Editor’s Note: The following comes from City Council Member Laurie Cumbo’s (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights) newsletter. KCP stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Cumbo on her Call For Civilty. While we don’t always agree with her, we have great respect for her and all lawmakers for going into public service and the electoral arena. We pray for the safety of Cumbo and all elected officials.
Further, we deplore in the strongest terms the habitual bullying tactics of the non-profit, Movement to Protect the People (MTOPP). This is not the first time that MTOPP has tried to stifle freedom of thought and expression. While we respect MTOPP’s right to their freedom of speech and expression, we draw the line when they try to stifle the freedom of speech and expression of others. As such we urge MTOPP to become more civil in their discourse.
The needs of the 35th Council District are considerable, ranging from lead paint poisoning and a lack of heat and hot water in our NYCHA developments, to residents facing eminent evictions and forcible removals from Third Party Transfers. What makes this district so incredible is that we are home to many passionate beings and often I hear from my constituents in a myriad of ways.
Unfortunately, now in my second term, there continues to be the same reoccurring characters that are consistently ANTI everything, but you would never be able to point to anything that they have accomplished or delivered for the community.
As such, I feel the need to take time away from important budget negotiations, the fight for pay parity for our day care workers, summer camp opportunities for middle school students, putting a plan in place in regards to the recent shooting in the newly renovated Elijah Stroud Playground, and the current fight to prevent our rent laws from expiring, to address the unfortunate circumstances that occurred last night at Medgar Evers College on April 30th, orchestrated by an organization known as The Movement to Protect the People (MTOPP).
MTOPP is a not-for-profit organization that utilizes its funds to support or oppose political candidates (operated through a market rate Air B&B). Over the last six years, MTOPP has consistently disrupted any meaningful conversations or plans to address the housing crisis in Crown Heights. The organization has blocked every attempt to build any affordable housing in the community. This does not help the housing crisis, but rather exacerbates the rates of gentrification as more people continue to move into a community with limited housing.
Tuesday night, while seated at a Community Board 9 meeting, a student charged at me, out of the blue, yelling at the top of her lungs in my face, that I had not done anything for Medgar Evers College students. I stood up in order to defend myself, not knowing if she was preparing to assault me. I always carry myself with the knowledge that my predecessor James E. Davis was shot and killed in City Hall. That is why this new form of protest that involves physical confrontation alongside disrespectfully yelling or screaming, has no place in our democracy, particularly at a time when mosques, synagogues and churches are experiencing mass shootings.
The student was removed in order to regain control of the meeting and NOT ARRESTED as was falsely reported by MTOPP.
The goal of Alicia Boyd was to have the woman approach me so aggressively that she would have to be forcibly removed and to then capture it on video and send out an email that I had a “Student Leader Arrested”.
But here I was, a Black woman squaring off with another Black woman, while two Jewish Rabbi’s, along with other individuals had to intervene to de-escalate the situation. With all the work that is being done by so many women around the world to demonstrate what women can accomplish when working together, it was mortifying to have landed in this position.
The harmful reality was that Alicia Boyd, the founder of MTOPP, had influenced this young woman as a publicity stunt for her next social media post. After the incident, MTOPP circulated a baseless and inflammatory email from Boyd advancing her false storyline and further hurting the people of our community. Here’s what MTOPP did not want this young student leader to know:
1) As a member of the Higher Education Committee, I fought to bring back $14,924,669 for the Peter Vallone Scholarship that grants all CUNY and FIT students with a B average a scholarship to go towards reducing their tuition costs.
2) As a new Mom who understands the importance of Child Care, I fought for $600,000 for the remodeling and reopening of day care facilities throughout CUNY.
3) In 2014, I supported Medgar Evers College President, Dr. Rudy Crew’s plan to utilize allocated capital resources to expand the college and create a campus for students. Dr. Crew eventually had to terminate the plan because of community opposition, which prevented the college from expanding and the students lost this opportunity to have a campus-like setting similar to Brooklyn College.
4) The Bedford Union Armory was originally designed to create 25,000 square feet of classroom space for Medgar Evers College in order to take the student body out of the trailers and into a world class facility. Moreover, taking the students out of the trailers would have freed up space for Medgar Evers Preparatory High School that is busting at the seams to expand and accommodate more students. However, Dr. Crew had to terminate that plan because of opposition to the Bedford Union Armory project, leaving the student body in trailers.
5) In the very auditorium that the meeting was held in, I fought to obtain $2,250,000 for the remodeling of the new Founder’s Auditorium in last year’s budget. In total, I have secured $7,250,000 in capital dollars for the college and have allocated over $927,000 dollars towards the pipeline program for the college that prepares students from k – 12 to make sure our students are prepared for college. Moreover, I have consistently provided resources for the Center for Black Literature, the Center for Law and Social Justice and the Caribbean Research Center.
