo builders as a logical place to earn their next billion or two.

The political challenge accommodate this land grab without spurring a revolt of the rest of the people they represent. It has to be done in stages, framed in such a way as to pull the wool over their constituents’ eyes without them realizing it.

The first step was Brooklyn Bridge Park. In a city that has underfunded parks since the 1970’s, a new, fancy park is seen by almost everybody as a great plus. It began as a community project, but was soon taken over by a corporation – the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation – who took advantage of a fad called public-private partnerships, to create at first a fancy park, and now a fancy park serving as a backyard for luxury condominiums and a hotel.

The Brooklyn Heights Association at first was delighted at what seemed to be a use of the park that favored exclusivity. But the joke turned out to be on them as they have lost some cherished views of the Brooklyn Bridge due to the Toll Brothers hotel.

The next set of towers, planned for Pier Six, has just received approval in what is being framed as a compromise with the community. The advocacy group that was trying to prevent the building of the towers was for some reason represented by the same lawyer who represented the State of NY in its mission to shut the hospital. His fight there was against the community, his fight here is to represent the community.

The compromise is that the two towers will be slightly smaller and will include some affordable housing. – which the city administration deems a fair trade for ever increasing density.The LICH proposal consists of three towers on the other side of the highway from Pier 6. Having lower Pier 6 towers means better views from the Cobble Hill towers. So in reality, a double win for the developers.

We wrote earlier this year about the battle for Sunset Park’s South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, as the NYC Economic Development Corp. was initially thwarted by the local councilman in a bid to retain control over the property. A compromise was reached, and one of the terms was the removal of an old oil tanker from Pier 9A to Pier 11. This solves the problem of the oil tanker, and also starts a process to clear Pier 9 for luxury development.

Recently we heard Marshall Sohne, a local real estate developer, speak of those piers, now occupied by the Red Hook Container Terminal. “The City promises us a working waterfront, but instead we get garbage trucks.” He is, of course, correct. Instead of a waterfront teeming with industrial activity, with maximum industrial and commercial use of the 80 acres of what is now prime real estate – the terminal operator is forced to raise income by leasing large parts of it as a commercial parking lot, including a fleet of stinking garbage trucks.

False words
Our political leaders continue to insist on the importance of a working waterfront – but in fact they do little to support one. Coordinated government support could no doubt induce more companies to ship to this side of the river. But it seems all they really do is offer platitudes. The ILA, the union representing the dockworkers, has been trying in vain to interest our local politicians, including the borough president, to take part in a working group designed to brainstorm ways to assure the future of a dynamic working waterfront. This would of course bring with it well paying blue collar jobs. So far it hasn’t happened. Their first meeting, to take place in Borough Hall on May 1st, was cancelled at the last minute, and is yet to be rescheduled. The ILA is also seeking to bring more cruise ships to Red Hook, now that $20 million has been spent for shore power (for which every local politician carried water for), but has been foiled thus far by EDC and the inaction of local government.

Instead, we hear that Alicia Glen, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development, and a Goldman Sachs alumna, recently toured Piers 7 and 8. It can be assumed it wasn’t a sightseeing visit.

Pier 7 is occupied by a company called Phoenix Beverage. Phoenix distributes Heineken Beer, and receives their beer imports directly off the container ships unloading in the pier. Another company there imports Red Bull. Phoenix also controls the stevedore operations. All these leases are up in 2018. We speculated earlier this year that they could all be moved to Sunset Park, opening up our waterfront for the luxury condos. As of yet, nobody has told us we are wrong.

Renting to garbage trucks is the first step in convincing the neighborhood that losing the maritime industry from Columbia Street will be a good thing.

Undoubtedly, plans and renderings are already being prepared for beautiful scenic parks along the waterfront. Bicycle paths and nature trails will be part.

However, these are the sweeteners that will be used as a ploy for a zoning change, allowing for 50 story towers.

We will be sorry to see our communities change, but, after seeing how corporate executives think, and knowing that these executives are, after all, human beings just like us, we do get it.

In the old days it was called, ‘What’s good for General Motors….”