NYU Graduate students partnered with the office on NYC Councilmember Alexa Avilés in 2025 to create a report and recommendations on the "Revitalization of the South Brooklyn Waterfront" with a particular focus on Red Hook. 

Here is the Executive Summary from the report:

"A wetlands park can enhance the public access and environmental resilience benefits of the South Brooklyn waterfront. This report examines the ecological, social, and economic benefits of  transforming an unused parcel of land in Red Hook, Brooklyn, into a natural flood buffer and recreation space. The report draws on expert interviews and community input in the context of a proposal by the NYC Economic Development Corporation.

"We recommend that Councilmember Avilés support the conversion of a Red Hook waterfront property into a wetlands park that integrates nature-based design, community priorities, and maritime revitalization efforts.
Our four key findings are as follows:

1. A wetlands park, complemented by broader efforts at nature-based environmental resilience, can deliver cost-effective flood mitigation and enhance biodiversity.
2. Red Hook residents emphasize the need for equitable park access, protection
   from green gentrification, community-driven programming, and local
   stewardship.
3. A sustainable financing strategy could use any of, or a mixture of all of, public
   grants and loans, mitigation banking, localized taxation strategies, and
   community-led conservancy models. To avoid displacement and ensure longterm equity, funding should prioritize community commitments over private
   development and engage businesses that would benefit from local revitalization.
4. The park should align with broader efforts to revitalize Red Hook’s working waterfront. Integrating park development with upgrades to the Brooklyn Marine Terminal would create opportunities for waterfront engagement through the park and complement new sustainable freight infrastructure at the terminal.

PortSide NewYork was one of the key contributors to the report, working with Adam Dore-Young. Here is a small preview that relates to PortSide and tanker MARY A WHALEN:

Read the full report below, follow this link to download it(PDF) or go to Councilmember Alexa Avilés's official page for the report.

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