Why, you ask, does the Q continue to attend these meetings and care about the Planning Study that he helped ask for in spring of 2014, but that has since been buried by the unconscionable tactics of MTOPP, with no small help from "Concerned Citizens" I might add, who've helped spread misinformation and make bogus claims about 25 story towers and massive displacement?
Why do I care? Because they're screwing the neighborhood. Royally. Just look at the stupid market-rate cheap-ass buildings going up all over the area, adding to the very density they so despise. They've stopped neither gentrification nor development. They've sacrificed real people's Quality of Life for their own. They're selfish, they're misinformed, and their attitude towards elected officials suggests they want absolutely no help from the City now or in the future, to address the severe shortage of housing for regular working Joe's and Jane's. They claim to care about the diversity of the neighborhood, but I ask you...what have they DONE to prevent its loss? They've pitted neighbor against neighbor, black against white against Jew, owner against renter, activist against activist, City against Citizens. And very, very few seem willing to try to stop them. Just last night I spoke to a Councilmember (one I respect btw) who said they'd never seen such a total disaster at a Community Board, of such complete dysfunction, with no clear way forward.
That's what MTOPP brought y'all. Our potential friends have been reduced to throwing their hands in the air, and basically writing off our neighborhood as hopeless. Unless we come together and push back.
And now they want to slow the process of a Planning Study even further. It's too late for 19 Clarkson, next to my neighbors at 17 and 21 who've lived their forever. The demolition of the attached limestone rowhouse between them is emblematic of the very development that we at CB9 sought to prevent - and WOULD HAVE, had the measure been allowed to stand. We were on our way to limiting height all over the neighborhood and downzoning where it made sense, which was basically anywhere that the current build-out was dense and tall enough. We've been swindled, hoodwinked, dissed, smeared, and forced to endure yet another attack on a decent and well-meaning group trying to take an even-handed approach to working with the City.
I get it. You don't want to come. You don't need the spike in blood pressure or the verbal abuse. I keep wondering where my limit is. I feel like I'm on the rack in civic dungeon being stretched inch by inch. Actually, some time in a dungeon like that might help me lose weight and lessen back pain. Screw CB9. I'm off to the castle!
7 comments:
How did the "Carroll Gardens Community Center" come to be located on Nostrand Avenue, in Crown Heights? Might this be yet another example of how much MTOPP knows about our neighborhood [and everything else]?
I just read A.B.'s email with the same information as this flyer. FWIW the email also places the meeting in Carroll Gardens :-). However, she DOE'S make a good point aboun another meeting:
"General Board Meeting – This Date has been Changed!!!
It is not April 26, 2016 but Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Because for the second time this year,
Demetrius Lawrence, our Chairman did not consider
the Jewish Holidays, when he created the calendar
and now must make a change of the date".
CB9 is the LAST palace where the board chair should ignore major Jewish holidays. However, Boyd goes on to draw what I think is a rather dubious inference:
"Of course this constant oversight affords him [Lawrence] the
opportunity not to have a large group of residents attend,
because of the short notice
and everyone’s calendar already set!"
IMO Ms. Boyd doesn't make enough allowance for plain stupidity. I wonder why?
When is she getting kicked off of ULURP? This is acceptable behavior for a committee member?
Thank goodness their tactics have put a stop to all those towers!
Oh wait...
http://hudsoninc.com/626-flatbush-avenue/
i was in williamsburg during weekday daylight hours recently, for the first time in years and looking around i saw a shitload of luxury development. ...what i didn't see were a whole lot of giant towers. there's actually an impressive amount of open space and sky exposure, more so than some blocks in our neighborhood. save for kent avenue, everything's pretty darn lowrise; lower than a lot of our neighborhood's pre-war apartment buildings. it just sort of illustrated how false the idea of "sky high towers" really is. if we had towers on empire boulevard maybe the rest of cb9 would be spared...instead you might have to look out for another 20-story monstrosity much like what's set to replace historic 123 linden blvd in cb17.
That's hilarious, Roxv. I just had the same experience, twice actually, in the last few weeks. And I couldn't believe how refreshing that neighborhood seemed, especially walking along the water up to Greenpoint and then back through and around McCarren Park and to the Lorimer L Stop. It's outrageously expensive of course, but pretty damn livable.
Of course, Williamsburg is already "over" and it's become a breeder neighborhood. Bushwick will "go" soon, just like Billyburg and the Lower East Side and SoHO and West Village and yada yada. What's LEFT after the zeitgeist has its moment, are the buildings and the choices of the previous generation. Either you make smart choices or poor ones. It would seem, in my estimation, that W'burg made a pretty good trade-off when they rezoned with the City. Some will argue; but it was going to get crazy-ass expensive either way.
East Harlem is going through a comprehensive rezoning and development plan, and it's interesting to see the smart choices they're making. But one key component is they're not saying no to new development - they want the right kind, in the right places and with tons of affordable. And that's the City Council's Speaker's district, so they're gonna get it!
I'll never ever understand how we could miss an opportunity to do the same, and just let whatever happens happens. It's enraging, and so, inevitable, when you don't have strong leadership or community organizations. All it takes is one loud mouth and a few acolytes and the whole thing goes to shit.
Videos of the silliness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NekptwNdQa4&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1aixb1LA-A&feature=youtu.be
Post a Comment