Metro

City pleased with Red Hook ideas

The city said it was satisfied with ideas generated at an invitation-only meeting held last month — and eager to find an entity that might enliven the area near the Red Hook cruise terminal.

“We were very pleased by the turnout, quality of feedback and breadth of ideas for our roundtable on possible community uses for the portion of the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal parking lot along Imlay Street,” said Janel Patterson, a spokesperson for the city’s Economic Development Corporation, the quasi public entity leading the initiative.

The Jan. 20 meeting hosted by the agency at the cruise terminal will help the EDC to better program the site, which stands fallow, much to the chagrin of locals who continue to wait for the waterfront’s often ballyhooed revitalization.

“We got a variety of great ideas, including recreational uses, markets, exhibit space and suggestions for various children and youth activities. We will use these ideas to help us craft a request for proposals for an operator to program and manage the site,” she noted.

Patterson said she did not know yet when the first public meeting on the matter will be scheduled. An operator could be chosen as early as this spring, and new programming could begin in the summer, according to the blog A View From the Hook.

Borough President Marty Markowitz offered his opinion on the space, recently telling this paper through a spokesperson that the area offers endless possibilities, from “flea markets and conventions to children’s and neighborhood events and even ‘Antiques Roadshow,’ as well as aggressive outreach to other cruise lines.”

gbuiso@cnglocal.com