In his campaign commercials, Mayor Michael Bloomberg declares that “New York belongs to everyone.” But that tag line rings hollow for a coalition of 40 Brooklyn organizations.
The Broadway Triangle Community Coalition charges that Bloomberg’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) has not only excluded it from a planning process for a major site, but also failed to respond to its proposals.
The site, known as the Broadway Triangle, is a 21-block parcel of land at the nexus of Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant. It is the last remaining undeveloped public and privately-owned land that can accommodate the needs of those communities. With gentrification driving up rents in Brooklyn, there is an urgent demand for affordable housing.
The African American, Latino and Jewish civic, community and religious groups of the coalition should shape the development of the Broadway Triangle. Instead, the Bloomberg administration has shut them out.
The groups on track for controlling the site are Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, the base of Brooklyn political boss and Assemblyman Vito Lopez, and the United Jewish Organization (UJO).
An HPD charrette in 2007 on the Broadway Triangle engaged these two organizations while excluding others. Under community pressure, HPD pushed Lopez’s group and UJO to open up the process last summer. Another charrette, this time inclusive, was scheduled—only to be cancelled on the same day.
What’s behind this attempted steamroll? “Because of their ability to deliver votes, the mayor has abdicated control to that religiously, racially and politically exclusionary alliance,” said Williamsburg activist Marty Needleman of the Ridgewood Bushwick-UJO monopoly.
This shamefully closed process and outrageous political play with these communities is unacceptable. At a public hearing today, Community Board 1 should recognize the concerns over this manuevering.
We strongly urge Bloomberg to match his actions to his slogans by making sure HPD withdraws proposals based on two-party steering and conducts a transparent process.
In his campaign commercials, Mayor Michael Bloomberg declares that “New York belongs to everyone.” But that tag line rings hollow for a coalition of 40 Brooklyn organizations.
The Broadway Triangle Community Coalition charges that Bloomberg’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) has not only excluded it from a planning process for a major site, but also failed to respond to its proposals.
The site, known as the Broadway Triangle, is a 21-block parcel of land at the nexus of Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant. It is the last remaining undeveloped public and privately-owned land that can accommodate the needs of those communities. With gentrification driving up rents in Brooklyn, there is an urgent demand for affordable housing.
The African American, Latino and Jewish civic, community and religious groups of the coalition should shape the development of the Broadway Triangle. Instead, the Bloomberg administration has shut them out.
The groups on track for controlling the site are Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, the base of Brooklyn political boss and Assemblyman Vito Lopez, and the United Jewish Organization (UJO).
An HPD charrette in 2007 on the Broadway Triangle engaged these two organizations while excluding others. Under community pressure, HPD pushed Lopez’s group and UJO to open up the process last summer. Another charrette, this time inclusive, was scheduled—only to be cancelled on the same day.
What’s behind this attempted steamroll? “Because of their ability to deliver votes, the mayor has abdicated control to that religiously, racially and politically exclusionary alliance,” said Williamsburg activist Marty Needleman of the Ridgewood Bushwick-UJO monopoly.
This shamefully closed process and outrageous political play with these communities is unacceptable. At a public hearing today, Community Board 1 should recognize the concerns over this manuevering.
