A-Infos (en) US, NYC, RAT #4 - Gentrification on Steroids: The Battle for the Williamsburg/Greenpoint Waterfront By Kraz Dale

  An epidemic is defined as spreading rapidly and exten-
sively by infection and affecting many individuals in an
area or a population at the same time, as of a disease or
illness. The latest Bloomberg-engineered eruption of mas-
sive publicly subsidized development projects and rezon-
ing initiatives should be referred to as a citywide epidemic
and resisted accordingly. Gentrification and the rapid
corporate overdevelopment of NYC is an epidemic that af-
fects us all by sickening and killing our communities. We
can resign ourselves to its seemingly overwhelming force
or we can fight it with all we have.
  While the big stadium projects-- Jets, Nets, and yes,
the Yankees are building a new stadium in the Bronx--
have garnered the most media attention, a rezoning plan
equally as insidious and larger in scale is currently in the
works for the East River waterfront in Williamsburg and
Greenpoint. Sometime during the first week of May, the
City Council is slated to vote on a rezoning plan which
will radically alter the shape, size and composition of these
communities. Not surprisingly the city's plan is a shame-
less display of corporate welfare that will benefit wealthy
developers at the expense of the residents of Williamsburg
and Greenpoint.
  The city's rezoning plan was developed approximately 10
years after the community board began working on a re-
zoning plan of their own, which was initially launched in
1992 as an attempt to ban noxious industry from the wa-
terfront. The goal of the community's plan was to create
more green space and lessen the pollution heavy industry
along the waterfront. Back then no one could have im-
agined what gentrification would do to their community.
With each year the traditionally Hispanic, Polish, Hasidic
and Italian communities are inundated by waves of hipster
gentrifiers willing and able to pay exorbitant rents. When
the community began work on their rezoning plan, no
one could have imaged that in 2002 the city would counter
their plan with a developer friendly plan which will basi-
cally price many of them out of the community they tried
to save. The bulk of the city plan will include 22 or more
luxury housing towers, some of which will be 40 stories
tall and higher than the Williamsburg Bridge. These
condos are projected to include between 7,000 and 23,000
potential housing units.
  This would increase the population of the already over-
crowded district by an expected 25%, or 40,000 people.
And with only 8% of the housing expected to be afford-
able, ("affordable" to current residents with a median
income of $27,000 a year who pay $700 a month rent) it's
likely that most of the 25% increase in population will
come in the form of rich yuppies who will actively ruin
the already gentrified neighborhood's cultural diversity
and artistic character. To see exactly how "affordable"
these condo units will be we can look to the first of these
menacing waterfront condos which has already been built
just south of the Williamsburg Bridge on the old Schaefer
Brewery site. At the new Schaefer Landing prices range
from just under $500,000 for one-bedroom apartments
to $1.7 million for a three-bedroom with a terrace. You
can bet that on the Waterfront the Starbucks, Barnes
and Nobles and other corporate chains won't take long
to recognize the new yuppie clientele and move in. This
is especially likely because the city plan also calls for the
conversion of many existing manufacturing areas into
residential areas. With no protection for commercial ten-
ants it's likely that many small businesses will be evicted to
make room for the much more lucrative residential units.
As it gets harder and harder for local businesses to afford
the rents, chain stores will arrive thus perpetuating the
corporate Manhattanization of Brooklyn. If the city's plan
goes through Williamsburg and Greenpoint stand to loose
a projected 4,000 local jobs.
  While the city plan ensures job loss, it does nothing to ac-
commodate for the drastic increase in population. There is
no increase in social services and the plan does not reopen
the People's Fire House which was shut down due to lack
of funds a few years ago. To deal with further overcrowd-
ing on the soon to be robot driven L-train, the city plans to
widen the stairwell to the Bedford and N7th subway plat-
form by a whopping 3 feet! To ensure that condo residents
won't suffer in sardine tight subway cars like the rest of us,
it's likely that they will have the opportunity to commute
to Wall St. (literally, the taxis now running from Schaefer
Landing go directly to Wall St.) from their waterfront via
private water boat taxis. Instead of spending public funds
on a continuous waterfront esplanade, the city plans to
leave the construction of the esplanade up to each indi-
vidual developer ­ thus privatizing the esplanade and
allowing, and even encouraging, the new property owners
to restrict the public at certain locations and/or times.
