In case you missed it, I unwittingly became part of a major community news story this week.
Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, I testified at a Community Board 7 meeting on Monday before roughly 500 of my Windsor Terrace neighbors, who had gathered to discuss a rather standard development proposal that has become a proxy battle for the mayor's City of Yes rezoning initiative.
In short, the owner of a grubby laundry facility on Prospect Avenue wants to rezone the land so that he can sell to a developer who, in turn, wants to build two 13-story buildings, bringing hundreds of new units (scores of them below-market rate) to a neighborhood in desperate need of more housing (in a city in desperate need of more housing). Gothamist did an overview the other day.
Far more intelligent people than me spoke at the meeting, offering census figures, housing cost stats and demographic data to support the rezoning, but as a longtime resident of the neighborhood, and as someone who has covered community board land-use meetings for more than three decades in this city, I rose simply to defend the proposal amid a concerted campaign by NIMBYs trotting out the same old arguments: "It's too tall!"; "It will destroy the neighborhood character!"; "No one wants to live in a 13-story building!"; "I own my own home so I know what's best for everyone else!"; "We know of a developer who will do twice as many units — and all affordable — in only seven stories!" Yeah, yeah, sure — to paraphrase John Lennon, "We'd all love to see the plan."
I barely got a few words out before the boos started. I don't mind differences of opinion, but given the vitriol, why would anyone want to participate in our democracy if offering that opinion is met with catcalls? A woman even hissed at me when I left (which, frankly, I found awesome).
Supporters of the project seemed to like what I said — and I got covered in Patch and Brownstoner — but the whole thing was a depressing exercise since no one was really listening to anyone else, and the debate was dominated by the same old opponents of change who can't seem to understand why anyone would want anything in our city to be different even as they complain about virtually everything.
Some people got it:
Gersh Kuntzman is a treasure to the neighborhood, a longtime community member, and it was sickening to see neighbors booing and heckling him as he talked about being displaced from Windsor Terrace.
— 🌹Rebecca Jane 🌹 (@rebeccaugust) September 10, 2024
In other news:
- There's always a Streetsblog angle, even on high-level corruption in the NYPD. (NY Post, NYDN)
- Gothamist suggests that Gov. Hochul could reduce the congestion pricing to $9, but any less and the whole program might need an entirely
newomigod-this-is-going-to-be-endless review. - Thieves are hunting for the new gold ... copper! (NY Post)
- Justin Timberlake pleads out on his DWI charge. (NY Times)
- QNS has been relentless in its coverage of the Queens e-scooter pilot program — perhaps so relentless that Lime is going to spend $2.5 million to boost its image.
- The Brooklyn Paper also covered the Bedford Avenue bike lane news, which we had a day earlier.
- And, finally, why not take a tour of Hart Island, the city's mass grave? (The City)
