Our Perspective
Headline
We Mourn Richard
Trumka, and Will
Fight in his Memory
By Stuart Appelbaum, President
diversity, new study claims
Retail, Wholesale and Department
Store Union, UFCW
Twitter: @sappelbaum
The world lost a tireless fighter for working
people on August 5, when AFL-CIO President
Richard Trumka passed away. At the RWDSU,
we often saw first-hand the dedication of a man who
was willing to go toe to toe with anybody if it meant defending the rights of
working people and creating a fairer and more equitable society where all of
us have our voices heard, not just the wealthiest and most powerful.
After being elected President of the AFL-CIO in 2011, Rich’s first trip
to New York was to stand with RWDSU members at the Kingsbridge
Armory in the Bronx to demand living wages, especially at projects
funded with taxpayer money. In Williamson, New York, he was there on
the front lines to stand side-by-side with hundreds of striking RWDSU
members at the Mott’s applesauce plant. Richard Trumka’s vocal support
helped the workers win their strike against a corporate employer that was
trying to slash wages and benefits despite enjoying record profits.
Richard Trumka
joined the RWDSU in
taking on Amazon in
Bessemer, Alabama,
standing with the
courageous workers
there who are trying to
organize a union in the
face of Amazon’s
unlimited resources and
willingness to break
labor law to destroy
Trumka stood with working people at
their campaign. He was
Kingsbridge Armory in 2011.
always there to answer
the bell, no matter how big or small the fight when it came to workers’
rights. He was a visionary and an inspirational leader.
Richard was born into a mining family in Pennsylvania, and as a
miner himself, he knew early on the importance of union activism and
giving a voice to working people. Mining can be deadly work, and those
prying coal from the depths of the earth know there is always a chance
they might not make it home. These workers back each other up and
watch out for each other and protect each other.
The values he learned in the mines and in the mining labor movement
shaped his entire life’s work. As President of the AFL-CIO, he gave a voice
every day to millions of union members and all working people in this
country, and he brought to the labor movement an incredible energy,
spirit and passion that showed during his entire career.
We will miss Richard Trumka, but we will never forget
him. We will continue to fight for the values he held
dear, and we will continue to bring a voice to all
working people in his memory. There can be no
greater tribute to his legacy than continuing to
fight for better lives for all working people and
their families.
COURIER L 6 IFE, AUGUST 13-19, 2021
A borough
for everyone
Gowanus rezoning may increase
BY BEN VERDE
The proposed neighborhood-wide
Gowanus rezoning could increase
diversity in the largely-white industrial
neighborhood through an infl ux
of thousands of below-market-rate
apartments, a new report claims.
Currently, Community District
6, which encompasses Gowanus, is
one of the 10 districts citywide that
is over 60 percent white — and, if
current housing trends continue,
the area will only get wealthier and
whiter, according to the study.
That falls in line with the past 15
years, where Community District 6
and neighboring District 2 saw their
Black and Latino population decrease
from 38 percent to 31 percent over the
past 15 years.
As it stands, Community District
6 is 62 percent white, 15 percent Hispanic
and Latino, 11 percent Black,
and seven percent Asian, according
to the report. Additionally, 80 percent
of the district’s non-white residents
live in ‘protected housing’ — meaning
non-market rate rental housing,
such as the public housing or rentcontrolled
apartments.
With the Gowanus rezoning standing
to add roughly 8,000 new housing
units to the neighborhood — around
3,000 of which will be earmarked for
families making between $30,000 and
$100,000 — the study, conducted in
part by City Council land use staff
and the Fifth Avenue Committee,
contends that a new infl ux of residents
will only diversify the neighborhood.
“The study clearly outlines how
building 3,000 units of truly affordable
housing — an unprecedented 35
percent of the total units to be built
— helps to counter local exclusionary
trends and promote racial integration,”
said Fifth Avenue Committee
executive director Michelle de la Uz.
“Advocating to truly advance equity
and inclusion as part of this rezoning
and more broadly in New York City
is central to FAC’s mission and we
look forward to working with allies
to achieve shared goals.”
The Fifth Avenue Committee, the
nonprofi t housing developer, is co-developing
the Gowanus Green development
on Smith Street, which will
contain roughly 900 of the affordable
units the rezoning may create, and as
such has a vested interest in getting
The Gowanus Canal seen looking north from
the Third Street Bridge. Photo by Kevin Duggan
the rezoning approved.
A recently passed law by the city
council will require applicants for
land use changes to conduct “Racial
Equity Reports” starting in 2022. The
reports are intended to examine the
potential effects rezonings will have
on displacement, the same way developers
are required to study the
impacts on the surrounding environment
through an environmental
impact statement.
While not yet required by law,
both proponents and opponents of the
rezoning pushed for a racial equity
statement for the Gowanus plan.
“As our public statements, communications
to the city, and fi nal vote to
conditionally approve the Gowanus
rezoning made clear, we supported
a racial impact study and are glad to
see one has been done,” said Community
Board 6 District Manager Mike
Racioppo. “More important than
the study being done are the results
of the study, which show Gowanus
could become more diverse after the
rezoning.”
The Gowanus rezoning is among
the fi rst pushed by the Bill de Blasio
administration that seeks to upzone a
largely white, upper-class area. A signifi
cant amount of recent up-zonings
have played out in largely non-white
working class and working poor
neighborhoods, while rich neighborhoods
have been granted lower-scale
zonings and historical districts.
Brooklyn Community Board 6 has
voted to support the rezoning with
a number of conditions, which local
Councilmember Brad Lander has
said he intends to write into the text
of the rezoning once it comes before
him and the city Council.
www.rwdsu.org
/www.rwdsu.org
/www.rwdsu.org