Emergency Care
Should Not Wait
NYU Langone named one of the
top 10 hospitals in the country and
nationally ranked in 15 specialties.
Current Wait Times at
NYU Langone—Cobble Hill
Point your smartphone camera at
the QR code to view LIVE wait times
in our emergency department.
NYU Langone Health—Cobble Hill
Emergency Department
83 Amity Street
(Corner of Amity and Hicks Streets)
Brooklyn, NY 11201
NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn
Emergency Department
Level 1 Trauma Center
150 55th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11220
COURIER L 6 IFE, JANUARY 22-28, 2021
Judge stalls
Gowanus
rezoning start
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
A Brooklyn Supreme Court judge issued
a temporary restraining order on
the Gowanus rezoning after a group of
opponents sued the city over transparency
concerns — halting the neighborhood
wide land-use change until at least
Jan. 27.
Justice Donald Kurtz issued the order
late Jan. 15, throwing cold water on
the city’s plan to certify its lengthy Uniform
Land Use Review Procedure on
Jan. 19 until after lawyers for the city
are scheduled to appear in court later
this month.
The coalition of local advocacy
groups and residents opposed to the Department
of City Planning’s neighborhood
overhaul — known as the Gowanus
Neighborhood Plan — fi led their lawsuit
Friday, saying that remote Zoom-based
meetings violated city public meeting
laws and that the city failed to give the
community proper notice.
The new petition alleges that the lack
of notice and in-person hearings also
violate their First Amendment rights
to free speech and Fourteenth Amendment
guarantee of due process.
“It is apparent that Respondents the
city are attempting to rush their own
Application through the ULURP process
now, and exploiting the situation
created by the pandemic, ostensibly to
limit the anticipated opposition and
objections by community members to
this controversial and far-reaching proposal,”
the legal fi lings read.
If approved, the rezoning would allow
new development of apartment towers
rising between 22-30 stories along
with new open and commercial spaces
in the low-rise neighborhood along the
toxic Gowanus Canal — bringing with
it some 8,200 new housing units over the
next decade-and-a-half, including 3,000
of them earmarked as “affordable” tied
to residents’ incomes.
The historically-polluted canal is
currently also undergoing a roughly decade
long Superfund cleanup managed
by the federal Environmental Protection
Agency.
The opponents’ lawsuit comes despite
years of announcements and public
meetings about the rezoning, and
supporters of the plan said the groups
were simply trying to stop a proposal
they didn’t like.
The lawsuit largely centers around
the claim that DCP did not send proper
notice and information about the project
to the community 30 days prior to its certifi
cation on Jan. 19 — even though the
Department did send out that information
in an email on Dec. 7, following up
with another email to local stakeholders
on Dec. 18.
The petitioners claim that the latter
missive was “defi cient” because the necessary
information was not in the text of
the email, but rather linked to the DCP
website where they had to search and
retrieve further details about the plan
themselves.
The second prong of the petition argues
that holding virtual ULURP meetings
violates the City Charter.
When Mayor Bill de Blasio resumed
ULURPs in September after a pandemicrelated
pause, the city began holding
meetings on web-conferencing platforms.
City law states that those gatherings
must be held at a “convenient place
of public assembly” in the district or
borough — and the plaintiffs claim that
hearings via platforms like Zoom violate
that law.
However, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has
also issued a state-wide executive order
allowing public hearings to move online
to ensure they can continue amid the
pandemic.
The plaintiffs argue that virtual
hearings don’t allow for the same
methods of holding public offi cials
accountable, such as bringing along
signs or wearing t-shirts in protest,
applauding or booing, and speaking
freely — as opposed to webinars
where operators have the power to
choose who gets to speak and can cut
their mics at any time.
On the other hand, proponents of
the rezoning note that online meetings
actually allow for greater participation
from locals, as Brooklynites are no longer
forced to trek to a physical location
for hours on a weeknight. One member
of CB6 and a prominent lawyer labeled
the lawsuit as “NIMBY” — an acronym
standing for “Not in My Backyard” —
and “shockingly thin.”
A spokesman for de Blasio’s offi ce
also countered their assertions, arguing
that virtual meetings were in fact
legal and that the city’s three meetings
about the Gowanus rezoning this fall
saw some 200 or more attendees each.
“Virtual meetings aren’t just legal
and obviously appropriate in a pandemic
– they have increased participation and
opened the process to those unable to attend
in-person,” said Mitch Schwartz in
a statement. “We look forward to winning
this case, beginning certifi cation,
and delivering a rezoning proposal New
York City can be proud of.”
If you are experiencing an emergency, such as
symptoms of a heart attack or stroke, or severe pain,
call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room to
seek immediate care. Please do not risk your life by
staying home.
We specialize in emergency medicine, and treat
children and adults who need immediate care for
injuries, illness, and life-threatening conditions. As
part of a Joint Commission Certified Comprehensive
Stroke Center, we can provide immediate stroke care.
NYU Langone Health—Cobble Hill has extensive
precautions in place to ensure everyone’s safety
in our emergency department, including patients
with COVID-19 symptoms.
NYU Langone Health—Cobble Hill
83 Amity Street (Corner of Amity and Hicks Streets)
Brooklyn, NY 11201
646-754-7900