Fight for sunlight, continued
Judge demands public meeting centers for Garden-adjacent rezoning
BY BEN VERDE
Citing the diffi culties of accessing
virtual community
meetings for those without internet
access, a Brooklyn judge
upheld a temporary restraining
order against the controversial
960 Franklin Avenue
rezoning — saying the city
needed to provide a platform
for everyone to voice their
opinions before she would allow
the Botanic Garden-adjacent
towers to move ahead.
“I will not allow this thing
to go forward until you get your
act together and make sure that
everyone who wants to speak,
including Brooklyn Botanic
Garden, members of the board,
and everybody else can have
their two-minute spiel,” said
Kings County Supreme Court
Justice Katherine Levine at a
virtual hearing on March 18.
“The TRO is going to be there
until we fi nd a way to proceed.”
Developer Continuum Company
is looking to rezone across
from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
to build two buildings over
30 stories high, along with various
If you’re 60 or older, a TLC licensed driver, a home health care aide, a restaurant or
delivery worker, a grocery store or bodega worker, you are eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
COVID-19 vaccines are available to eligible New Yorkers at no cost,
COURIER L 4 IFE, MAR. 26-APR. 1, 2021
other towers between 16
and 20 stories. The project has
generated considerable controversy
due to the potential threat
it poses to the fl ower emporium,
which has been vocal in its opposition
to the project — including
their “Fight For Sunlight”
campaign.
Levine granted the temporary
restraining order against
the rezoning on March 2 after
neighborhood activists fi led
suit, arguing that virtual meetings
— as part of the the city’s
Uniform Land Use Review Procedure
(ULURP) — were disclusionary
to those without access
to high-speed internet, especially
in the low to moderate income
neighborhood of Crown
Heights, which the mega-development
would affect.
“These are elderly people,
they do not have computer
savvy, they do not have computers,”
said neighborhood activist
Alicia Boyd on March 18.
“They are on fi xed incomes,
they make $15,000 a year, they
can’t even afford to have internet
access.”
During the follow-up hearing
on Thursday, Levine stuck
to her guns — saying the city
should provide a COVID-safe
gathering space for people in
the community to gather and
tune into the virtual hearings.
“It seems to me that one way
to deal with people who don’t
have internet, is to provide a
community space with social
distancing and lots of hand sanitizer,
so somebody can go onto
the computer, and they can all
hang out and look at it,” Levine
said.
Levine suggested setting up
a number of computer stations
at Medgar Evers College in
Crown Heights, a large college
campus near the Botanic Garden
that has been used for previous
community meetings, as
well as a vaccine mega-site during
the pandemic.
Lawyers for Continuum
Company said the fi rm supports
the idea, and is willing to
help provide resources to set up
a community space.
“They are willing to set up
the community center that you
suggested,” said Jennifer Recine.
“We want — and I cannot
convey this strongly enough —
we want to provide a forum for
people and the community to
participate as robustly as possible.”
Attorneys for the developer
argued that the land-use process
should be resumed while
they develop a plan to set up a
community center — but were
refuted by Levine, who said the
temporary restraining order
would remain until a concrete
plan was hatched.
“I am not going to lift the
TRO on holding the ULURP
until we have a mechanism in
place,” Levine said.
Levine is also the judge in
a similar argument over the
neighborhood-wide Gowanus
Rezoning — where opponents
have similarly advocated for
a halt of all rezonings until inperson
meetings can resume.
City lawyers most recently
argued in the Gowanus case
that an executive order signed
by Mayor Bill de Blasio, offi -
cially designating virtual hearings
as legal, mandates that the
anti-rezoning case, and ones
like it, should be thrown out,
but Levine said on March 18
that she would “not be dealing”
with the executive order.
Community Board 9 on Feb. 24
heard updated plans for towers
proposed to stand at 960 Franklin
Ave. Rendering by Hill West Architects
regardless of insurance or immigration status.
Look for an appointment today!
Visit nyc.gov/vaccinefinder or call 877-VAX-4NYC to
make an appointment at a City-run vaccination site.
Bill de Blasio
Mayor
Dave A. Chokshi, MD, MSc
Commissioner
Eligible for the COVID-19 Vaccine?
/vaccinefinder