Phoenix is Using Pier 11 for Recycling Only.

More information has come to light on why Phoenix trucks are shuttling between Pier 11 (photo above) and Pier 7, speeding and rattling their way through Columbia Street and other residential streets, despite the lies ... um, I mean assurances made by Phoenix, their owner Greg Brayman and the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC) via their Vice President, Venetia Lannon, that Phoenix trucks would be using the internal roadways of the container terminal as much as possible.

Apparently, Phoenix is using the Pier 11 shed for recycling the empty bottles that they collect when they make their deliveries. This is what the I've been told the split is between the uses of the two piers on our waterfront.

This, via someone with some knowledge of Phoenix's operations -

"The (trucks) begin at Pier 7 (where they spend the night), get loaded up with beer/wine/spirits, and then drive out the Pier 7 gate to the BQE and off to their destinations. When they make their deliveries, they pick up empty bottles. Those bottles are then delivered to Pier 11, where they are processed for recycling (per the requirements of the State's bigger, better bottle bill) at a facility that Phoenix has set up there. They then drive (empty) from Pier 11 to Pier 7, to get loaded up again for deliveries ... and it is these trips that go on local streets. (Moving the goods from where they are off-loaded from ships, to the Pier 7 warehouse, does take place within the Port)."


So the Pier 11 shed is being used for recycling? That explains why I saw the recycling bins inside the cavernous shed a number of weeks back, on one of PortSide NY's "community sails" on the ship, Clipper City, as we sailed past one of the huge shed's open doors. (see photo)

So that's what Phoenix is using Pier 11 for? Recycling? That's why the EDC insisted that Phoenix take Pier 11, as well as the much larger Pier 7, when Phoenix only ever said they needed one? This murky deal, all at the expense of more waterfront access and more community and people-friendly elements that were part of Community Board 6 guidelines and our 197a Plan?

The fact is that when the EDC announced their plan to relocate Phoenix Beverages from Long Island City to Red Hook's waterfront, they said that Phoenix's entire operations would be accommodated in the Pier 11 shed. Then, after the community suggested that Pier 7 would be a better location and a deal was struck to get the much larger Pier 7 shed, as was Phoenix's first preference, it seemed like it would be a win-win situation - for Phoenix and for the community who didn't want to exclude Phoenix from the waterfront, but did want to make sure that pollution and traffic issues were addressed as well as their clearly articulated desire for more public access, open space, reconnection to the waterfront and waterborne transportation, etc. That's why it was such a shock when the EDC announced that Phoenix would take up both Pier 11 and Pier 7, book-ending the entire waterfront, at the exclusion of much of what the community had so desired - except for the inclusion of PortSide NY who would be given a 600 foot length of the Atlantic Basin and a small portion of the Pier 11 shed.

So, now, to hear that Phoenix is using the Pier 11 shed for recycling, when surely that could also be accommodated at Pier 7 - the larger shed - is just astounding.

This is in addition to the news that the "EDC and Phoenix feel that they only committed that overweight/container trucks would stay inside the Port ... but that they always knew that delivery trucks would run on local streets (with Van Brunt - Columbia as the truck route)."

Well, we never heard that at any of the meetings, and they are just lying if they're saying otherwise.

All of this, including the revelation that Phoenix is only shuttling their between Pier 7 and 11 along residential streets, posing dangers to pedestrians, creating congestion and pollution, because they have their recycling bins in the Pier 11 shed - when it's pretty clear this activity, and all of their needs could be accommodated in the huge Pier 7 shed - is further reason to sign the petition.

Phoenix Beverages Should Use Pier 7 Only To Reduce Truck Traffic On Our Residential Streets

Sign the petition HERE