You will be hearing a lot tomorrow about Mayor de Blasio’s unpopular rezoning proposals. Community Board 3 rejected both plans – Zoning for Quality & Affordability and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing – last month. All five NYC borough boards have also voted against them.
Tomorrow morning, the City Planning Commission will be holding a public hearing on the initiatives, which the mayor believes will help create more affordable housing. Critics, however, argue that they will marginalize local decision-making, allow developers to build taller projects without giving anything in return and lead to more residential displacement. The hearing takes place at 9 a.m. at the National Museum of the American Indian (One Bowling Green @ Broadway).
Also tomorrow, Lower East Side activists will hold a rally at Gracie Mansion from 4-6 p.m. to protest the mayor’s plans. Participants include: the Chinese Staff & Workers’ Association, National Mobilization Against Sweatshops, Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund, LES Dwellers and the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors. These organizations have not only rallied against the de Blasio initiatives but protested against the administration’s rejection of a zoning proposal developed by the Chinatown Working Group.
The Planning Commission will vote on the twin zoning text amendments in February. The City Council must weigh in by April. This week, a representative from City Council member Margaret Chin’s office told us she will withhold public comment on the proposals for the time being. The Council member, who represents the Lower East Side and Chinatown, wanted to wait for the local community boards to cast their advisory votes. That has now happened, but the spokesperson explained, Chin intends to hold off expressing an opinion until the text amendments are actually forwarded to the Council.
While the Manhattan Borough Board rejected both plans, Borough President Gale Brewer took a different approach last week. She gave her “conditional approval” to the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing plan, and recommended “conditional disapproval” of Zoning for Quality & Affordability. You can find out more about the borough president’s decisions on her website. The CB3 resolutions can be found in the document posted below.
Community Board 3 Resolution Zoning Proposals by The Lo-Down
