1 1 2 NEW YORK STATE URBAN DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION D/B/A THE EMPIRE STATE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION 3 & BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION 4 -----------------------------------------------x 5 PUBLIC HEARING 6 RE: BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK CIVIC 7 AND LAND USE IMPROVEMENT PROJECT 8 -----------------------------------------------x 9 St. Francis College 10 Founders Hall 11 First Floor Auditorium 12 180 Remsen Street 13 Brooklyn, New York 14 15 July 30, 2015 16 6:08 P.M. 17 18 19 B E F O R E : 20 21 EDWARD C. KRAMER, ESQ., 22 THE HEARING OFFICER 23 24 25 MGR REPORTING, INC., 1-844-MGR-RPTG 419 Lafayette Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10003 626 RXR Plaza, West Tower, 6th Floor, Uniondale, New York 11556 1 2 2 A P P E A R A N C E S : 3 For Empire State Development Corporation: 4 Richard Dorado, Esq. Rachel Shatz 5 Carey Gabay Joseph Chan 6 Debbie Royce Regina Stephens 7 Tobi Jaiyesmi Destiny Burns 8 Other Staff 9 For Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation: 10 Regina Myer David Lowen 11 Other Staff 12 ALSO PRESENT: 13 The Public 14 The Press 15 The Media 16 17 18 Marc Russo, Stenographer 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MGR REPORTING, INC., 1-844-MGR-RPTG 419 Lafayette Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10003 626 RXR Plaza, West Tower, 6th Floor, Uniondale, New York 11556 1 3 2 INDEX OF SPEAKERS 3 SPEAKER PAGE 4 Richard Dorado 5 Senior Counsel, ESD ................... 13 6 Alicia Glen 7 NYC Deputy Mayor ...................... 30 8 Regina Myer 9 President, Brooklyn Bridge Park ....... 37 10 Daniel Squadron 11 NYS Senator ........................... 41 12 Joanne Simon 13 NSY Assemblymember .................... 54 14 Roland Lewis 15 President, Waterfront Alliance ........ 57 16 Josh Skaller 17 District Leader, 52nd Assembly District. 59 18 Todd Castilow ............................ 62 19 Kathy Wylde 20 President, Partnership for New York 21 City .................................. 69 22 Nydia Velazquez 23 U.S. Congresswoman .................... 71 24 Brad Lander 25 NYC Councilman ........................ 75 MGR REPORTING, INC., 1-844-MGR-RPTG 419 Lafayette Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10003 626 RXR Plaza, West Tower, 6th Floor, Uniondale, New York 11556 1 4 2 SPEAKER PAGE 3 Tupper Thomas 4 New Yorkers for Parks ................. 79 5 Joe Merz ................................. 80 6 Nat Rubin 7 Atlantic Avenue LDC ................... 85 8 Nat Rubin 9 for Robert Rubin (father) ............. 89 10 Andrew Reynolds .......................... 91 11 Linda Derosa 12 Willowtown Association ................ 94 13 Penelope Christoplero 14 Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy ...... 97 15 Fred Kent 16 President, Project for Public Space ... 101; 120 17 Steve Levin 18 NYC Councilman ........................ 106 19 Robert Oliver, on behalf of Brendan Dugan, 20 President, St. Francis College............ 117 21 Amanda Trees ............................. 126 22 Henry Richmond 23 People for Green Space ................ 128 24 (271 Cadman Plaza East, Ste 1, Brooklyn, 25 NY 11201) MGR REPORTING, INC., 1-844-MGR-RPTG 419 Lafayette Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10003 626 RXR Plaza, West Tower, 6th Floor, Uniondale, New York 11556 1 5 2 SPEAKER PAGE 3 Judi Francis 4 President, Brooklyn Bridge Defense 5 Fund ................................. 136 6 Steve Guterman 7 President, Save the View Now ......... 143 8 Ray Sloane 9 President, Cobble Hill Association ... 148 10 Ton Angotti 11 Park Slope Neighbors ................. 154 12 Martin Hale 13 Save Pier 6 .......................... 160 14 Rick Russo, for Carlo A. Scissura, Esq., 15 Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce ......... 166 16 Patrick Killackey 17 Brooklyn Bridge Heights Association .. 169 18 Irene Van Slyke 19 Sierra Club .......................... 176 20 Nancy B. Bowe 21 for Chris Coffey ..................... 179 22 Lucy Koteen 23 Fort Green Association ............... 182 24 Joy Romanski 25 Climate Change Scientist ............. 185 MGR REPORTING, INC., 1-844-MGR-RPTG 419 Lafayette Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10003 626 RXR Plaza, West Tower, 6th Floor, Uniondale, New York 11556 1 6 2 SPEAKER PAGE 3 Sandy Balboza 4 Atlantic Avenue Betterment Assn. ..... 188 5 Clint Padgiti ........................... 192 6 Ken Baer 7 Sierra Club .......................... 193 8 John Holman ............................. 196 9 Mary Goodman ............................ 199 10 Steve Houck ............................. 202 11 Carole Rafferty 12 Build Up New York .................... 205 13 Steve Ierwood 14 for David Danverville, Build Up NYC .. 208 15 Lenmore Friedlander 16 for Tiffany Faulk, Build Up NYC ...... 211 17 Tamara Brummer 18 for Jennie Smith, Build Up NYC ....... 214 19 Carl Arnold 20 Sierra Club .......................... 217 21 Joan Goldberg 22 People for Green Space ............... 