By Stephen Witt (Special from Our Time Press)
With passionate shouts of, “They took Harlem and Fulton Street, but they’re not taking here,” a growing grassroots organization against gentrification in Prospect Lefferts Gardens forced the abrupt cancellation of Community Board 9’s regular monthly meeting last night at Medgar Evers College.
The organization dubbed The Movement to Protect the People (MTOPP) wants CB9 to rescind their request to the city to study a rezoning of the area for fear it will lead to further gentrification.
So many people showed up to protest that police shut the entrance door to the packed and over capacity meeting room, which caused such a loud ruckus that Medgar Evers College officials requested the meeting be stopped and rescheduled, according to CB9 Chair Dwayne Nicholson.
The issue, along with a breakdown between the community board and many local residents, is fast becoming a test of leadership for elected officials from Mayor De Blasio on down to Borough President Eric Adams, Public Advocate Letitia James, and local Assemblyman Karim Camara and City Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo. None of these officials attended the chaotic meeting, and several protesters claimed elected leadership was selling out their neighborhood to developers under the guise of supporting affordable housing.
“This is becoming a ghetto for the wealthy,” said Cecilia Moulton, a grandmother who has lived on Washington Avenue for 38 years. “They are building up buildings for rich people, but they are keeping the poor people out under the guise they are making some apartments for everybody. If the luxury developers come in it will have a domino effect on the whole neighborhood.”
The brouhaha began in April when CB9 voted to request the city’s Department of City Planning (DCP) to study current zoning laws for a possible rezoning. Included in the study was also a request to specifically look at Empire Boulevard, which is currently zoned low-rise commercial.
The board and many elected leaders said a rezoning study was necessary as the infrastructure was crumbling in the neighborhood, which has long been one of strong affordability stock, but has seen increasing gentrification with 14 luxury developments placed in the community in the last ten years.
However, MTOPP Spokesperson and lead organizer Alicia Boyd and others in the community feel the study is a ruse for luxury developers to come in and build up the long affordable neighborhood under the guise that new developments would include a percentage of affordable units.
Several in the group pointed out that the planned 20% affordable housing apartments in Downtown Brooklyn, Harlem and elsewhere never materialized, because of such strict credit guidelines and other criteria that affordable units were seldom filled. This left units in these buildings more ripe for institutional investors from other countries and further contributing to gentrification, they said.
Boyd noted that Prospect Lefferts Garden has the densest population in Brooklyn from census tracts and is also the second most affordable community. Bringing in luxury developers will create a net loss in the area for affordable housing, she said.
