Letter to Councilwoman Crystal Hudson

Dear Councilwoman Hudson:

Yesterday at our meeting, you seemed not to know about the Crown Heights North Rezoning which took place in the years 2010-2013 and was approved by the City Council on September 24, 2013.

This was a massive upzoning of about 55-blocks which caused a wave of displacement of both residents of color and small businesses. Despite the promise of the creation of affordable housing this rezoning in fact did the opposite: it increased housing prices throughout the district, resulting in CB8 having the largest number of residents removed from its community due to rent increases.

This was an upzoning changing commercial corridors to residential, increasing the Floor Area Ratio “FAR” (the amount of space that can be built on a specific lot size, the larger the FAR the more build-able space) and placing height limits with increased FARs, (which is a contextual upzoning).

Since this rezoning Community Board 8 “CB8”, has had 20,000 residents removed from this community, showing how negatively impactful rezonings are in low to moderate income communities of color. CB8 has the highest rate of evictions for all of Brooklyn.

Please click on the link above to the  Department of City Planning website which shows the rezoning changes that happened to this community under the premise that more “affordable” housing would be available to the residents in the community, thus reducing rents, when in fact it has done the opposite.

Not sure how much more evidence is needed to show the negative impacts that “rezonings” have on communities of color.

However, right across the street of Eastern Parkway in Community Board 9, we were able to stop our district wide/neighborhood rezoning and the number of people who have been displaced (due to lawful and unlawful landlord practices) has not amounted into the double digits that our neighbors (CB8) have suffered.

We have been able to maintain our present rent-stabilized tenants’ apartments, no buildings have been destroyed and rebuilt with increased heights (removing old tenants and small mom and pop businesses) and our tenants have been able to stay in their homes and apartments.  Our community continues to be labeled as a low-rise community despite it being the densest community in Brooklyn. And we are still a predominately community of color.

Thus, showing that the strategy that is being employed in white and middle-class communities not to engage in rezonings works even for low to moderate income communities of color.

Please Note: Two white communities veered from this strategy (SoHo/NoHo and Gowanus) with results that Gowanus has had the highest increase in the housing market (65%) than any other neighborhood in NYC and making it one of the most expensive neighborhoods in NYC.

I sent you a graph yesterday about that but will include it again.

Again we want to thank you for meeting with us, and we hope that the information that we are sharing with you will be helpful to you as you move forward with the work of protecting your community residents from displacement.

MTOPP
FLAC