BROOKLYN, NY - These Brooklyn residents won't mind if tall towers rise in their backyard. In fact, they're calling on the city to revise a rezoning plan for Broadway Triangle in Williamsburg to include more low-income housing - in towers, if necessary. "Everyone else is building towers," said Churches United board member Rob Solano, who hand-delivered 3,800 letters to Mayor Bloomberg's office yesterday supporting the effort. "Twenty stories will not be out of scale with the neighborhood."
Critics of the city's current plan for the 31 acres also complained that political machinations have affected the process - with connected and powerful groups being given city land as well as a deciding voice in how it's developed.
City officials acknowledged that one parcel of land has been awarded without a bid, but said all local groups and residents still have an opportunity to have their say in a rezoning process that is just beginning. "Nobody was shut out of the planning process," said city Housing Preservation and Development Department spokesman Seth Donlin. "There are numerous public forums for people to comment."
The city's proposal for Broadway Triangle would create 1,895 apartments, nearly half of which would be affordable, in six- to 10-story buildings. However, critics said, that is not enough to combat the gentrification of the area. "We have no option but to build up to provide housing for the thousands of families that are being displaced," said Luis Garden Acosta, of the nonprofit group El Puente. "We have suffered a class cleansing. The working class is being removed from Williamsburg, Bushwick and beyond."
Donlin could not explain why city property at 100 Throop Ave. was awarded without a formal Request for Proposals but said it wasn't out of the ordinary. Critics expressed outrage that the property was given away before the rezoning to two politically powerful organizations - Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Center, which has ties to Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D-Williamsburg) and the Hasidic group United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg. "This a clear indication the city is moving ahead with the plan [and] chosen who they're going to deal with," said Councilwoman Diana Reyna (D-Williamsburg).
Lopez said no one had gotten special favors, noting he supported 100% affordable housing for the area. But he added he could not support building towers, citing the repeated votes of the local community board for "contextual zoning. "We're at the beginning of the process," he said.
Source: nydailynews.com