Mayor Bill de Blasio came to Brooklyn last week ready to show what he has accomplished for tenants during a Town Hall with Councilmember Antonio Reynoso in City Council District 34, which includes parts of Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Ridgewood. The Mayor used the Town Hall to sign tenant protection laws, answer questions from tenants, and to announce that the old Greenpoint hospital would finally be converted into affordable housing after decades of neglect.
We credit the Mayor for these much needed efforts, but not everybody in North Brooklyn is celebrating. At the very same Town Hall meeting, Mayor de Blasio defended a rezoning proposal that, if passed, will exacerbate segregation and displacement in the Broadway Triangle: a region at the intersection of Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Bedford-Stuyvesant that has been the site of decades of housing discrimination.
The proposed rezoning is a plan put forth by the Rabsky Property Group to rezone the Pfizer site in the Broadway Triangle area of Brooklyn, and the Mayor has allowed it to go forward in the face of evidence that the proposal will perpetuate displacement and segregation in North Brooklyn. If approved, this rezoning would allow the construction of nearly 1,000 luxury apartments, along with 287 “affordable” apartments—and even the so-called “affordable” apartments will be out of reach to most members of the community.
The plan for the Pfizer site will have an adverse impact on low-income communities of color and perpetuate entrenched residential segregation in and around the Broadway triangle, which has a history of segregation and deliberate housing discrimination effected by prior City administrations and NYCHA. Already, the region is highly segregated: the area north of Flushing Avenue is about 60% White and less than 4% Black, while the area just south of Flushing Avenue is about 25% White and over 50% Black. The proposed Pfizer rezoning would only make that segregation worse, with an influx of about 4,000 new wealthy, predominantly White residents, increasing the population of the area by about 20%. Out of all the communities in the area, the plan will favor Hasidic families, leaving Black and Latino families out. For these reasons, Brooklyn Borough President Adams has voted against the proposed rezoning, and Councilmember Antonio Reynoso has called it a “segregated housing plan.”
To make matters worse, the developer seeking the rezoning, the Rabsky Group, has a documented history of fair housing violations, poor construction practices, and refusing to work with the community. As a developer of the nearby Rheingold site, Rabsky refused to comply with the affordable housing and local employment commitments upon which the project was originally approved, and has consistently refused to meet or negotiate with community representatives. In June, a scaffolding collapse severely injured 6 construction workers at a Rabsky site, and in 2015, a man lost his life because of a defective elevator in a Rabsky-owned property. Rabsky Group is also being sued for disability discrimination due to its non-compliance with accessibility requirements in several buildings throughout the City. It’s absurd to think that a developer with such a notorious record will be able to forge the strong relationship with the community that is so necessary to mitigate the adverse impact of a rezoning proposal.
When challenged on the proposed Pfizer rezoning at the Town Hall, the Mayor refused to mention the community’s history of segregation and instead downplayed the issue by saying he wished he “ had more tools to constrain market forces” and that “we have a choice: we could say, don’t do anything and leave it.”
This is not a “take it or leave it” situation: rather than complacently allowing the troubled Pfizer proposal to go forward, the City could go back to the drawing board and engage in a comprehensive planning process with real input from members of the community. We need affordable housing done right with all communities at the table.
The Mayor is right on one thing: we do have a choice. The City has a choice to reject the Pfizer rezoning and pursue a plan that will benefit the community. Or it can choose to sit idly by as the Pfizer rezoning displaces North Brooklyn residents and further segregates the community. We call on Mayor de Blasio, the City Planning Commission, and the City to make the right choice: vote NO on the Pfizer rezoning.
Juan Ramos is the chair of the Broadway Triangle Community Coalition, a coalition of North Brooklyn residents, community-based developers, nonprofit organizations, and housing advocates fighting for the rights of people of color to stay in their community.
Alexandra Fennell is a Lead Organizer at Churches United for Fair Housing (CUFFH), member organization of the Broadway Triangle Community Coalition.
