If you study one thing new, you begin to discover it throughout you.
I by no means paid consideration to rain gutters till I purchased new ones. Then I discovered myself taking a look at what different properties had. Trapezoidal or half-round? 5-inch or six-inch?
Now, having not too long ago learn “Why Nothing Works” and “Abundance,” I continually see examples of the federal government slowing down initiatives. The most recent was one other delay within the Brooklyn Marine Terminal megadevelopment.
It was portrayed not as a setback, however as one thing to rejoice. And it was precipitated not by opponents of the plan, however by its alleged supporters.
“We’re proud to share that the Environmental Evaluate scoping remark interval has been prolonged to March 31, 2026!” Council member Shahana Hanif wrote in her e-newsletter. “This comes after sustained advocacy from group members and elected officers. Our workplace first emphasised this demand in our October 10 letter to EDC, which resulted in an preliminary extension to December 11.”
She is pleased with this?
I acknowledge that remark durations let folks voice opinions, which is critical in a democracy and might yield enhancements to a undertaking.
However a five-month extension on high of a six-week extension? Actually?
The extensions additionally imply extra time might be wanted to assessment all of the feedback. (I’ll make my remark brief: There’s a housing emergency. Construct the rattling undertaking!)
Most of this yr was already wasted ready for a 28-member activity power to achieve a consensus on what to construct. That was like herding cats.
The way in which issues are going, everybody who recordsdata feedback can have died or retired to Florida by the point the Brooklyn Marine Terminal redevelopment is completed. If it ever is.
Remark durations that final six or 9 months are one in all many efficiency-killers. Hanif’s Oct. 10 letter reveals extra of the convoluted course of that such initiatives should endure.
Under, word the dizzying array of acronyms and time-consuming critiques casually talked about in her letter, which additionally requests one other group assembly. Hanif describes this gauntlet as whether it is regular — which, for politicians, it’s. They’ve by no means completed private-sector growth, the place time is cash and delays can kill a undertaking.
“Earlier than any scoping conferences happen, NYCEDC and MOEC ought to host a public presentation of the complete plan, together with a Q&A, so group members can perceive what might be evaluated within the Environmental Impression Assertion (EIS). Holding these hearings earlier than residents have had the chance to assessment and ask questions in regards to the last imaginative and prescient plan prevents substantive enter and undermines the CEQR course of.”
EDC, MOEC, EIS, CEQR … However wait, there’s extra!
“Moreover, the proposed dates for the Draft Scope of Work (DSOW) hearings, each October 28 (in-person) and October 30 (digital) fall throughout a very troublesome and symbolic time. Residents are nonetheless recovering from the current Red Hook fire, and the dates coincide with the anniversary of Superstorm Sandy (October 29), a day of remembrance and reflection throughout our waterfront communities.”
Superstorm Sandy remembrance? What in holy hell is she speaking about?
Sandy precipitated super harm, to make sure, and some Brooklynites misplaced their lives. However the storm was 13 years in the past. The concept we must always lengthen a remark interval in 2025 to pause for “remembrance and reflection” of Sandy is preposterous.
Hanif’s workers will need to have had a brainstorming session to consider probably the most absurd causes to stall the Marine Terminal undertaking.
“Hey, everybody, there’s a comet passing by Earth. We have to lengthen the remark interval!”
Her letter went on to complain that the undertaking’s October group conferences have been too near the election, making the schedule “inequitable and exclusionary.”
Who’s being excluded? Individuals who couldn’t spare an hour as a result of they have been door-knocking for Zohran Mamdani?
Liberal thought leaders are begging their elected officers to hurry up the federal government earlier than each final American loses religion in its skill to do something. When “Abundance” reached No. 1 on the bestseller record, it gave me hope.
However in all places I look, I see the identical issues occurring. It’s nothing to be pleased with.
Learn extra
The Daily Dirt: Red Hook Terminal vote kept at bay
City once again kicks can on Brooklyn Marine Terminal vote
City nabs control of Red Hook waterfront, plans redevelopment
