The one where Restler killed a plan to dump sewage into Bushwick's future: no poop in the park

Councilmember Lincoln Restler did not bury the lede. "No poop in Bushwick in the park," he testified, and that line carried the biggest vote of the morning. The subcommittee, chaired by Christopher Marte, approved LU 36 and LU 37, the DEP Newtown Creek combined sewer overflow tunnel: a 3.26-mile, 550-million-gallon storage tunnel running along Newtown Creek between the English Kills and Dutch Kills tributaries. To build it, the Department of Environmental Protection and DCAS won site selection and acquisition of 90 properties plus nine city-owned parcels across Brooklyn Community District 1 and Queens Community Districts 2 and 5, in the districts of Council members Restler, Won and Gutierrez.

Restler framed it as a plan the city chose to make better when it did not have to. He credited former Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala and Deputy Commissioner Angela Licata for rewriting the long-term control plan to capture far larger sewage-overflow reductions, work that was "not mandated" and "not directed." The old plan would have kept dumping into the waterways near his waterfront community; the new one does not, with piping running deep underground so property owners can still renovate their buildings. He also pinned DEP to follow-on promises: green infrastructure across District 33, a hard look at the chronic flooding at the private Sonsire Triangle, and a planned renovation of Greenpoint Playground. "Most of my district is a flood zone," he said.

The other two items moved without testimony. LU 35 clears the way for the 1727 Amsterdam Hilltop Apartments, an HPD urban development action area designation and disposition in Manhattan, in the Majority Leader's district, that sets up a new nine-story, 100% affordable building with 200 dwelling units of supportive and affordable housing plus a community facility. The pre-considered LU greenlights the School Construction Authority's site selection for a roughly 754-seat primary and intermediate school in Great Kills, Staten Island, at the corner of Abingdon Avenue and East Reading Avenue in Council Member Morano's district.

All three votes carried four in the affirmative, zero against, zero abstentions, with Marte joined by Hanks, Avilés and Nurse. The items now go to the full Land Use committee, where a sewage tunnel, 200 affordable units, and a new Staten Island school will each get their final hearing.