Public advocate latest to join fight against Pier 6

City Public Advocate Letitia James is the latest to join a list of civic groups and advocacy organizations fighting the Pier 6 residential development in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

James, touted as a possible mayoral candidate in 2017, put her signature on a letter sent Monday to the Empire State Development Corp. asking the agency to block construction of two residential towers that would bring 339 new units of affordable and luxury housing to the Brooklyn Heights waterfront.

The letter claims that “there is no need for immediate development” at the site as Brooklyn Bridge Park currently has a $47 million budget surplus from earlier housing development and is not expected to go in the red until 2029, according to the New York Post.

While former Mayor Michael Bloomberg had promised neighborhood groups that housing at Pier 6 would only be built as a last resort, the de Blasio administration has pushed the project as a way to reach the mayor’s affordable housing goals.

James’ endorsement means she is siding with local elected officials representing neighborhoods surrounding the park – many of whom helped carry de Blasio to victory in 2013 — in opposition to the mayor and his plans for the area.

The controversial Pier 6 project recently received backing from a union coalition that mailed fliers to thousands of Brooklyn Heights homes touting the purported benefits of the development. [NYP] – Rey Mashayekhi