The city moved one step closer to closing Red Hook’s cargo port last week, scoring a key vote of approval on the controversial move from the Port Authority.
The regional authority gave the green light to the city’s takeover of the port last Wednesday, serving a blow to local lawmakers who had pushed Gov. Spitzer to save Brooklyn’s last cargo-hauling facility.
Spitzer’s new Port Authority appointee, Executive Director Anthony Shorris, said the city can take control of the piers later this year.
The approval paves the way for the Bloomberg administration’s ambitious plan to replace the Red Hook Container Port with a tourist-friendly manufacturing facility and beer garden for Brooklyn Brewery, and a small cargo pier for shipping the borough’s famed ale.
City Councilman David Yassky (D–Brooklyn Heights) warned this week that the mayor’s plan is still uncertain.
Yassky remains a critic of the pier plan because he fears it will eliminate longshoremen jobs. He said this week that he was not sure if the council would approve the plan when it comes before the legislative branch later this year.
“We have to wait and see what kind of jobs are created before anything is decided,” said Yassky spokesman Evan Thies.
