A battle over Mayor Bill de Blasio's sweeping plans to build or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing is unfolding in East New York. NY1's Jeanine Ramirez filed the following report.
Purnima Kapur of the city Planning Department surveys a vacant lot in East New York, where City Hall hopes a high rise will be built one day with affordable housing, stores and a school. It's the only large city-owned property in the area, and it would be developed quickly if Mayor Bill de Blasio's ambitious rezoning plan is approved.
"What we're doing here is trying to get ahead of the curve, Kapur said. "We understand that if we do nothing here today, the market forces are going to take over and things will not be the same. So change is coming one way or another."
The city says it's trying to channel that change with de Blasio's plan, which would allow residential construction in what's now a light manufacturing district and permit big tall buildings along major avenues like Fulton Street. The city would give developers subsidies to build affordable housing.
"Our anticipation is, in the first few years, at least, most development here, if not all, will need city subsidies, and these are the areas where the mayor's housing subsidies fund will be strategically employed in making sure that people who are here have access to the housing that gets built," Kapur said.
However, there is opposition. The community board rejected the plan in November, and last week, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams formally objected. Among his 40 recommendations included guarantees that all rental housing on city-owned and financed sites be permanently affordable.
A group called the Coaltion for Community Advancement has gone further, launching an online petition urging residents to oppose the rezoning.
"Twenty- or 30,000 people projected to come in through the city's plan, and no firehouse and no police department," said we have very grave concerns."
Kapur, though, says any redevelopment will bring new city services and improve public spaces, and she says more changes are possible as the public review process continues.
The City Planning Commission public hearing takes place Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Brooklyn Borough Hall.