Local residents and pols call on Blaz and Cuomo to block development at 40 Quay
Forgive the late, late evening edition!
East & Creek, the Greenpoint newsletter | No. 44
The MTA’s property at 40 Quay St., in orange. Bushwick Inlet Park — or, what will eventually become Bushwick Inlet Park — in green. (image by e&c)
A cash-strapped MTA’s plan to raise funds by leasing its property at 40 Quay St. in Greenpoint for development faces opposition from some local residents and politicians, who hope to see the spot incorporated into Bushwick Inlet Park — rather built into a waterfront residential tower.
Several local residents, along with Assembly member Joe Lentol and representatives from the offices of State Senator Brian Kavanagh and Council member Stephen Levin, made their case to MTA chairman Pat Foye in a meeting on September 9. The transit leader was receptive to the pitch for park-use instead of housing at 40 Quay St. but insisted that his agency still needed a revenue-earning use for the property, according to two people who attended this meeting.
In a letter sent to Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday, Lentol, Levin, Kavanagh, and U.S. Congressperson Carolyn Maloney called upon the mayor to consider “having the City purchase or otherwise acquire the land from the State.” And in a phone interview with e&c on Friday, Lentol said that he had spoken with Gov. Andrew Cuomo about the matter.
“I think the governor and the mayor have to be convinced that it's in their best interests as well as the community's to do this,” Lentol told e&c. “We need more park land,” he said, adding, “What we don’t need is really another tower on the other end of the Bushwick Inlet Park.”
The long-time Greenpoint rep emphasized that a new source of revenue, like a millionaire’s tax or a capital gains tax, would provide a better fix to the MTA’s serious financial troubles, calling the agency’s real estate solution “penny-wise and pound-foolish.”
“Even if we make a little bit of money, it’s not a stream of revenue that the MTA needs in order to make the subway system whole again. We’re going to need a lot more money than that,” Lentol said on Friday.
Emily Gallgher, who is challenging Lentol in the 2020 Democratic primary, echoed this point on Twitter on Thursday, writing, “There are so many ways the MTA is flagrantly misspending that a one time cash injection won’t fix.”
The MTA currently maintains a “mobile wash unit” at 40 Quay St. During the summer, the agency issued an RFP, saying that the upzoned waterfront site “presents a significant opportunity to develop a large mixed-use project.” Proposals were due to be submitted by an extended deadline of Sept. 9. Earlier this month, an MTA spokesperson told e&c that the agency typically takes up to six months to consider proposals for a project of this magnitude.
What else is up in Greenpoint?
She’s a RuPaul alum, and she’s a Greenpointer: “Have you ever heard a strain of violin music in the night air while walking through the streets of Greenpoint? Yeah, that's probably Thorgy Thor. . . Patch spoke with this extravaganza of a drag star about making music in Greenpoint as part of our Local Legends series, where people who make New York City great discuss the neighborhoods they call home.” (Patch’s Kathleen Culliton)
A nor’easter blew through the area on Wednesday, causing all sorts of trouble in Greenpoint — including a deluge of CSO into Newtown Creek and the East River and pooling on India St., near the Greenpoint ferry landing:
Your Subway Weekender
G - Normal service.
L - “Normal” slow-down service.
Thus concludes this October 18, 2019 edition of East & Creek, the twice-weekly newsletter about Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Read the full archives here.
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See ya around the neighb,
Jon Hanrahan
Author, e&c