NYC DOT meets and greets at the Miccio

Members of the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced the beginning of a Red Hook Traffic and Truck study at a meeting in the Miccio Center on March 14.

Red Hook is an ideal location for the study as many people in the community have become worried about the number of last-mile distribution centers (including Amazon) which have moved into the neighborhood.

Michael Griffith, Diniece Mendes, and Keith Bray of DOT said that the study will include traffic analysis and data will be collected on the number of vehicles, bikes, and pedestrians coming into and going out of the neighborhood. There will also be a parking analysis which includes examining parking regulations, parking supply and demand, price structure, and truck parking.

Regarding trucks, Griffith noted, “We are aware of safety concerns as well as air quality concerns.” He also ac-

by Brian Abate

knowledged the “Need for enforcement of oversized vehicles and offroute trucks.”

One concern voiced by many people in attendance is that based on information presented during a slide show, data would only be collected through this May. However, Bray said that the “Data collection will be ongoing and won’t end in May.”

Jim Tampakis of Tamco Mechanical, 54 Richards St. shared his thoughts on the study.

“As you heard at the meeting, I’m always pushing for these last-mile distribution centers to use the water,” Tampakis said. “That’s always at the front of my mind. I’ve also been pushing for Amazon to use more bikes and fewer vans to make their deliveries. There are just so many Amazon vans that come down Van Brunt St.” Indeed, Amazon is already ramping up use of bicycles to make their deliveries in Red Hook. It is becoming increasingly common to see bright yel- low delivery bikes carrying packages. However, a piece of bad news is that RXR (another planned last-mile warehouse) told Tampakis that they have no plans to use the waterfront.

“It’s very frustrating because they say they want to be good neighbors but at the same time they aren’t even considering using the waterfront,” Tampakis said.

Tampakis has given tours of the neighborhood to politicians including Council Member Alexa Avilés and Senator Andrew Gounardes while speaking to them about these issues.

“Residents have been calling for a truck traffic study for years, and studying alternatives like water-based transport to get fewer trucks on our streets is urgently needed,” said Avilés.

“Although the City and the State are currently engaged in the process of re-envisioning the crumbling BQE, we must also heed the Department of Transportation’s findings that the only fix for this issue long-term is to shift freight traffic from roadways to other modes, like water transport,” said Gounardes. “But billions are needed to repair the necessary infrastructure such that our waterways could take on a meaningful amount of shipping traffic.

“This is why I introduced my bill to tax online deliveries within NYC at 25 cents per package to raise revenue for crucial repairs to infrastructure: New Yorkers receive 2.3 million packages per day, and this bill could raise over $200 million to repair our infrastructure in just the first year.”

While it is clear there is still a lot of work that needs to get done, it is very encouraging to hear that politicians are listening and willing to address the various issues raised by community leaders.

Another public meeting is expected to occur sometime between September and November with a third public meeting taking place between June and September of 2024. A final report