Good evening. My name is Richard Anderson, President of the New York Building Congress.
The Building Congress is committed as a civic leadership organization to promoting smart development that encourages economic growth and strengthens our City.
We have long applauded the City and State for committing hundreds of millions of dollars and 85 highly valuable acres to create a great new public amenity out of underutilized industrial space that once severed Brooklyn from its waterfront.
Having built this park it is now our duty as its stewards to ensure that it remains a first-class attraction to millions of visitors from the City and beyond.
Brooklyn Bridge Park, in close partnership with the City and State, has completed another study scrutinizing revenue generating options necessary to maintain the park and the underwater infrastructure that supports it.
We believe the residential development model proposed by the park is the most sensible solution to the question of how to adequately and reliably fund the upkeep of the Park.
Considerable discussion has been given over to other funding alternatives. However, the Building Congress believes the current proposal is the best for two reasons:
- Residential structures adjacent to the Park will create a critical mass that will assure a safe environment within the Park district and create an important 24/7 use to anchor the western edge of Brooklyn Heights.
- The proposal also maximizes opportunities for sensible economic development and growth. The current plan will generate the most construction and post construction jobs, and the most return to the City by way of new future tax and other spin off revenues.
All of this while creating a multi-million dollar funding stream to protect this great legacy on the edge of the Brooklyn.
For these reasons it is critical that Brooklyn Bridge Park continue to operate under the existing plan. We must not jeopardize the future of this great park or our City that stands to benefit so greatly from it.
