The Citizens Budget Commission has crunched some numbers and determined that Brooklyn's ports—both the one in Red Hook and the one just south of Brooklyn Bridge Park—should be boarded up to make room for housing.
You can read the full report here [PDF], but the upshot is that the terminals are essentially money-sucking wastelands, with annual deficits expected to reach $107 million by 2029.
The ports—the Brooklyn-Port Authority Marine Terminal south of Brooklyn Bridge Park, and the Red Hook Container Terminal, home of one monstrous Vice party and zero music festivals—were both recommended as sites for, what else, new housing. Here is the 42-page report boiled down: Money-sucking ports= - $$. Condos= hella $$$$. Some of that housing would presumably be "affordable," and shutting down the ports would provide an additional 105-acres of land on which to build, providing as many as 7,623 additional units.
Housing may be the most obvious candidate, but the commission suggests other alternatives as well: A "modern industrial park" is one idea bandied, as well as green space, a la Brooklyn Bridge Park down the street. Other options include schools, clinics or community centers. Essentially, the report says, anything would be preferable to the damn ports.
“The Port Authority’s maritime facilities have a long history of running deficits and no prospect of making money in the near future,” Carol Kellerman, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, said in a statement. “Greater efficiencies must, therefore, be explored.”
Last year, the Brooklyn-Port Authority Marine Terminal lost $205,718, and the Red Hook Container Terminal lost $184,788, despite supporting a measly 9 percent of New York's cargo volume. [H/t Brownstoner]
