by Emma Davey A proposed new development on the Bushwick Inlet has raised deep-rooted questions about affordability and neighborhood character.
As Bushwick Inlet Park finally coalesces after years of hard-fought community activism, neighbors are considering the future of the MTA-owned parcel of land at 40 Quay Street, as well as an adjacent parcel at 56 Quay Street. The parcels abut the park, further complicating decisions about what usage might best complement it. Developers plan to construct a…
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Thank you for the info. My general take on this is that in a democracy, the extremes can ruin it. What I mean by it is back in the mid 20 century, rent regulations so crippled the city, landlords were abandoning properties by the thousands. They could not make a profit. Now the opposite has happened with rents sky high for only the rich or two-four people bunking up together in a rental. “Affordable housing” set asides can be some what of a joke with the rates they are charging.
I lived thru both eras.
The answer is common sense rent regs., without either the welfare state or RE billionaires bilking the public.
Good luck getting a mayor that will do it, either they are owned by RE interests or the opposite far left welfare socialists.
Emma Davey points points out that “Greenpoint residents desperately need more affordable housing – but the question is HOW to go about”. The way we DON’T do it is by continuing to build even more market rate developments that drive up rent in the rest of the community and displace even more residents. We DON’T do it by creating more unaffordable “affordable” apartments. Instead, we elect local and State reps who will change the definition of “affordable” to a far more realistic level, as we reig in developers who ruin our community instead of dof lifting it up. There are already plenty of apartments in Greenpoint, but they have BECOME unaffordable because of rampant landlord greed. We need to elect Stahe and local reps who will not only freeze the rent but actually LOWER the rents. Open up the landlord’s profit ledgers and let’s see how they are gouging us. Let’s make this an affordable city instead of driving away the New Yorkers who built his city. Andrew Cuomo is backed by billionaire landlords and developers. A vote for Cuomo insures more of the same, more failure, more unaffordability, increasingly rising rents and even more displacement. Emma claims that “time will tell”. As a long-time Greenpoint resident, I suggest to Emma that all we need to look at is the time that has ALREADY past: the last 20 years of devastating gentrification in Greenpoint. Do we want more of the same and worse …or do we find a better way that actially serves the people instead of fattening the bank accounts of fat cats? Vote like it matters, because it does. Nw Yorkers are fed up.They need change, not more of the same.
As for the massive buildings that developers want to encroarch on Bushwick Inlet Park: the State runs the MTA. Governor Hochul runs the MTA. Hochul is up for re-election next year. The MTA must be FOROCED to keep this precious last sliver of our waterfront as PARKLAND, in a community with so little green space and a massively increased population. Once we lose this previous last piece of waterfront, it will be lost forever to all future generations of Greenpointers and their families. Stop the MTA (and Hochul) from this shameful betrayal of our community.
The neighborhood doesn’t want this development and that has been made clear at the community board meetings. Greenpoint has added more apartments to the market than any other burrough by a land slide but has seen rent prices almost double in the last decade.
This development will tower over every other building erected on the water. They’ll only add the bare minimum required rent controlled apartments and we’ll have another tower offering $4K/month studio apartments (not affordable housing). They’re leasing the land from the MTA for 100 years. They have no plans to do any infrastructure reinforcement to the shoreline. Why can’t the developer build in accordance with current zoning? Either way this development is monstrosity.
Agreed^, it’s fundamentally subtractive to this neighborhood and its residents. By insinuating that Box Street Park ( a long promised park on the north end of GP) is somehow contingent on this development is absurd. The MTA owns a ton of vacant lots/warehouses with which those trucks could relocate at any time.
Monitor Point is detrimental to the future of Bushwick Inlet park (and it’s wildlife). It’ll do nothing to impact rent affordability, will further strain basic services (schools/public transit etc.), and inundate a community fed up with the constant construction/traffic. Other neighborhoods need to step up also to resolve this housing shortage; GP cannot do it all.