Human-Scale NYC, along with 19 other neighborhood groups, held a press conference across the street from the Equitable Building, where the City Planning Commission (CPC) has its New York City offices, on June 19. They believe the Commissioners, who they say are mostly connected to the real estate industry, rubber stamp a majority vote along the lines indicated by landlords and developers via their lobby, the Real Estate Board of New York.
“When regulated industries take over the city agency that is supposed to regulate them, foxes are guarding the henhouse,” Human-Scale said in a statement. “Such is the case at the City Planning Commission. Having the foxes in charge explains why communities cannot get a fair hearing before that Commission.”
There the groups stood and spoke in solidarity, calling for the following:
- A moratorium on upzonings until a majority of new commissioners, who don’t represent the interests of the real estate industry, is installed at the Department of City Planning.
- A call to the City Charter Commission to rectify “agency capture” with changes to the City Charter that assures appointees to regulatory agencies don’t represent the regulated industry.
- A public investigation of conflicts of interest at the CPC on rezonings for Gowanus, Bushwick, Flatbush, Industry City and the past rezonings of Inwood, East Harlem and East New York.
Debbie Stoller, a familiar face who has attended Gowanus rezoning-related meetings and press conferences in Brooklyn since February, represented Voice of Gowanus in Manhattan.
“You all know how dirty the Gowanus Canal is, but if you knew what was going on down there with this rezoning, it’s dirtier than you could possibly imagine,” she said.
Stoller informed attendees that the Department of City Planning (DCP) came up with a plan in 2008 that allowed for eight-story buildings along the canal that could turn into 11 or 12-stories, if 20 percent affordable housing was included. Now more than a decade later, buildings of more than 20 stories are being presented to the community, despite many bringing up concerns about those extreme heights. She went on to say developers would be getting real estate and tax deals, should this plan move forward.
“We in Gowanus also feel that this rezoning is dirty, dirty, dirty politics, and we deserve a better plan,” Stoller said.
But Gowanus isn’t the only neighborhood in Brooklyn to be facing impending or current rezonings. Mi Casa No Es Su Casa spoke about the pending Bushwick rezoning; Movement to Protect the People spoke about the Brooklyn Botanic Garden spot rezoning; Boroughs United addressed borough jails; and Brooklyn Anti-Gentrification Network mentioned massive displacements and the city valuing capital over people.
Other represented community-based groups included: East Harlem Preservation, Stop Sunnyside Yards, Take Back the Bronx, G-REBLS, Neighborhoods United Below Canal, Moving Forward Unidos, Inwood Preservation, Lower Seamen Tenants Association, Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side, Northern Manhattan is Not For Sale, Artists Studio Affordability Project, Justice For All Coalition, and Queens Neighborhoods United.
Jenny Dubnau, who repped the Artists Studio Affordability Project, spoke on behalf of the understudied industrial manufacturing zones where working artists have historically had cheap spaces to do their work.
“Simply put, the EDC [Economic Development Corporation] and DCP are whittling away at our manufacturing zones, destroying good job opportunities and raising surrounding rents as they go,” she said. “When you have these shiny glass towers replacing gritty auto repair shops and woodworking shops, all the rents in the surrounding area rise, not just in the manufacturing zones. Again, who is it for? Real estate.”
Top photo by DeGregorio
