6 DECEMBER 12, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Reynoso calls for racial impact study before rezoning
BY MAX PARROTT
MPARROTT@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Councilman Antonio Reynoso
joined Public Advocate Jumaane
Williams, state Senator Julia
Salazar and Chair of the Land Use
Committee Rafael Salamanca Jr. to
demand that the City Council pass a
bill that would mandate a racial impact
analysis in connection with any rezoning
citywide.
The community groups spearheaded
by Bed-Stuy-based organization
Churches United for Fair Housing
rallied around the release of a
report on Tuesday that calculated
the racial displacement following
two Brooklyn rezonings in the early
2000s.
It found a decrease of about 15,000
Latinx residents in Greenpoint and
Williamsburg between 2000 and
2015 despite a population increase
of over 20,000 during the same time
period and a decrease of about 5,000
black and Latinx residents in Park
Slope between 2000 and 2013 despite
overall population growth of over
6,000.
“City rezonings should be more like
medicine advertisements than anything
else. City rezonings are great
but common symptoms are displacement,
racial segregation, increased
housing rental cost, speculation and
segregation in our schools,” Reynoso
said.
Reynoso asserted that City Hall
hasn’t passed Intro 1572, the bill
that Williams proposed to require
racial impact studies, because it will
confirm what is already common
knowledge: that black and brown
poor people are most negatively affected
by rezonings.
Salamanca pointed out that these
problems are not unique to Brooklyn.
Though Brooklyn became the locus
of a housing race over the past two
decades, he raised a city planning
study on rezoning Southern Boulevard
in his South Bronx district
as an example of the city’s focus on
creating more housing density in the
outer boroughs.
“The study of Southern Boulevard
fits the criteria of other low-income
largely minority areas that the de
Blasio administration has rezoned:
East New York, Downtown Far Rockaway,
East Harlem, Jerome Avenue
and Inwood,” said Salamanca.
Currently, the land use process
does not have a mechanism to account
for these demographic shifts
before they happen, nor is there a
process in the environmental review
that would account for unintended
consequences after the fact.
Williams condemned housing and
homelessness policy under mayors
de Blasio and Bloomberg as failures,
and appealed to de Blasio to get on
board with the law. He then floated
the idea of placing a moratorium on
the mandatory minimum housing
requirements, “but that’s a conversation
for another time.”
“If you have 70 percent market
rates and 30 percent affordable,
you haven’t done a damn thing but
exacerbate gentrification,” Williams
said.
He closed by calling on Council
Speaker Corey Johnson to hold a
hearing on his bill.
Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
Primary Care Physicians • Medical Specialty Physicians
Q1 Office Hours: Mon & Thurs 7:30 A.M. - 9 P.M. Tues & Weds 7:30 A.M. - 8 P.M.
Friday 7:30 A.M. - 7 P.M. Saturday 9 A.M.- 7 P.M.
Visit Us On The Web: www.doccareny.com
SAVE THIS NUMBER: 718-821-5500
Dr. Ronald Langman utilizes current treatment methods for everything from
Asthma, Sinusitis, and Urticaria, to Allergic Rhinitis, food and drug
allergies, and sensitivity to stinging insects. He also evaluates suspected
immunodeficiency or recurring infections that require special immunology
studies, ensuring you get the treatment you need. Dr. Langman also has
special expertise in diagnosing balance and dizzy disorders.
DR. LANGMAN IS AVAILABLE 5 DAYS A WEEK IN OUR GLENDALE LOCATION!
CALL US TODAY FOR AN APPOINTMENT!
74-01 Myrtle Avenue Glendale, NY 11385 • 66-86 FRESH POND RD., RIDGEWOOD, N.Y. 11385
66-55 Fresh Pond Road Ridgewood Ny 11385
Patient Centered Medical Home
68-23 FRESH POND RD.,RIDGEWOOD, NY 11385
Medical Specialty Location
For your convenience, we also have locations in Bellerose, Hauppauge, and Merrick Long Island
/WWW.QNS.COM
/www.doccareny.com
link
/www.doccareny.com
link
