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Protestors of Williamsburg Broadway Triangle Rezoning Plan Rally Thursday on City Hall Steps [Photo Credit: Gifter for VIN News]

New York City - A coalition of 40 Brooklyn organizations held a press conference just prior to the City Council’s Land Use Subcommittee hearing Thursday, Nov. 19, on the plan to rezone the Broadway Triangle in Brooklyn.

The rally took place 9 a.m. on the steps of City Hall. The triangle is a 50-acre urban renewal area on the border of Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant.

The group, known as the Broadway Triangle Community Coalition, made up of most major housing and community organizations in Williamsburg and a number from Bedford-Stuyvesant, condemn the proposed rezoning as “a political give-away” to the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council and the United Jewish Organizations (UJO) of Williamsburg — at the expense of the Latino, Hasidic and African-American communities in the affected neighborhoods, according to coalition Chair Juan Ramos. “The city’s plan is defective at multiple levels, having completely excluded the Bed-Stuy community from participation in its development, and if approved will permanently prevent the Triangle Rezoning from providing maximum and comprehensive benefits to residents of the surrounding communities,” said Ramos, a Bed-Stuy resident.

Addressing the crowed [Photo: Gifter for VIN News]

Ramos notes that the proposed rezoning:

• Provides for less than half of the possible 4,000 units of housing that could be built;

• Guarantees that no more than 150 units of such housing be affordable, relying on incentives rather than a mandatory provision for such affordable housing;

• Adds no new open space or any additional community facilities, such as schools, despite the significant increase in residents that would result;

• Would result in the loss of existing businesses in the affected area; and

• Provides that a 50 percent preference for any affordable housing be given to residents of Williamsburg-Greenpoint only, excluding Bed-Stuy residents from the same preference, despite the fact that the Triangle falls within both Community Boards.

[Protesters of Williamsburg Broadway Triangle Rezoning Plan Rally Thursday on City Hall StepsPhoto: Gifter for VIN News]

Ramos also calls attention to recent editorials in the New York Times and El Diario that have attacked the mayor’s secretive give-away that excluded every major community organization from the planning process other than the two beneficiaries, the Ridgewood Bushwick Council and the UJO.

Congress Members Nydia Velazquez and Ed Towns, and Council Member Diana Reyna, have indicated their opposition to the proposal and will call for a reopened, transparent process.

Meanwhile Azi describes  how the hearings went

I poked my head into the Council Chambers a few minutes ago, where Dan Garodnick was presiding over a rather well-attended Council hearing about a proposed rezoning at the Broadway Triangle.

That’s a 31-acre piece of property whose rezoning is supported by Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the Brooklyn County Democratic Leader.

Hearing inside council on rezoning. [Photo Gifter for VIN News]

Critics like City Councilwoman Diana Reyna said many residents in the area were left out of the public review process before the rezoning was drafted. Reyna, whom Lopez tried to oust in this year’s Democratic primary and general election, is now helping lead the opposition to the rezoning.

I got to the hearing just before three women sat down to testify in favor of the rezoning, saying it will bring much-needed affordable housing to the area.

One of the women said the plans shouldn’t be delayed “because of political interests,” clearly a reference to Reyna.

Before the women left, City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez asked them a few questions, including their place of employment.

One by one, each of the three women said they worked for the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Center. That’s the one that was founded, and is run, by Lopez.

Protesters listen in at the hearings

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