Since the U.S. Navy decommissioned Pier 5 in 1975, BPDA stewardship of public assets in the Navy Yard has led to widespread deterioration. Pier 5, Pier 4, the Harborwalk, Shipway, and the Dry Dock are all suffering from “blight by neglect.”

Notably, a 2% transfer tax on designated property sales in the Navy Yard has generated over $51 million in the past decade. Yet the BPDA has failed to invest those funds in maintaining or rehabilitating Pier 5. When questioned, BPDA officials offer little explanation—except to state, “We can invest where we want.”

Pier 4 was only renovated in response to an emergency caused by its near collapse. Pier 5 is now similarly threatened, not by circumstance, but by willful neglect and a desire to monetize a public asset.