Much of the progress of the college has been stopped by a few individuals who I believe relish in the attention of social media and utilize any progress that a community is attempting to make in order to expand their personal profile and relevance.
I would also like to use this teachable moment to address both the affordable housing and affordable recreation center at the Bedford Union Armory. I have heard the community claim time and time again that the affordable units are not actually affordable. Our federally-implemented housing lottery system is extremely flawed, and that is exactly why I fought tooth and nail to ensure that the units at the Armory are affordable for existing Crown Heights residents as well as those who have been displaced from the community.
I fought to keep luxury condo units out of the project and to keep the property entirely in public ownership. I also fought to increase the total number of affordable units and lower the levels of affordability. The more than 400 homes in the project will now be rental units with much deeper levels of affordability than the original proposal, which included just 67 affordable homes below 60% AMI – that’s a family of four making $57,000 a year or less. The project now includes approximately 250 homes that will be affordable below 60% AMI, including 10% set aside for formerly homeless individuals and families, with the following breakdown:
- 25 units set aside for formerly homeless (not based on income)
- 25 units at 30% AMI
- 24 units at 40% AMI
- 24 units at 50% AMI
- 152 units at 60% AMI
This means that a family of three making $28,830 a year (30% AMI) will pay $588 for a two-bedroom apartment; a family of three making $38,440 a year (40% AMI) will pay $828 for a two-bedroom apartment; a family of three making $48,050 a year (50% AMI) will pay $1,069 for a two-bedroom apartment; and a family of three making $57,660 a year (60% AMI) will pay $1,309 for a two-bedroom apartment. Please note: the median income for all cities across the country is defined each year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The 2019 AMI for the New York City region is $96,100 for a three-person family (100% AMI).
In regards to the Armory’s Carey Gabay historic Drill Shed, I believe it is important to create a holistic community and we don’t need to limit ourselves to either housing or a recreational facility. It is not an either/or but rather an also/too. Our children deserve a world class community facility that will be converted into a center with three full-size basketball courts, multipurpose court space for activities like indoor soccer, a six-lane 25-meter indoor swimming pool, and fitness room with cardio and strength-training. I was able to secure several requirements to ensure the state-of-the-art recreation center will be truly affordable and accessible to Crown Heights families.
At least 50% of memberships will be reserved for community members at discounted rates of just $10 a month for adults and $8 for a child under 16 compared to $60 a month for an adult at the Bed Stuy YMCA. In addition to the reduced membership rates, benefits include discounted space rentals, discounted classes, and discounted rents for non-profit organizations. The non-profit space will be available to tenants at $6 per square foot as opposed to $30 per square foot; and rent increases will be capped at 3% annually.
Further, the developer has committed to a 25% M/WBE goal for construction, has entered a union agreement with 32BJ for building service jobs, and has committed an additional 20,000 square feet of community facility space for Brooklyn Medical Plaza for much-needed healthcare services. A community advisory committee is in formation to help plan programming for the recreation center, to hold the developer accountable throughout the construction and operational phases, and most importantly, to ensure the needs of the local community are met throughout the life of the project. If you or someone you know might be interested in applying to be on the community advisory committee, please complete this application and submit it by May 15th.
Below are a listing of the not-for-profit organizations that will have a permanent home and below market rent:
- West Indian Day Carnival Association
- Carey Gabay Foundation
- James E. Davis Foundation
- Digital Girl, Inc.
- Ifetayo
- Brooklyn Community Pride Center
- New Heights Youth (Basketball)
- Team First (Multi-sport afterschool program)
- Imagine Swimming
- Magnus Makuro Foundation
- Global Sports (negotiating soccer contract)
- Kings County Tennis League
- CAMBA
- Eatery (TBD)
- Flatbush Youth Association (Basketball)
- Ice Tea Youth Development (Basketball)
In today’s society, fame can come so easily through an attack tweet, email or post, versus the time it takes to actually role up your sleeves and do the heavy lifting of trying to get something done so current and future generations can be better equipped to meet and overcome challenges. With an extreme housing shortage and very little land left and private developers having the freedom to build what they want on private property, we are left with having to make extremely difficult decisions in an impossible situation.
I will continue to seek open and respectful dialogue with the community, around the critical issues we face. I will not be able to respond to every fake news MTOPP email or social media posts that other groups will send out. It is my hope however, that we can remain focused on the work and getting things done for the betterment of the community for generations to come.
The 35th District deserves to be heard respectfully, and I am proud to be your advocate.
Yours Truly,
Majority Leader Laurie A. Cumbo
