"I think everyone here will agree that New York City's Waterfront has enormous opportunities for new recreational facilities, new housing, new businesses, and that we are going to be seeing an unprecedented level of waterfront development over the next two decades. And yet at the same time we, of course, want to be sensitive to the environmental issues that were raised, that have been raised over the past few decades, and that have sometimes been a difficulty for waterfront development."

Opening remarks of the 2005 meeting of the New York City Council's Committee on Waterfronts by DAVID YASSKY, Chairperson

In the early 1990s, the Port Authority begins selling a large arc of waterfront properties to Greg O’Connell, Erie Basin bargeport, and the Quadrozzi family (moving counterclockwise around the shore). All those landowners report that their efforts to reactivate the water’s edge face the challenge of the NYS DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) that is reluctant to grant permits for shoreline repair. Getting a DEC permit remains a major challenge in the present day. 

[Select image below to see the full transcript Waterfront Committee's 2005 Hearing (PDF)]