February 16, 2020 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
LOCAL
CL ASSIFIEDS
PAGE 11
With tensions at a boiling point, Flushing’s
CB 7 approves special waterfront district
BY MAX PARROTT
Queens Community Board 7’s
public hearing over the Special
Flushing Waterfront District on
Monday night turned into a drawnout,
4 ½-hour affair as protesters
against the rezoning fought to have
their voices heard within the structure
of the meeting.
Tensions boiled over as hundreds
of residents — the majority of
whom opposed the plan — packed
into the Union Plaza Care Center.
In the middle of a two-hour presentation
on the plan, protesters
and two community board leaders
clashed in such a manner that police
had to intervene.
Once things calmed down following
an interruption, the board
resumed with public testimony
from all who signed up — then cast
an overwhelming 30-8 vote (with
one abstention) recommending
approval of the project. Nevertheless,
even those who supported the
special waterfront district raised
some fundamental concerns with
the plan.
The plan would create a 29-acre
waterfront district that would lead
to the construction of 1,725 new
apartments, 879 new hotel units, a
new road system, an open waterfront
path, offices, retail and community
center space. The developers
say it would offer between 75
and 90 units of affordable housing.
Procedural problems
The hearing began with a raucous
rally outside the nursing
home where CB 7 meets, led by
labor and tenant unions 32BJ and
the Minkwon Center, among other
community groups. They urged the
board to vote against the plan and
consider alternatives on the basis
of its environmental impacts.
Protesters face off with Community Board Chair Eugene Kelty. Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
As the meeting got underway,
members of the crowd raised concerns
that the agenda only scheduled
15 minutes of public testaimony,
while community board
representatives and developers
were allotted two hours for presentations.
About 45 people had signed
up to speak — it’s estimated that 30
of them opposed the district — and
they worried they wouldn’t have a
chance to speak.
At one point, CB 7 Chairperson
Eugene Kelty confronted the agitated
protestors for making too much
noise. This led to a shouting match
during which Kelty reached to grab
a phone of a protester who was filming
him. This led to 109th Precinct
officers intervening to make sure it
didn’t escalate further.
Moments later, when Land Use
Committee Chair Joe Sweeney tried
to diffuse the situation, he and another
protester got too physically close.
Cops had to separate them as well.
After taking a brief moment to
cool off, CB 7 decided to alter the
prescribed agenda in order to allow
community members to talk right
away.
Heated testimony
The testimony largely split between
community members associated
with the MinKwon Center,
unions and environmentalists who
opposed the rezoning, and local
business owners who supported it
as an opportunity.
Though the developers framed
the vote as a choice between the
public benefits of a rezoning, and
as-of-right development with none,
several of the opponents said they
would not support the project
without an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS), a detailed city report
that analyzes the effects of a
rezoning.
“No rigorous study on its environmental
impact nor of its impact
of gentrification and racialized
housing displacement have been
made,” said David Lee, a staffer for
Assemblyman Ron Kim.
Many of the MinKwon protesters,
a group composed to a great extent
of local teenagers from immigrant
households, spoke about how
they felt that their communities
were not consulted by the developers
or community board.
“Community Board 7 does not
represent the 14,000-plus Chinese
immigrants living in Flushing. I’m
here because the Chinese working
class residents who lack English
proficiency, such as my family,
could not make it,” said Yuriko
Zhang, a 17-year-old protester.
On the other hand, several of
the developers small business
owners spoke about their own
background as immigrants.
Todd Leong of Leaf Cocktail Bar
and Lounge described the rezoning
as an opportunity for young Flushing
residents.
“It’s a project like this that will
create jobs. I employ 20 people, all
of them Flushing residents – many
of them very young,” said Leong.
“They are all able to put themselves
through college.”
Confl icted Community Board
When the community board
began to deliberate, several of its
members echoed the concerns of
the opponents, which included traffic
congestion, the developer’s lack
of commitment to providing union
jobs, real estate speculation and
lack of community input.
“There really has been a serious
lack of input from organized community
stakeholders,” said Community
Board Vice Chair Lei Zhao.
Kelty responded that the Community
Board is always open to
working with local groups who
approach them. Another member,
however, argued that the advisory
body should have proactive about
communicating with MinKwon
Center.
After suffering a brief bout of
indecision and coming very close
to tabling the vote, the community
board voted in favor of approving
the rezoning with an extensive list
of recommendations, which focus
on vehicular traffic, environmental
impacts and a school construction
study.
The board’s advisory vote
will next go to acting Borough
President Sharon Lee,
who has 30 days to submit a
recommendation.
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