You don’t need a crystal ball to predict it’s going to be a pivotal month for SPURA, the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area. After two-and-a-half years of deliberations, Community Board 3 plans to vote on detailed guidelines for the redevelopment of the 7-acre parcel, a site that has languished for 43 years.
In some corners of the neighborhood, at least, anxiety about breaking the long deadlock is rising. In the January edition of the Grand Street News, longtime co-op manager and resident Heshy Jacob expresses outrage that the city might sell the SPURA parcels to developers for something less than their full market value:
Based on his conversation with the CB3 taskforce facilitator John Shapiro, Jacob believes the City plans to sell SPURA to developers for a mere $60 million. It makes his blood boil. “The four Co-op Village corporations pay more than $20 million a year in real estate taxes, as well as for water, sewer, etc. That amount is going up this year, by at least $1.5 million. So while everybody in Co-op Village will be getting an increase on their real estate taxes, the City will be selling a property worth $300 million for $60 million. “At a time when Mayor Bloomberg is laying off teachers and closing down fire houses, how can he afford to lose $240 million?” Jacob pushes his point. “The Mayor is committing a criminal act, giving away these millions to developers, while across the street the Seward Park Cooperative is going to pay $7 million in taxes for this year.
In a separate editorial, Grand Street News editor Yori Yanover laments the lack of participation from people who “believe there’s enough housing, low- and high-income, in this densely populated neighborhood.” And he urges co-op residents to lobby Sheldon Silver, the neighborhood’s most powerful political figure, to block CB3’s proposal:
…your opponents in this debate show up in great numbers. The Good Old Lower East Side, which promotes maximizing low income housing in our neighborhood, fills up the room. And the SHARE group shows up—those nice men and women from Seward Park Housing who believe in living in harmony with professional political organizers… With this level of interest on your part, dear readers, get ready for SPURA buildings on your street, because they’re coming. In order for your powerful Assemblyman to work for you, he needs to hear that from you. If you’re silent on this matter, Silver is not going to fight City Hall without a vociferous constituency behind him.
