The City Council is getting reading to vote on Mayor Bill de Blasio's affordable housing plan, but those seeking to block it say the fight is not over. Borough reporter Ruschell Boone has reaction from Queens.
The mayor's deal with the City Council is not sitting well with community leaders like Robert Holden, who are spreading the word about a rally at City Hall on Thursday. Many are also lobbying their council member to vote against the plan.
City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley has not indicated which way she will vote, but Holden is concerned that the housing plan would create some of the out-of-character development that became rampant in Queens a decade ago. The mayor's original plan had been voted down by community boards across the five boroughs.
"We have a lot of one-family bungalows, two-family attached homes in Middle Village, and we want to preserve that," said Holden, who is the president of the Juniper Park Civic Association. "We don't want a five-or six-story building popping up next to it."
The deal would rewrite zoning regulations to enable more housing construction, particularly senior housing, and require developers to include a certain percentage of affordable units when building in a rezoned area.
Some who had originally opposed the deal are now on-board, but urban planner Paul Graziano isn't one of them. Graziano has helped rezone several neighborhoods in the borough.
"It's very bad approach, and it only helps the real estate industry," Graziano said. "It doesn't help the people who need the affordable housing."
Council Member Donovan Richards of Queens, who is the chair of the council's zoning committee, disagrees. He says the deal would increase the amount of affordable housing and curbs the parking changes that were proposed in the original plan.
"It's very important that although we want to protect the character and the contextual districts that we have all worked very hard to rezone, you know, that we are creating space for affordable housing," Richards said. "And let me be clear: we took out a lot of things that were troublesome for communities."
The zoning committee is scheduled to vote on the plan Thursday. It's expected to go to the full council for a vote next Tuesday.