Save the Inlet supporters are rallying ahead of a New York City Council hearing tomorrow, May 27.
Local residents will gather near City Hall before the Council’s Land Use committee meeting, calling on them to oppose the controversial Monitor Point project.
“Our community has already experienced wave after wave of upzoning and displacement since 2005,” said Steve Chesler, Community Board 1 Land Use Chair. “These towers continue a legacy that has driven up rents, displaced working families, and concentrated luxury development along the waterfront.”
The project, spearheaded by Gotham Organization on land leased from the MTA, would see three residential towers constructed at 40 and 56 Quay Street, along with developed open space and a permanent home for Greenpoint’s Monitor Museum.
For many Greenpoint residents, that particular location rubs salt in the wounds of a neighborhood overdue for the completion of Bushwick Inlet Park. The 2005 rezoning committed the city to constructing Bushwick Inlet Park, much of which remains unfinished. Earlier this month, the small Motiva portion of the park finally opened to the public, joining just a fraction of the park’s developed land.
Save the Inlet’s petition has amassed over 5,000 signatures. A petition supporting the project, circulated by Construction and General Building Laborers’ Local 79, is also available online, though it’s unclear how many people have signed.
Over the past few months, Monitor Point has been advancing through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), which is required for rezoning projects. Brooklyn Community Board 1, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, and the City Planning Commission all cast advisory votes in favor of the project. Now it faces the City Council, whose vote is binding, save for a possible (but rare) mayoral veto.
The area’s own council member, Lincoln Restler, says he does not support the project under the current conditions.
“Our city is facing a severe housing crisis, and we need to continue to build a lot more housing, especially affordable housing. District 33 has constructed more new housing over the past fifteen-plus years than any other Council district, and we remain committed to doing our part in our transit-rich district,” Restler wrote in an email to constituents on Tuesday.
“However, publicly-owned land demands a higher threshold for affordable housing. New market-rate housing in Greenpoint is totally unaffordable to working families, and publicly-owned sites are one of our few opportunities to add substantial amounts of affordable housing.”
As of now, 40% of the units will be affordable, though Antonio Reynoso has pushed for 50%.
The Council has until July 2 to review the project.
Save the Inlet supporters are gathering at 250 Broadway, near City Hall, at 9:30 am, May 27.