BY ROSE ADAMS
More than a hundred disgruntled
constituents gathered in
front of Councilman Carlos
Menchaca’s Fourth Avenue
district offi ce last Thursday to
demand his support in preventing
Industry City’s scheme to
rezone the area and expand its
already massive manufacturing
complex.
If approved, the rezoning
would pave the way for a billion
dollar, 10-year renovation
of Industry City, adding two
hotels, department stores, and
more than 25 football fi elds’
worth of space to the 30-acre
complex, which activists fear
will lead to sweeping gentrifi -
cation, raising rents, displacing
low-income residents, and
crippling local businesses.
“We will not accept a developer
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COURIER L 12 IFE, SEPT. 13-19, 2019
led rezoning so that we
can clean hotel rooms for the
rich until we are displaced,”
said Colleen Peabody-Diez,
who lives nearby Industry
City. “We reject ULURP and
will only support a community
based model to discuss any
change in land use anywhere
in our neighborhood.”
Menchaca lingered in the
back of the crowd during much
of the protest, only briefl y taking
the microphone to thank
the crowd and accept a petition
with 2,400 signatures, before
hopping on his bike and
pedaling away, angering protesters
who had wanted him
to voice his opposition to the
rezoning.
“What side are you on, Carlos?
What side are you on?” the
protestors chanted.
FIGHTING BACK: More than 100 Sunset Parkers gathered on Sept. 5 to pressure Councilman Menchaca to
vote down Industry City’s rezoning plan, giving speeches against the potential redevelopment in Spanish and
Chinese. Photo by Derrick Watterson
The protest came at the
end of the six-month hiatus on
the rezoning proposal, which
Menchaca earned after vowing
to vote down Industry City’s
rezoning scheme if Chief Executive
Offi cer Andrew Kimball
didn’t hold off on submitting
the application to the City Planning
Commission in March.
Peabody-Diez implied that
the scheme to expand refl ected
a desire to drive out the neighborhood’s
East Asian and Latino
populations. “How come
they didn’t go to white communities?”
she asked the crowd.
“Why... a brown, immigrant
community?”
Protesters also dismissed
Kimball’s claims that the redevelopment
will create thousands
of jobs for locals and help
neighborhood business, arguing
that developers have delivered
false promises to community
activists before.
“This is not a wait and see
situation,” said Gustavo Gordillo
from the South Brooklyn
Chapter of New York City Democratic
Socialists. “Prove you
are here for the many, not for
the money!” he told Menchaca.
As the council member
whose district encompasses
the land affected by the rezoning
application, Menchaca
effectively controls how the
city’s legislative body will vote
on the matter, making his support
key to the application’s
success.
“The fate and the future
of our waterfront is in
Menchaca’s hands,” said Claudia
Galicia, a member of a local
political club.
‘What side
are you on?’
Advocates pressure Menchaca
to reject Industry City rezoning
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