Readers Soundoff on Industry City
COURIER LIFE, SEPT. 27-OCT. 3, 2019 23
Councilman Carlos Menchaca
fl ed a town hall meeting Monday in
the face of angry constituents, who
booed the legislator for saying he’d
approve a controversial Industry
City rezoning scheme if executives
bowed to a list of demands, and the
Mayor’s offi ce promised to invest in
the community.
Industry City is seeking city permission
to embark on a 12-year, $1
billion redevelopment of its sprawling
manufacturing and retail campus.
The expansion would add 1.45
million square feet of space, two
hotels, department stores, and educational
buildings to the 35-acre
complex, but is currently prohibited
under existing zoning regulations.
Local activists strongly oppose
the project, which they fear would
spur gentrifi cation and displacement
of the surrounding Latino and
Asian communities, while supporters
claim that the move could bring
needed jobs and economic renewal.
Menchaca — whose vote as the
local representative will sway City
Council to either approve or reject
Industry City’s application — tried
to strike a middle ground during
Monday’s meeting at Sunset Park
High School. The Councilman argued
that, while Industry City’s redevelopment
may displace locals,
the land-use-approval process gives
residents an opportunity to set rules
for the manufacturing complex.
Readers said their piece online:
Making sure there are no jobs or
investment in a community is a tried
and true strategy to make sure property
values and rents don’t increase.
(I am not being sarcastic.
Mike from Williamsburg
Please say “some constituents.”
Many of us here in my neighborhood
are in favor of the Industry City rezoning.
Just because we don’t protest
and yell at hearings doesn’t mean we
don’t exist. Jobs, revitalization, safe
spaces for families and opportunities
matter to us and Industry City is providing
that for us. This is a privately
funded proposal (no tax dollars) on
private land (they already own it!)
Councilman Menchaca - vote yes!
Sonia from Sunset Park
Local here! I didn’t boo. I wanted
to hear the plan, but people in the audience
- including folks from Manhattan,
Park Slope and Bed Stuy - were
booing and screaming and couldn’t
let the rest of us hear anything. Industry
City isn’t responsible for everything
(good or bad) that happens
in this community. But no rezoning
means we will have zero say whatsoever
in what happens there. I think
that was Carlos Menchaca’s point. I
support his call for some community
agreements, but I hope that means
he will allow the project to move forward
for the sake of all of us, not just
the loudest 100 people in the neighborhood
trying to shut this down.
John from Greenwood Heights
I live and work in Sunset. I support
the Industry City rezoning.
Communities like ours need more
jobs for their residents, investment
in infrastructure, and rehabilitation
of our water front. IC has done that
and can do more with this plan. The
heavy manufacturing of old is not returning.
Let us be successful for the
real world and have jobs where we actually
live!
Angel from Sunset Park
As a homeowner in the neighborhood,
I agree that Industry City rezoning
is inevitable. I believe there
ought to be a way to accommodate the
development of the former Bush Terminal
as well as creating more housing
for the working class citizens of
Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
Concerned from Greenwood
People that own property in the
neighborhood are for this. They know
it’ll raise their value, as well as the
commercial and residential rents in
the area. These same yuppies moved
here because “the neighborhood is so
vibrant.” Rezoning displacement happened
in Dumbo, Williamsburg and
EVERY OTHER REZONING since
Bloomberg. If you rent in SP, it’s going
up. So start looking at rentals in
Gravesend or Bath Beach, because
when the landlord slides that rent
renewal under your door, it’s going
to be a rude awakening. How many
people would take a $15/hr job in exchange
for a 20% increase on rent?
All a developer has to say is “job” and
New Yorkers will give away everything.
These same YIMBY New Yorkers
proclaim to hate Trump - the kind
of shady NYC real estate.
Rick from Sunset Park
Bay News blues
Dear Editor:
What in the world is happening to
the Bay News?
It is obvious there is no proof
reader around. However, it seems
that is made up for by having a thesaurus
the size of an elephant!
The people who write the Police
Blotter seem to have an ongoing contest
over who can call criminals by
the most names.
The “Sound Off to the Editor” letters
border on ludicrous, for the most
part. Most of the signatures are unbelievable.
Is there a contest going
on? Letters seem to be answered the
same day they are printed which
leads me to believe people are reading
them on the computer and answering
them that day.
Please go back to being the newspaper
that it once was. I can understand
if people don’t want to give their
full name, but it looks as if there is a
contest going on to see how rediculus
they can get.
Thanks for your attention to my
letter.
P.S. I realize that I have used the
phrase “contest going on” a few times
but it really does seem that way.
Mrs. R.L. from Homecrest
Drivers vs bikers!
You’ve heard of the so-called
“War on Cars” — now meet the resistance!
Car-owning Brooklyn residents
are gathering in churches throughout
the borough to plot the destruction
of bike and bus lanes in their
communities, which one former pol
blamed for the downfall of the middle
class!2w
“If you’re trying to get rid of my
car, it’s almost like you’re trying
to take away the middle class family,
because biking is not for everybody,”
Renee Collymore, a former
Fort Greene district leader.
One recent gathering at Fort
Greene’s Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian
Church on Sept. 17, dubbed
a “Townhall on the NYC War on
Cars,” invited motorists to discuss
policies that redistribute the city’s
transit wealth away from drivers
— axing parking spaces in favor of
bike lanes and eliminating driving
lanes to make way for dedicated bus
lanes — as car owners seek to retake
the roads, according to one Clinton
Hill resident.
“We want to be on the game
board, we want to be noisy enough
that we’ll get their attention. We’re
trying to use our voice,” said Shellie
Hagan, who organized the meeting
along with Fort Greene resident
Lucy Koteen and Community Board
2 member Ernest Augustus.
Readers made some noise online:
Drivers build roads and subsidize
subways with the money they pay in
fees for license, registration, insurance,
tolls. Cyclists contribute zero
dollars, but they demand everything
for free—just like babies in a crib!
You want to outlaw cars? Don’t wish
for what you want—you might get
your wish.
Wilbur D. Horse from Funkytown
Eric McClure perfectly represents
the elitism and arrogance of the
biker lobby. He sounds just like the
all the politicians who pushed Atlantic
Yards against the simple people
fi ghting to save their neighborhood.
Those elected said those neighbors
were a small minority averse to
change. In fact bikers and gentrifi cation
go hand in hand. Developers love
bikers. They are the elite. They mean
money and prestige. Time to rezone
and get another bunch of luxury towers
up. (McClure was against Atlantic
Yards.)
Dora from Fort Greene
What happened to the AAA? They
used to fi ght for the rights of motorists.
Now they are silent. The city is
quietly removing traffi c lanes all over
which increases traffi c congestion
and air pollution. Then they blame
the drivers for the increased congestion.
A few weeks ago they removed a
parking lane for a quarter mile and
striped off the center part of the roadway
narrowing the Belt Parkway service
road near Cesars Bay Bazaar to
one lane. This road used to handle the
overfl ow traffi c from the Belt Parkway
during the evening rush hour.
Now nothing moves. It took me one
hour to get from Red Hook to Sheepshead
Bay because of this. Mass transit
would take 90 minutes, so there is
no choice. They don’t do studies that
measure congestion. DOT just does
whatever it wants and is totally unaccountable.
BrooklynBus from Brooklyn
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