Silence might be golden for City Councilman Stephen Levin‘s favoring the Broadway Triangle project, but opposition among his fellow lawmakers continues to grow as the controversial project gets set to go before the City’s Planning Commission tomorrow.
Levin (D-Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Williamsburg, Boerum Hill) has not returned repeated calls and emails to KCP on his feelings toward the project despite strong opposition from both Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and City Councilman Antonio Reynoso (D-Williamsburg, Bushwick).
Developer the Rabsky Group is looking to develop the 4.2-acre site, which was once owned by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, into multiple buildings to include 1,146 mixed-income residential units, 65,000 square feet of neighborhood retail, a half-acre of public open space, and 405 parking spaces. The site is situated between Harrison and Union Avenues, from Walton Street to Gerry Street.
While the site is in Levin’s district, it’s adjacent to Reynoso’s district. It is also between the Hasidic Jewish community and the largely Latino and Black community.
One of the biggest issues with the project has been the size of the proposed affordable units in the project.
Leaders from the Black and Latino community have expressed concern over the apartment layouts in the Rabsky Group’s eight building project. Opponents claim that the project, which will include 287 units of permanent affordable housing, are slated to be multi-bedroom units that would favor the Hasidic population over minority groups in the area.
Levin has yet to formally support the project but has been outspoken on the need for affordable housing in the area. At last month’s Community Board 1 meeting, Levin pushed the board to consider the housing crisis as one of the main reasons to move forward with the project.
“We get too bogged down in that zero-sum mentality that everybody loses,” Levin said, following the board’s vote. “There has not been any affordable housing built south of Broadway [in Community Board 1] in probably over a decade.”
But Adams last Friday. announced his disapproval with a list of recommendations including greater development of affordable housing, an assurance of diversity in the bedroom mix of affordable units, as well as local administrative oversight of affordable housing lotteries and related marketing.
“Considering these land use applications have been about more than one site or project, it represents a chance to evaluate the direction of development in Williamsburg and ensure that we are creating opportunities for everyone to afford to raise healthy children and families in this neighborhood. Any rezoning that the City grants must affirm the standard of diverse, not segregated, opportunity,” said Adams.
Reynoso maintains that over 90 percent of the people who need apartments, especially looking through the homeless shelter system, need apartments that are one and two bedrooms.
“So any units that are larger than that doesn’t really suit a need for the city, that’s what we’re [Latino and Black housing advocates] saying. It has nothing to do with the Jewish community. So if you’re disproportionately trying to build units with larger bedrooms than you aren’t’ really fulfilling the needs of residents,” said Reynoso.
The Hasidic community feels differently about the project and feel that they are unfairly being targeted by local residents.
“I am extremely, extremely disappointed. The plan really addresses the issues of our entire community-Latino, Jewish, African-American and others. It provides equal opportunity for everybody to buy a home and also rent an affordable apartment. Unfortunately, the position that has been seen and heard has been driven by hate and many of them by blatant anti-Semitism as expressed in various occasions. I know people are trying to distort the facts but they are what they are,” said David Niederman, Executive Director and President of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburgh, Inc. (UJO).
Niederman went on to state that Community Board 1’s vote to support the project was a victory for the entire South Williamsburg community and based on the needs of all the local residents not just the Hasidic Jewish community members. He claims that the opposition is “holding hostage a project that would give affordable housing opportunities to all in the district.”
The project heads to the City Planning Commission tomorrow as part of the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) for a recommendation of approval or denial. Afterwards it will head to the City Council for an official vote.
