November 19, 2022
A rezoning allowing a massive new real estate development in East New York that would include 11 apartment buildings with more than 2,000 apartments passed a key city council test on Thursday, with the backing of a local representative best known for his stances. ‘opposition.
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Councilmember Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn), an avowed socialist and frequent opponent of rezoning, backed Innovative Urban Village’s plan after years of negotiations with developers — an adamant stance he says has resulted in a project with only affordable units for the predominantly black and Latino working-class neighborhood.
The plan, as initially predicted by Gotham Organization and the Christian Cultural Center, a Starrett City megachurch that owns the land, originally offered rentals for residents making between 30% and 120% of the New York area median income in the region – currently between $40,000 and $160,000 for a household of four.
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But after community feedback and negotiations with Barron’s office, the developer lowered income limits to between 30% and 80% of median income, or between $40,000 and $106,000 for a family of four. According to 2019 Data compiled by the Furman Center, the median household income in the local community district was $48,000, and more than half of area households earned incomes that would qualify.
City Councilman Charles Barron, Democrat of East New York, speaking at an election-related protest in June/Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
The proposed development on what is currently a parking lot and other vacant land would also include a trade school, grocery store, daycare center and four acres of public open space.
Barron, a former Black Panther and long opponent of the Brooklyn Democratic Party establishment, said the project should serve as an example to other City Council members with proposals for major developments in their districts, as well as to the Adams administration, on how to getting to “yes” without approving projects with rents beyond what local residents can afford.
The same committee of council also unanimously approved another major rezoning, known as QNS Innovation, following lengthy negotiations with Astoria local councilor Julie Won (D-Queens), who initially had raised objections to what she called insufficient affordable housing.
The $2 billion project is expected to bring nearly 3,000 apartments to an area near Northern Boulevard, around a third of which are rated as affordable.
The project is backed by construction workers union 32BJ SEIU and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who ridiculed Won as she did, fearing the arrival of luxury units would exacerbate gentrification in the area.
In a statement, Won Explain her apparent change of heart pointing to ‘wins’, including an increase in the affordable units her team had obtained – although those changes appeared to fall short of the 55% affordable threshold she had originally demanded.
“We negotiated daily to secure unprecedented levels of affordability for my immigrant and working-class community,” Won said, adding that she was “finalizing negotiations for the developer and administration commitments of the mayor”.
Indeed, she let the project go through the subcommittee, where other legislators usually defer to the wishes of the local council member, before receiving a firm, written commitment.
“As a board member, I will use all accountability measures to ensure our community’s gains are actualized,” Won continued.
Barron, speaking of the East New York project, encouraged board members not to settle for an affordable half loaf in projects that require their approval.
“I keep telling them, ‘Go for 100% accessibility, affordable for the income level of your community’s income bracket,'” Barron told THE CITY. “We have all these projects where people say, ‘Oh, I got 30% affordable or 25%’. That means you got 70% of the market. In this one, there’s no market rate.
Council members have leverage, he pointed out, because of “member deference,” New York’s longstanding policy. but increasingly controversial practice in which the majority of the Council follows the wishes of the member who represents a given district with projects to be rezoned.
“The city council has the power. No matter what the mayor wants to do — wants to give his real estate and the people who finance it and whose music he dances to on Wall Street breaks — the mayor can’t do rezoning,” Barron said. “The mayor can’t even pass a bill. In fact, 34 votes on a bill and we override a mayoral veto.
Tale of two “innovations”
Barron’s ‘yes’ to what he calls a ‘100%’ affordable project comes after months of high profile clashes across the city in which the Adams administration and pro-development forces, pointing to the city’s housing crisis, pushed lawmakers to greenlight bigger and bigger projects.
In October, Councilwoman Marjorie Velázquez (D-The Bronx) came out abruptly in favor of a development proposal in Throggs Neck after promising residents for months that she was against it. His overthrow allowed hundreds of new apartments to be built there, a victory for Mayor Adams and Council Speaker Adrienne Adams.
In June, the developers took of a request to build a 915-unit high-rise building in Harlem after council member Kristin Richardson Jordan (D-Manhattan) lambasted the project, which despite repeated concessions never exceeded 50% construction non-market units.
Richardson Jordan has been criticized by some elected officials and pro-development groups, who have pointed to the likely alternatives proposed for the site.
“The site will remain as is indefinitely – vacant land, an abandoned gas station and a small amount of single storey retail. If the owner of the property proceeds with the development within the limits of right, it will likely become a self-storage facility,” said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine at the time. “The desperate need for additional affordable housing in Harlem and throughout the city is becoming increasingly acute.”
Barron was one of the Council’s most prominent allies of Richardson Jordan, another black socialist, calling her a “she-ro” for standing up to the “arrogant” developer, as The Amsterdam News reported.
For the project in his district, however, Barron said AR Bernard, pastor of the Eastern New York Christian Cultural Center and one of the forces behind the development, was someone he could work with.
“He is much more conservative. I am much more radical. It is much more capitalist. I am a socialist. So we’re on very different sides of the spectrum,” Barron said. “But at the end of the day, no matter who comes before me or what your policy is, you’re going to make housing affordable for our people.”
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