Most of the conversation about rezonings tends to focus on new residential and commercial development. How tall will the buildings be? What uses will be allowed? How much of the housing will be affordable, and to whom? And those questions matter a lot, of course.
But that means we don’t usually spend enough time focusing on the infrastructure —
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I’m voting no today on the Flushing Rezoning. Organizing by community groups and labor unions, and leadership from my colleagues, has made the proposal better. And many of its shortcomings reflect broader failures of our land-use process. But it still does not meet the standards we should be setting for broadly-shared, equitable, and sustainable growth.
NEW YORK – Following the announcement today from NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio of the restoration of $466 million in cuts to the capital budget for affordable housing, Council Members Brad Lander and Vanessa L. Gibson, chair of the Subcommittee on the Capital Budget, released the following statement:
“We’re glad to hear the good news that the cuts to this year’s affordable housing budget will be restored.
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At an event Tuesday, Deputy Mayor Vicki Been announced that the City will be restarting the community engagement process around the proposed Gowanus Neighborhood Rezoning, with the goal of certifying the proposal and starting the ULURP clock in January.
New analysis from Councilmembers Brad Lander and Vanessa Gibson, in partnership with the New York Housing Conference, shows that proposed cuts to New York City’s capital investment program would cause more economic harm than relief, saving almost no money in the near term, while costing New York City more than 20,000 units of affordable housing and as many as 15,000 jobs, just as the City begins to face the economic crisis produced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reducing the criminalization of homelessness is a critical goal, but increased police harassment of homeless New Yorkers in the subway is not the solution. Homeless New Yorkers need increased access to services and housing, not increased surveillance and harassment.
The New York City Council Committee on Housing and Buildings, along with the Committee on Technology, will hear testimony today on proposed legislation that would require building owners to provide all tenants with a traditional key, and prevent landlords from mandating that tenants use facial recognition, biometric scanning, or other “smart” key technology to enter their apartment buildings or their individual unit.
In August, the NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS) gave notice to our community that a new shelter for adult families will be sited in Gowanus at 399 3rd Avenue (at the corner of 6th Street). The shelter will be operated by the non-profit organization Praxis Housing Initiatives, Inc.
