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QUEENS WEEKLY, DECEMBER 1, 2019
‘Queens is not for sale’
Community activists protest EDC’s plan to develop Sunnyside Yards
BY ANGELICA ACEVEDO
Justice for All Coalition,
Stop Sunnyside Yards,
Woodside on the Move,
Take Back NYC and several
other community activists
and leaders rallied on Monday
on Skillman Avenue to
demand that all public offi
cials and city agencies —
particularly the New York
City Economic Development
Corporation (EDC)
and the Department of City
Planning (DCP) — stop all
plans to develop Sunnyside
Yards.
“Anyone who pitches
to you the idea of building
a giant steel deck on top
of this historic rail yard
and then building on top of
that deck an emerald city
for the rich while the other
99 percent of the people in
our community have their
needs unmet, is pitching to
you a short-term solution
with huge long-term costs,”
Nicholas Velkov, executive
committee member of Justice
for All Coalition, small
business owner and Astoria
resident, said at the rally.
Velkov and Ivan Contreras,
the lead tenant organizer
at Woodside on the
Move, directed the rally and
press conference, which
took place right in front of
the 180-acre rail yard.
The land, which is about
six times the size of Manhattan’s
Hudson Yards, is
owned by Amtrak and the
MTA and is considered one
of the busiest rail yards in
the country.
Amtrak and the MTA
are undertaking “critical
capital investments” that
only happens once in a century,
according to the EDC.
Therefore, Sunnyside
Yards has been eyed for a
long-term, billion dollar development
project by the
EDC since 2017, after they
found that it’s possible to
create new land in the form
of a deck over the yard with
continued rail operations
below.
At Monday’s rally, the
speakers presented their
petition that’s signed by 43
organizations and small
business owners across
the boroughs, and not only
called for a moratorium
on “all major new developments
and rezonings,” but
also outlined what they
want to see the “tens of billions
of dollars” that are
intended for the Sunnyside
Yards development project
used for instead, including:
• To “repair and restore
safe and adequate infrastructure
that serves the
needs of our communities,”
• To “reform the land use
process and create a democratic
system that is truly
community-driven,” and
“abolish the quasi-private
EDC and eliminate the involvement
of real estate in
city planning,” and
• To “repair NYCHA
housing and secure permanent,
fair housing for all unhoused
NYC residents,”
Danelly Rodriguez, a
member of the Justice for
All Coalition and a life-long
resident of Astoria, took to
the microphone to address
the crowd in English and
Spanish.
“Only two things have
been going up in Astoria and
Long Island City: The cost of
rent and luxury buildings,”
Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez further questioned
who would really
benefi t from the EDC’s development
project.
“The EDC has been
boasting for years about how
Astoria and Long Island
City has been developed so
much, but the question is,
who are they developing
for — is it for us? Absolutely
not, they’re developing for
the rich and that’s been
clear time and time again,”
Rodriguez said.
Others argued that their
plans won’t benefi t the community,
instead it’ll just be
“another Hudson Yards,”
that will “displace loved
ones,” “raise rent,” and
cause further damage to the
environment.
Emily Sharpe, a nonprofi
t attorney who’s lived
in Sunnyside with her children
for 22 years, founded
the group Stop Sunnyside
Yards Development a year
ago when she began to hear
about the EDC’s plans.
“There’s a gross imbalance
of power going on here,
there’s self-dealing, there’s
lack of inform and consent,”
Sharpe said. “The EDC and
the people behind it — who
are the titans of industry,
fi nance, real estate, insurance
company — they’re
trying to get this for themselves
and their friends.”
The EDC has organized
three public meetings, steering
committees once every
quarter and about 100 community
stakeholder in-person
interviews.
But at their most recent
in-person meeting at Aviation
High School in Long Island
City on Sept. 16, a group
of protesters held a community
teach-in and called
their meetings “fake.”
Tom Angotti, emeritus
professor of urban planning
at Hunter College, was present
at that meeting and at
Monday’s rally.
Angotti said that the
EDC’s claims that the project
will take into consideration
long-term effects to the
community is not accurate.
“There’s no planning involved
here, they have absolutely
no idea what will go
on top because it’s all driven
by investors,” he said. “Yet
the EDC will march in participatory
workshops and
say, ‘this is planning.’”
As the rally went on,
some people began to ask
why their elected offi cials
weren’t present and where
they stand in this.
They mentioned Senator
Michael Gianaris, Councilmember
and Queens Borough
president candidate
Jimmy Van Bramer, Assemblywoman
Cathy Nolan and
Congresswoman Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez.
On Nov. 19, Van Bramer
and Ocasio-Cortez signed a
joint letter to the EDC stating
some of their concerns
regarding the current planning
process and proposed
development over the Sunnyside
Yards. Some of those
concerns include the current
plan’s lack of “environmental
impacts of developing
near the Newtown
Creek Superfund Site, an
industrial waste zone that
would expose unknown
amounts of toxins to local
residents.”
Ocasio-Cortez and Van
Bramer’s letter also stated
that their positions on the
project’s steering committee
for the development
“does not imply endorsement”
of it.
On Monday, Gianaris
also sent a letter to the EDC,
stating that they have not
“embraced a democratic
process in implementing
public input that prioritizes
environmental and social
justice” and that the development
will be “yet another
mega-project” that will benefi
t developers and lead to
“further gentrifi cation” and
“displacement.”
When QNS asked the
EDC for comment regarding
the concerns of the community,
a spokesperson
stated that they are still in
the master planning process
and will release the formal
plan in Winter 2020.
“Sunnyside Yard presents
an opportunity to build
a stronger New York and
meet the needs for more open
space, transit, housing, jobs
and green infrastructure
in Western Queens,” the
spokesperson said. “We recognize
that in any long-term
planning process there will
be questions and concerns.
We look forward to continuing
to engage the community
to discuss the goals and
impact with them.”
They will be hosting a
Digital Town Hall webinar
on Wednesday, Dec. 4, to
showcase a draft of the master
plan and discuss what
it means for the city’s longterm
future.
Nicholas Velkov of Justice for All Coalition leads the Sunnyside Yards protest on Nov. 25. Photo: Angélica Acevedo/QNS