The Brooklyn Marine Terminal redevelopment plan became prime political real estate Tuesday, as U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman blasted his challenger in June's
Rep. Dan Goldman and former city Comptroller Brad Lander appeared separately Tuesday at a NY-10 candidate forum hosted by New York Law School and sponsored by Abundance New York and NYC New Liberals.
Lander countered that rushing ahead without resolving key transportation and port questions would undermine the pro-housing agenda both candidates claim to support. The two Democrats appeared separately, rather than in a debate — a format that moderator Ben Max, program director of New York Law School’s Center for New York City and State Law, described as Lander’s choice. Lander, the former city comptroller, said the one-on-one setup allowed for a more substantive discussion than “one-minute sniping back and forth.
” Goldman said he wished the candidates had appeared together and said he had sought more debates in the run-up to election day. The pair are set to face off again in the run-up to the June 23 primary, including on WNYC, PIX11 and NY1.
The sharpest exchange centered on the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, a $3.5 billion redevelopment plan for 122 acres of waterfront in Red Hook and nearby Brooklyn neighborhoods.calls for a 60-acre all-electric port, 6,000 homes, 28 acres of open space, more than 275,000 square feet of industrial space, resiliency measures and workforce, community and cultural uses. The task force approved the plan 20-8 after several postponements.
The votes had been postponed after task force members raised concerns about transportation, infrastructure, business displacement, flood-zone risk and the future of the working waterfront. Lander said Tuesday that he supports redeveloping the site but believes the Mamdani administration should take more time to review port operations and transportation planning.
“I do think a little more time is needed to refine that plan,” Lander said. He said the Adams administration and Goldman “failed to look at and seriously address a number of issues” and said the city should take “a couple of more months” to engage with stakeholders.
“The concerns that you hear about, ‘Oh, we need a few more months’ — that is how things don’t get done,” Goldman said. He said the plan already requires environmental review and infrastructure analysis, and warned against waiting for every unresolved issue to be settled before moving forward. Goldman also accused Lander of changing his position on the project.
He said Lander had been supportive of the plan before later criticizing it during the congressional race.said Lander had quietly lobbied holdout task force members last year to support the plan, citing people familiar with the outreach. Lander denied that characterization, telling Crain’s, “I never lobbied or pressured anyone. ” He said he had many conversations with stakeholders about how to achieve goals including maritime use, jobs, transportation, open space and mixed-income housing.
Crain’s also quoted Randy Mastro, the former deputy mayor and ex officio chair of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Development Corp., saying Lander “was supportive of the project. ” The report said it was unclear what impact, if any, Lander had on the final task force vote. Lander rejected the suggestion that his current concerns amount to obstruction. He compared the project unfavorably with the Gowanus rezoning, which he helped advance while in the City Council.
He said Gowanus went through the city’s formal land-use process and had stronger community buy-in. Goldman said the Gowanus rezoning was “conceptually” done well but criticized its rollout, saying market-rate housing had advanced while affordable housing at Gowanus Green remained delayed by environmental issues. The candidates used the forum to present competing arguments over who is better positioned to advance an “abundance” agenda, a policy movement focused on making it easier to build housing, transit, clean energy and public infrastructure.
Lander said he had been working on abundance issues before the term became popular. He joked that his failed mayoral campaign last year had suffered from bad political branding.
“People are talking about how Zohran has the model of populism in the front, abundance in the back. I guess that’s now referred to as the abundance mullet,” Lander said.
“I think I ran my mayor’s race with abundance in the front and populism in the back. That’s not a good hairstyle, like it’s covering your face, no one could see you. I’m not going to make that mistake in this race. ” Lander cited his work on affordable housing, the Gowanus rezoning, the Prospect Park West bike lane, congestion pricing, climate investments, the city’s capital-project dashboard and procurement reforms.
He also attacked Goldman’s record, saying, “There are not two abundance candidates in this race. There’s really just one. ” Lander called Goldman a “corporate Democrat” and accused him of yielding to NIMBY pressure on several local projects. Goldman countered that he has used his position in Congress to deliver federal funding, support housing tax-credit reform, push permitting changes and advance clean energy projects.
He said Democrats need “a bold agenda” to address wealth inequality and affordability, while also making government more efficient. Former city Comptroller Brad Lander speaks with moderator Ben Max during Tuesday’s NY-10 candidate forum at New York Law School.. Lander criticized the state’s 421-a replacement, saying labor requirements were poorly written and had slowed housing production. He blamed Gov.
Kathy Hochul and the building trades for striking a deal that he said was not producing enough housing, while adding that he supports labor standards. Goldman pointed to federal tools, including the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and possible tax incentives to reduce financing costs for affordable housing. He said he was likely to support a housing package moving through Congress by Lander-backer Sen. Elizabeth Warren, while expressing concern about build-to-rent single-family housing and the lack of homeownership opportunities.
On transit, Lander called for a metropolitan growth agenda centered on regional rail, transit-oriented development and federal incentives for states and localities to build more housing near transit. Goldman said the federal government should push agencies such as the MTA to spend infrastructure dollars more efficiently. He also defended his support for congestion pricing, saying he worked with Hochul to help get the program in place before President Donald Trump returned to office.
Lander said he helped convene advocates and lawyers who sued after Hochul paused congestion pricing and said Goldman was “nowhere to be found. ” Both candidates said they would support Rep. Hakeem Jeffries for speaker if Democrats win control of the House. Lander said members must also know when to push leadership.
Goldman said Democrats need to use leverage more aggressively in negotiations with Republicans. Asked whether he considered himself the favorite or the underdog in the race, Goldman said, “I feel like I’m going to win.
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