Michelle Cherian, Katherine Chiu, Allegra DePasquale, Heba Fakir

A major issue that Red Hook faces is the inadequate use of land. This is largely due to the number of unused lots that remain scattered about the town.  During our observations in Red Hook, we all took note of the abundance of empty lots throughout the town, as well as the presence of many buildings that were waiting to be rented and appeared to be generally unused.  We also identified the use of land as a problem through the community board meeting.  Most of the meeting focused on presenting plans that would find unused land that could be used to develop housing or using this land to expand manufacturing within the area.  This inefficient use of land leads to environmental problems, like litter accumulation, housing crises, as housing is in short supply, and gentrification issues. Improving land use is imperative to addressing these problems and improving overall quality of life in Red Hook.