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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, OCTOBER 6, 2019
Industry City protest invites environmental, social, and human rights activists
BY ROSE ADAMS
Hundreds of activists marched
in opposition to Industry City’s
expansion plan on Sept. 27, claiming
the development would exacerbate
a wide range of social and
environmental issues, including
mass incarceration, the Israeli
occupation of Palestine, and climate
change.
“We’re saying no to the Industry
City proposal because
they’re not in the business to
help the community and be climate
resilient,” said Summer
Sandoval, the energy democracy
coordinator at a local environmental
advocacy organization
called Uprose. “We need to move
our waterfront from what it is today
into a climate-ready waterfront
that addresses climate mitigation
and resilience.”
Councilman Carlos Menchaca
in September published a list of
demands Industry City executives
would have to meet to secure
his approval for an up-zoning,
which the developers need
to pave the way for a $1-billion,
12-year expansion of the 35-acre
waterfront complex.
The protest followed Industry
City’s decision to bow to those
Protesters took to the steets on Sept. 27 to protest the Industry City rezoning plan and its failure to address climate
change, along with numerous other issues. Photo by Rose Adams
demands , marking a necessary
fi rst step towards the massive redevelopment
scheme’s success.
The demonstration kicked off
at 44th Street and Fifth Avenue,
where activists did not confi ne
themselves to the housing issues
usually associated with the development
scheme, with some advocates
relating Industry City’s expansion
plan to global warming
“As there continue to be fl ood
zone areas, higher land property
is going to go for more value,” said
Marcela Mitaynes, a neighborhood
organizer who plans to run
for the state Assembly in Brooklyn’s
51st District. “And as it is,
folks are having a hard time fi nding
decent affordable housing.
People are getting displaced.”
Others connected the development
to mass incarceration,
deportation, and income inequality,
with a whopping 17 advocacy
groups — including organizations
fi ghting for LGBTQ
representation, pro-Palestinian
rights, and prison abolition —
participating in the event. Ac-
cording to one organizer, the
many causes represented at the
march increased the turnout,
and helped educate attendees
about other issues they may be
less familiar with.
“The point that people hopefully
leave today with is that the
only way to beat the climate catastrophe
that will kill us all
if we let it is to unite all these
struggles together,” said Jacob
Friedman, an organizer for
an environmentalist advocacy
group called Earth Strike NYC.
After a number of speakers
had addressed the massive
crowds, marchers walked
from Fourth Avenue down to
32nd Street waving signs that
read “Climate Justice,” “Abolish
ICE,” and “Stop capitalist
pollution with socialist revolution,”
as they sang protest songs
and chants. A marching band
equipped with horn players and
drummers brought up the rear.
“We’re here to set the record
straight with Industry City,”
Sandoval from Uprose said. “Just
because you’ve found a few people
in the community who you
were able to use does not speak
to what the community wants.”
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