Protest against Industry City rezoning invites
numerous social and environmental causes
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 demands
, marking a necessary first
step towards the massive redevelopment
COURIER L 6 IFE, OCT. 4-10, 2019
scheme’s success.
The demonstration kicked off at
44th Street and Fifth Avenue, where
activists did not confine 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 flood
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 finding 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 fighting for
LGBTQ representation, pro-Palestinian
rights, and prison abolition
— participating in the event. According
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
Protesters took to the steets on Sept. 27 to protest the Industry City rezoning plan and its
failure to address climate change. Photo by Rose Adams
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