City Councilmember Jumaane Williams (D-Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood) held a press conference in East Flatbush last Saturday to call attention to overdevelopment in the neighborhood, and to the predatory, amoral practices of neighborhood landlords and developers.
“I’d like to thank the press that came out here,” said Williams. “I know it’s not the sexiest issue in the world, but for us, it is. For us, it’s our livelihood in our community.”
The conference was held at 1509 New York Avenue – which, fittingly enough, is the site of a planned future multi-family construction project. Williams was accompanied by Assemblyman Nick Perry, (D-East Flatbush) Four-in-One Block Association President Hazel Martinez,
Last October, Williams held a similar rally at 1519 New York Avenue, where a five-story building was slated for development. Williams began the conference by pointing out that the situation hasn’t gotten any better since then.
“Not too far from here, six months ago, we were having a similar press conference,” said Williams. “Nothing has gotten better; in fact, it’s gotten worse. This block, six months ago, was flat, and now we’ve got a five-story building. Six months ago, we didn’t have this construction site behind us [at 1509 New York Avenue]. Things are getting worse rapidly. We’re losing the character of the neighborhood.”
Williams specifically called out Real Estate broker Stephen Smith, who has shared plans to construct a several-story apartment building at 563 East 82nd Street, among other projects.
“He’s an unscrupulous landlord, and I want to make it clear that he and others like him do not care about anybody in this community,” said Williams. “They do not care about the people who live in these communities. They do not care about the people who save their money to purchase homes in these communities. The only thing they care about is the almighty dollar.”
Williams’ sentiments were echoed by Hazel Martinez, who added that the development process itself makes the neighborhood less hospitable, due to the callous disregard developers show towards their surroundings.
“We have excessive noise all day long, and negative impact on the environment by demolishing old, possibly asbestos-filled buildings without proper protection,” said Martinez. “Dust from dry concrete that we are constantly breathing in after it’s not cleaned from the curbs and sidewalks… look where we’re standing right now.”
The conference also featured some personal anecdotes from residents of East Flatbush. Resident Corina Wong spoke of a developer who started constructing a new project next to her home, and tried to take her to court when she denied the use of her walkway.
“The guy that approached me [about the walkway] didn’t identify himself,” said Wong. “No identification of himself, didn’t say what his capacity is in the company… he didn’t explain to me exactly what he was doing. So I didn’t pay him any mind. Several weeks later, I’m personally served with court papers – one for me, one for my husband.”
Perry spoke of a bill he recently drafted and plans to introduce soon, which would force real estate developers to provide parking spaces for every unit that they build, which would limit their incentive to continue building.
However, he also pointed out that he, as an elected official, can only do so much to keep predatory brokers out. Ultimately, he said, the power to keep them at bay lies in the hands of neighborhood homeowners.
“Unfortunately, we do not have the ability to say ‘stop’, because of current laws and regulations that deal with zoning and the use of privately owned property,” said Perry. “So neighbors that own properties that are enticing to the developers, it’s their choice whether they accept the offer…so we’re in for the long haul. We hope that neighbors who are thinking of selling will be very picky about who they sell to.”
