Residents and workers protest
Southern Blvd. rezoning study
BY ALEX MITCHELL
Car horns were honking
and plastic buckets were converted
into makeshift drums
as Longwood Avenue and
Southern Boulevard residents
rallied to protest the area’s
proposed rezoning outside of
Fannie Lou Hamer Middle
School at 1021 Jennings Street
on Thursday, June 13.
Anxious about displacement
that could follow a potential
rezoning, residents
marched and voiced concerns
over what they described as a
lack of transparency with the
NYC Department of City Planning
lead rezoning process
that “marginalizes voices like
theirs.”
The DCP study of the
Southern Boulevard area
encompasses Crotona Park
East and Longwood neighborhoods,
fl anking Southern
Boulevard between the Cross
Bronx Expressway and East
163rd Street.
Specifi cally, it will focus
on the surrounding Bronx
River waterfront near Star-
light Park, which will have
easier pedestrian access from
the New York state-approved
conversion of the Sheridan
Expressway into a street-level
boulevard.
Residents and protestors
fear that rezoning nearby auto
body shops and other industrial
like businesses would
bring in large, market rate luxury
housing that would create
displacement in the neighborhood,
keeping locals out of the
loop during the process.
“As DCP proceeds with a
major neighborhood study
and rezoning around Southern
Boulevard, of which nine
of ten community members
know little to nothing, they
are missing the opportunity
to work collaboratively with
the community in a transparent
process,” said Kerry
A. McLean, vice president of
Women’s Housing and Economic
Development Corporation.
As a way to help the ‘mom
and pop’ stores remain afl oat
along Southern Boulevard,
WHEDco previously launched
a commercial corridor ‘touch
up’ initiative that gave small
businesses a much-needed
facelift near the Freeman
Street IRT station.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 24 UNE 21-27, 2019 BTR
“We’ve seen how detrimental
(rezoning) can be to lowincome
residents and small
businesses when the government’s
process doesn’t fully
take their vision and needs
into account,” she continued.
The local unions, organizations
and others are calling on
DCP and the city to consider
“an independent assessment
of direct and indirect displacement,
including standards
for what is unacceptable and
metrics for changes to ownership,
control, and wealth, real
workforce and economic development,
including apprenticeships
and local hiring provisions,
and protections and
support for businesses owned
locally by people of color,”
along with protections for industrial,
auto and manufacturing
spaces in addition to
more permanent forms of affordable
(l-r) Banana Kelly’s Improvement Association director of Organizing
Gregory Jost and The Southern Boulevard Coalition’s Megan Khan and
Dalyla Santiago. Photo by Silvio Pacifi co
housing.
“The issue isn’t that we
oppose local investments, we
need local investments,” said
Dalyla Santiago, Youth Ministries
for Peace and Justice
leader at the rally.
“There are easy solutions to
these issues like real community
input and involvement,
but the city speeds through
the process, and doesn’t focus
attention or investment where
it could matter the most,” she
continued mentioning that
its imperative for DCP to slow
down and rethink its procedure
with the study and potential
rezoning.
Although, according to
DCP, “the study will allow the
city to coordinate across all
agencies and use every tool at
its disposal to protect tenants.
“The city will work closely
with local organizations to
conduct extensive landlord
outreach to keep existing
homes affordable and make repairs.
The city will make targeted
code inspections to identify
and address distressed
properties,” DCP Southern
Boulevard study documents
stated.
There is no fi rm timetable
yet for a DCP verdict on the
corridor yet.