220 23 Douglas Eisenstein 24 One Brooklyn Bridge Park Managers .... 222 25 Chris Bastian ........................... 229 MGR REPORTING, INC., 1-844-MGR-RPTG 419 Lafayette Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10003 626 RXR Plaza, West Tower, 6th Floor, Uniondale, New York 11556 1 7 2 SPEAKER PAGE 3 Samara Daly ............................. 232 4 Laurel Brown 5 Downtown Brooklyn Partnership ........ 236 6 Beth Heiler 7 We are P.S. 8 Too .................... 240 8 Christabel Gough 9 Society for the Architecture of 10 the City ............................. 243 11 Ron Roth 12 Heritage Presentations ............... 247 13 Rick Luftglass 14 Community Board 6 .................... 249 15 Robert Sherman .......................... 254 16 Ansley Samson ........................... 257 17 Patti Hagan ............................. 261 18 Jean Campbell ........................... 264 19 Jeffrey Smith ........................... 268 20 21 22 23 24 25 MGR REPORTING, INC., 1-844-MGR-RPTG 419 Lafayette Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10003 626 RXR Plaza, West Tower, 6th Floor, Uniondale, New York 11556 1 8 2 P R O C E E D I N G S 3 THE HEARING OFFICER: Good 4 evening, ladies and gentlemen. 5 My name is Edward Kramer. I'm an 6 attorney practicing in New York City. I've been 7 asked by the New York State Urban Development 8 Corporation, doing business as Empire State 9 Development, ESD, and the Brooklyn Bridge 10 Development Corporation, -- 11 VOICES: Louder. 12 THE HEARING OFFICER: -- BBDC. 13 VOICES: We can't hear you. 14 THE HEARING OFFICER: You cannot 15 hear me? How about now? 16 VOICES: Better. 17 THE HEARING OFFICER: Can you 18 turn the mic up a little? 19 A VOICE: Sure. 20 A VOICE: Start at the top. 21 THE HEARING OFFICER: How about I 22 start at the bottom and go backwards. 23 I've been asked by the New York 24 State Urban Development Corporation, doing business 25 as Empire State Development, ESD, and the Brooklyn MGR REPORTING, INC., 1-844-MGR-RPTG 419 Lafayette Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10003 626 RXR Plaza, West Tower, 6th Floor, Uniondale, New York 11556 1 9 2 Bridge Development Corporation, BBPDC, a subsidiary 3 of ESD, to serve as the independent Hearing Officer 4 for tonight's public hearing, which is being held 5 pursuant to Section 16 of the New York State Urban 6 Development Corporation Act. 7 My purpose is to run the hearing 8 in a fair and impartial manner and to try to make 9 sure that everyone who wishes to speak has an 10 opportunity to be heard. 11 I would like to note for the 12 record that Directors from both Empire State 13 Development and Brooklyn Bridge Park Development 14 Corporation are in attendance this evening. 15 This hearing will consider a 16 proposed Modification of the Modified General 17 Project Plan for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Civic and 18 Land Use Improvement Project regarding the 19 development parcel located in the Project Pier 6 20 Uplands. 21 The purpose of this hearing is to: 22 1. Inform the public about the 23 proposed Modifications to the Modified General 24 Project Plan for the project regarding the 25 development parcel located at the Project's Pier 6 MGR REPORTING, INC., 1-844-MGR-RPTG 419 Lafayette Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10003 626 RXR Plaza, West Tower, 6th Floor, Uniondale, New York 11556 1 10 2 Uplands; and 3 2. Pursuant to Section 16 of the 4 UDC Act, give all interested persons an opportunity 5 to be heard with respect to consideration by ESD 6 and BBPDC of the proposed Modification to the 7 Modified General Project Plan regarding the 8 development parcel located at the Project's Pier 6 9 Uplands. 10 This is not a question and answer 11 session. It is, instead, an opportunity for you to 12 present your views so that ESD and BBPDC can 13 consider them in making their final determinations 14 regarding the proposed modifications. 15 Copies of the current Modified 16 General Project Plan and the proposed Modification 17 thereto, that is the subject of this hearing, are 18 available at no charge on the table outside of this 19 auditorium. These materials set out the proposed 20 Modification in more detail. 21 As mentioned in the legal notice 22 for tonight's hearing, we're scheduled to continue 23 this hearing until 9:00 p.m. 24 For your information, a 25 stenographic transcript of this hearing is being MGR REPORTING, INC., 1-844-MGR-RPTG 419 Lafayette Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10003 626 RXR Plaza, West Tower, 6th Floor, Uniondale, New York 11556 1 11 2 made. Written comments on the Modified General 3 Project Plan, which is the subject of this hearing, 4 are requested and will continue to be received and 5 considered by ESD and BBPDC after the conclusion of 6 tonight's hearing, until 5:00 p.m. on Monday, 7 August 31, 2015. 8 Please note that written comments, 9 if any, should be sent: 10 a. By e-mail at 11 [email protected]; or, 12 b. To the attention of Ms. Rose 13 Marie Mahase at Empire State Development, 633 Third 14 Avenue, New York, New York 10017; or, 15 c.