Hunts Point’s Next Chapter, Building on
the Foundation of the 2004 Vision Plan
Hunts Point fi sh market. Photo courtesy of NYCEDC
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, FEB. 19-25, 2021 13
oped
By James Patchett & Councilmember
Rafael Salamanca
For most New Yorkers, the
name Hunts Point conjures up
a picture of bustling food markets,
but the vibrant community
Hunts Point is far more
than that. In addition to the
city’s Food Distribution Center,
which provides almost fi ve
billion pounds of food to restaurants,
supermarkets, and
bodegas, Hunts Point is home
to 12,000 residents. Many of
them work in essential industries
helping the city respond
to and recover from COVID-19.
It is also a peninsula at high
risk from sea level rise and
more severe storms.
Because of the unique importance
of Hunts Point, in
2004, the city and the community
developed the Hunts Point
Vision Plan through a joint
planning process. The plan focused
on improving the quality
of life and overall community
safety, and subsequently
brought hundreds of new jobs
and opportunities to residents.
Over 40 acres of new waterfront
parks allow community
members to enjoy open space
with their families. Reconfi gured
traffi c intersections divert
truck traffi c, making the
area safer for cyclists and pedestrians
alike. Prohibiting
new waste facilities within the
residential part of the neighborhood
also supports environmental
justice for residents
of the peninsula.
The Hunts Point Vision
Plan also created a roadmap
letters & comments
Larry Penner’s letter in the
2/12/2021 BT/BTR. Where is the
vandalism the author states is
occurring on the subway? And
in what form? I rode the subway
twice in the past four days.
The only vandalism I see is
“scratchitti,” and while I don’t
approve of vandalism of public
property, it is mild compared to
the old days of the 1970s – late
eighties/early 1990s. In those
days. graffi ti covered whole subway
cars and signs in stations,
making it impossible to see what
train you were on, where it was
going, and what station you were
in.
Nat Weiner
for economic development. We
are very proud of the results.
Together, we created thousands
of well-paying industrial
jobs with low barriers to entry,
and brought new workforce resources
to community members,
including connections to
new jobs for 4,000 residents of
the neighborhood. This is substantial
progress, but there is
more to be done and new challenges
to address head-on.
For example, Hunts Point
still faces the challenges of climate
change, and continues to
have higher rates of poverty,
unemployment, and negative
health outcomes than many
other parts of the city. The
reality is the Bronx felt the
health and economic blows of
COVID-19 more deeply than
other boroughs. This past summer,
Bronx Community Districts
1 and 2 consistently had
the 10th highest death rates in
the city with positive test rates
were well above the average. In
June, unemployment projections
neared 30%, again well
above the city average of 20%
unemployment. Critical gaps
in access to broadband internet,
childcare and other quarantine
realities have made this
diffi cult year even harder for
Hunts Point’s residents.
These inequities have
highlighted the imperative to
revisit the needs of the community.
Together we are facilitating
engagement to guide
future investments in Hunts
Point. Building on the successes
of 2004 Vision Plan,
the city will work with local
community members to create
an updated plan, with specifi
c recommendations for new
projects we can advance together.
This vision will guide
the city’s investment in Hunts
Point for the next 20 years, include
clear implementation
plans, and bring many other
city agencies to the table.
We want to hear all the
voices of Hunts Point. Starting
this spring, we will begin listening
to the Hunts Point community
about their goals for
their neighborhood’s future.
We will engage with small business
owners, seniors, students,
community organizations,
fi rst-generation New Yorkers–
all the groups that make the
neighborhood unique. We feel
strongly this effort must be
led by the community. To that
end, the Pratt Center for Community
Development will lead
our engagement efforts, to
place the community’s voice at
the center of planning process.
Pratt has worked in the South
Bronx for over 30 years and is
joined by Barretto Bay Strategies
and Mainland Media, both
Bronx-based fi rms, as well as
the Hunts Point & Longwood
Community Coalition, a group
of community-based organizations
focused on improving
the lives of people in the South
Bronx. We could not be more
excited to work with this team.
There must be both a Congressional
& Criminal Investigation
into the 43 Senate GOP’s
who sided with Trump; much,
if not all, of whom who sided
with him in his fi rst impeachment
trial, the same ones who
are on record boasting having
their minds made up BEFORE
this trial ever started,
the same ones who were reported
to have turned away &
ignored the video documented
evidence of the Capitol Breach,
and now one of them, Mitch Mc-
Connell, after his “not guilty”
vote, declared Trump to have
incited the insurrection &
breached the Capitol, hence repeating
the same statement &
argument presented by House
Impeachment managers warranting
conviction. By their
giving Trump a pass (again),
clearly these GOP’s committed
an obstruction of justice
— aiding & abetting a well established
criminal, terrorist,
and an enemy to Democracy,
to the safety & security of this
nation, and to the safety & security
of THE PEOPLE!!
—Michael S. Wilbekin
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