Dear friends,
A reminder that our next monthly meeting is this Tuesday, November 8th (Election Day!) at 6:30pm. Please don't forget to vote beforehand :)
We will be meeting at Earth Church located at 36 Ave C (corner of East 3rd St) in the Lower East Side. Earth Church is located a 10 minute walk from the 2nd Ave subway stop.
Please RSVP below if you are planning to attend.
In this meeting, we will discuss the ongoing fight in
, a new lawsuit launched by the Coalition to Protect Chinatown + the Lower East Side against the luxury towers in Two Bridges, Save Section 9 Public Housing rally with Council Member Chris Marte, and more!
Our monthly meeting is the second Tuesday of every month. All are welcome!
The Coalition to Protect Chinatown + the Lower East Side is excited to join Council Member Christopher Marte and community members in announcing the new lawsuit to stop the luxury high-rises in Two Bridges!
The 60- to 80-story proposed towers, approved by former Mayor Bill de Blasio, will violate current neighborhood residents' rights to clean air and water protected by the New York State Constitution. Their construction will negatively impact the health and safety of the residents, many of whom are people of color having suffered from respiratory issues caused by 9/11. By bringing in thousands of market-rate units, the megatowers will increase real estate taxes and rents in the surrounding communities, furthering the displacement of tenants and small businesses who are already struggling due to the pandemic.
We will call on Mayor Eric Adams to not continue de Blasio's racist displacement agenda, by stopping these destructive towers and passing the full community-led Chinatown Working Group Rezoning Plan to curtail real estate speculation and protect people's lives!
Innovation QNS Rezoning Update
On October 19th, the hearing by the Council's zoning subcommittee gave local Council Member Julie Won the chance to question the developers in public for the first time, as Won honed in on the number of affordable apartments included in the five-block, 2,800-apartment project.
Notably, developers admitted Wednesday that they had not yet secured a commitment from the city to fund a portion of the project's affordable homes (15% from HUD, bringing the affordable housing to 40% with the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing of 25% which is still below the proposed 55% by Julie Won)— though discussions are "very ongoing" with the city's housing agency, said Jay Martin, a principal at BedRock Real Estate Partners.The City Council’s zoning subcommittee and land use committees have to vote on the proposal within the next month, and then the full Council must vote to approve or disapprove the project before Thanksgiving.Reading Links:Astoria Not For SalePatchCommercial Observer
Keeping Private Profit out of Public Housing
When Gregory Russ was appointed to be the new Chair of NYCHA by Mayor de Blasio, there was citywide protest because of his track record of privatizing public housing across the country. He has lived up to this reputation here in New York City, and now it’s happening in our own neighborhood. By converting NYCHA (public housing, federally called Section 9) to Section 8, developments will no longer be public housing and residents will lose many of their rights and funding sources. Instead, private companies will take over and tenants will have to find their own ways to hold their new landlords accountable. This conversion is called RAD at a national level, and PACT here in New York City. It’s so bad, that even the Human Rights Watch published a report detailing how this privatization is bad for residents, and good for real estate. Right now, NYCHA is trying to privatize Seward Park Extension and Annex, and are looking at other Lower East Side properties as well. We were happy to join residents in rallying against this conversion, defending their rights as NYCHA residents, and protecting their homes’ permanent affordability.
Elizabeth Street Garden Won!
We wanted to share some happy news from Elizabeth Street Garden! They have won their lawsuit in the Supreme Court, and the approval of the destruction of the garden has been voided.Margaret Chin approved the destruction of Elizabeth Street Garden through a ULURP in favor of developing on the site. The development would be 100% “affordable” for 20 years (or less), and then become market-rate. The media and developers have used this to say that people who support green space don’t want affordable housing. In reality, Little Italy and SOHO don’t have any green space, and have identified other truly vacant sites (an abandoned parking lot and a vacant lot) where 5x as much housing can be built. The city trying to paint a false picture and divide the community is a familiar story to us, and is one of the reasons why Elizabeth Street Garden has come out to support local actions, rallies, and marches.