Brooklyn's Progress
February 2004

Brooklyn Chamber President Kenneth Adams and Michael Burke, Director of the Downtown Brooklyn Council, testified during a Community Board 2 Public Hearing on Jan. 15 about the Downtown Brooklyn Development Plan.  Following are their testimonies:

Good evening.  I am Kenneth Adams, President of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.  I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak briefly before you this evening regarding the Downtown Brooklyn Plan.  As you might suspect, The Chamber of Commerce supports the Downtown Brooklyn Plan; and I hope that, after you have examined, analyzed, discussed and debated this Plan, you – the Members of Community Board 2 – will support it also.

You have already heard many of the supporting arguments for the Plan in the presentations by City officials who have come to this podium before me.  We at the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce support those fundamental benefits of the Plan – the economic benefits of new commercial office buildings in key underdeveloped areas, the increased housing and retail that the plan creates, and the physical improvements to our local streets, public open space and infrastructure. 

But beyond re-stating the essential benefits of the Downtown Brooklyn Plan, please allow me to share two additional observations about the Plan with you:

First, the ULURP application (or package of zoning actions) you are considering tonight is not really the “Downtown Brooklyn Plan” itself.   It is a fundamental administrative step needed to make the Plan a possibility. 

With your support, the approval of this ULURP Application will revise the out-of-date zoning framework of our downtown area to create new opportunities for commercial and residential development where is has not been encouraged or allowed in the past.  This Application creates new zoning tools that reflect new and vastly improved economic conditions in Community Board 2.  It creates a new regulatory environment to enable and encourage new jobs, new buildings, new housing, stores, schools, cultural institutions and other facilities in Downtown Brooklyn. 

But it does not – all by itself – build these things.  The gradual building out of the Plan itself will have to be market driven and is likely to take place over a period of many years.

And, here is my second observation:  I have come before this Community Board (which is my own as my family and I live on Dean St.) many times.  And most often, that has been to testify about a single building or project.  (And you’re right – most often I do ask you to support them.) 

But the difference between this proposal and the individual projects we have debated in the past is important – this Application is for a Plan, not one specific project.  And I really believe it is a thoughtful, comprehensive, sensible and sensitive Plan.  As the leaders of the Downtown Brooklyn Council, Michael Burke and Jim Whelan before him have worked in partnership with the City of New York and many of you in this room for over three years to draft, edit, change and re-draft the Downtown Brooklyn Plan.  To get it right.  And, while certainly there will still be neighbors and friends in the community with important concerns not yet resolved, I believe this public-private team has made a sincere effort to seek out and respond to as many concerned individuals and organization as possible.  To listen and to respond. 

Again, this is about an incredibly important Plan – a Plan to guide the on-going development of Downtown Brooklyn shaped by a vision of growth, prosperity, neighborhood development, economic opportunity and quality of life for those of us who live and work in Board 2, like I do, and for the rest of the Borough of Brooklyn and the City and region beyond.  I hope you will vote to support it.  Thank you for your attention.

Good evening.  My name is Michael Burke and I am the director of the Downtown Brooklyn Council.

A few years ago, the businesses and institutions of downtown Brooklyn agreed to cooperate on the creation of a new organization, which would market, promote and advocate to improve downtown Brooklyn.  That organization became the Downtown Brooklyn Council.

The Council’s first major initiative was the creation of a development plan.  Over the course of 3 years, the Council developed a plan that would build on downtown Brooklyn’s existing strengths.  It envisioned more office space, more retail and more housing; new space for arts and cultural groups; new academic space to serve downtown’s 32,000 students; and an improved transportation network to better serve the city’s third largest business district.

This plan closely followed the recommendations of two previous studies – the 1996 RPA study for downtown Brooklyn and the 1999 Livingston Corridor plan.  Based on these previous recommendations, our plan included graduated height limits near Boerum Hill, streetscape improvements on downtown’s major thoroughfares, and more housing development for all income levels.  This development plan was unique among the city’s recent planning efforts, because it was created by Brooklyn institutions for the benefit of Brooklyn.

Last April the Downtown Council and the Bloomberg administration formed a partnership to promote this plan as the next logical step in downtown Brooklyn’s development.  Since then, the plan has been fine-tuned in close consultation with Brooklyn’s elected officials and community leaders.  Dozens of outreach meetings have been held with tenants associations, arts groups, churches and neighborhood associations in every community in and around downtown Brooklyn.  The Downtown Development Plan that you see today is a result of that collaboration and presents an array of actions designed to provide significant benefits to the diverse communities of downtown Brooklyn.

And the benefits of this plan are clear.  Building on the existing strengths in downtown Brooklyn, the plan will further solidify downtown’s place as not only a major business district, but as the borough’s premier shopping district; as the borough’s epicenter for arts and culture; as the city’s largest concentration of students and academic institutions; and as the center of mixed income housing development.

Once approved, the Downtown plan will allow the development of millions of square feet of commercial, retail, academic and residential space.  We estimate that this development will generate 8,000 construction jobs and over 18,000 permanent jobs, as well as 1,000 housing units and $100 million in public infrastructure improvements.

Yet with these benefits come numerous challenges we all need to face, from traffic and parking impacts to job opportunities for local residents.  The Downtown Brooklyn Council is committed to ensuring that these challenges are addressed early and comprehensively.  That is why the Downtown Council is initiating a number of major efforts to address these many challenges.

First, we will address the challenges of traffic and parking.  In partnership with Congressman Towns’ office, we will implement a series of traffic and parking initiatives.  The first will be a thorough assessment of parking patterns in Downtown Brooklyn and the surrounding residential neighborhoods, including the use of government parking permits and the problem of commuter parking in residential neighborhoods.  The results of this assessment will better inform the decision making of community groups and government, particularly around such contested issues as residential parking permits.

In addition, following the MetroTech BID’s recommendation, we will begin a feasibility study for the creation of a Downtown Brooklyn Transportation Management Association.  Such associations exist in cities across the country to study, implement and manage traffic related initiatives within central business districts.  We will explore creating a new Transportation Management Association in downtown Brooklyn that would oversee long-term traffic management and reduction strategies.

The second major initiative will focus on local contracting opportunities in future downtown construction.  The Downtown Council is partnering with the City of New York and the Downtown Brooklyn Advisory and Oversight Committee to identify contracting opportunities for local, minority and women owned businesses.  As many of us know, the Advisory and Oversight Committee has a long and successful history of connecting local construction related firms and local labor to downtown construction projects.  We intend to build on that success and use it as a model for all future downtown development projects.

The third initiative will focus on permanent jobs for local residents in the businesses that will move into downtown Brooklyn.  To that end, we have partnered with the Borough President’s office to create the Downtown Brooklyn Workforce Development Committee.  This committee includes businesses, developers, local community groups, employment experts and all of downtown’s elected officials.  Since November, Committee members have been meeting and exploring the many workforce development issues and challenges.  Our goal is to create a legitimate process to connect local residents, job training and placement organizations, and downtown businesses.  By starting early, we intend to have a job training and placement process in place, well before the next phase of downtown development begins.

The Downtown Brooklyn Council believes that planned development, when done right, has the potential of creating tremendous benefits and opportunities.  When done right, challenges that result from development are managed and positive solutions implemented.  We believe that the zoning and development proposal currently before the Community Board is such a plan.  In partnership with the Downtown Council, the City administration and local community groups, this plan will lead Downtown Brooklyn to its next stage of success and vibrant development.

Therefore, the Downtown Brooklyn Council urges the Community Board to approve this plan.  Thank you.