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SEPTEMBER 15, 2019, BROOKLYN WEEKLY
INDUSTRIAL SABOTAGE
Community seeks to pressure councilman into axing Industry City expansion plan
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
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.
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
FIGHTING BACK: More than 100 activists 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.
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.
Councilman Menchaca responded to the protesters after their hour-long demonstation, thanking them
for their efforts, but not stating his position on the rezoning proposal. Photos by Derrick Watterson
Community members of all ages
attended the Sept. 5 protest