  Bloomberg's plan does include some park space, but there
is no increase in open public space relative to the popula-
tion increase. While the lot of land between N7th and
N9th was bought in 2000 by the Trust for Public Land and
MUST become a state park, the city claims that the area
directly north of it will also become parkland. However
there's been no funding allocated to build the park above
North 9th. The city is counting on the Olympics to gener-
ate enough revenue to potentially build a beach volley ball
court and/or aquatic center in the space. If the statute of
limitations on the space expires before the city buys it and
turns it into a park it can be sold off to the highest bidder
and developed.
  In opposition to the city's plan the community developed
a plan for Williamsburg and a plan for Greenpoint which
are being championed by community groups such as the
North Brooklyn Alliance, composed of a diverse number
of community groups from the different long-term com-
munities in the area (unfortunately groups like ACORN
are apart of this alliance), as well as The Creative Industries
Coalition and Williamsburg Warriors - groups composed
of artists and hipsters. The community plan guarantees
40% affordable housing (again at $700 a month to some-
one making $27000 a year). It also provides for job pro-
tection through Anti-harassment policies and inclusionary
zoning meant to retain environmentally sound businesses.
  To save the view at the waterfront the community plan
places a 200 foot height cap on new buildings and attempts
to keep development within context of these low-rise com-
munities. If taller buildings are necessary to insure afford-
able housing they should be moved farther inland to allow
for a more open feel and access along the riverside blocks.
The question of the North Brooklyn esplanade would be
solved in the community plan by publicly funding its de-
velopment to ensure continuity and uniform maintenance.
Finally, the community plan promotes a strategy for the
expansion of public services including fire safety, EMS, and
subway and bus transportation.
  While there is widespread community opposition to the
city's development plan, opposition from politicians has,
surprising enough, been rhetorical at best. While David
Yassky, a City council member whose district covers most
of the proposed development area, has said that if the
Bloomberg administration doesn't agree to changes "we'll
wait for a new mayor and a new City Planning Commis-
sion and we'll do the waterfront right." He's also indicated
that he will not vote against this plan which will conven-
iently benefit some of the developers that contributed
big money to his campaign. By criticizing the plan and
using pro-working class rhetoric, the politicians can
attempt to gain some public sympathy before throwing
the community a few lean bones and completely selling
them out.
  As the North Brooklyn Alliance has lobbied primarily
for an increase in affordable housing they've opened the
door for the city to allow developers to increase the size
of their already monstrous skyscrapers in order to meet
a higher number of affordable housing units. In typical
politician doublespeak the Mayor's office has actually
had the audacity to claim that their plan is the "most ag-
gressive affordable housing strategy in the nation" simply
because it offers developers 30-year tax abatements and
large public subsidies for including some affordable
housing. Even more insidious is the way they attempt to
frame the discourse around affordable housing. Accord-
ing to the city plan the new condos will have units which
are affordable to low, middle, and moderate income
families. Developers qualify for subsidies by making
"affordable housing" units available to families making
$109,900 and lower.
  The city plan has appropriately been labeled "gentrifica-
tion on steroids." It is globalization come home. As the
factories are removed from the waterfront and pushed
further away from Manhattan, NY and the US, our city
increasingly becomes the global financial capital - a rich
people's playground where serving them is the main
employment industry.
  As I type this article, the cacophonous soundtrack of
gentrification - crushing blows of jack hammers and
cranes incessantly beating and collapsing - plays outside
my window. The inaudible gaze of developers, with
dollar signs gleaming in their eyes, looms over the com-
munity and everyone knows that changes are coming
rapidly and without relief. We are living in a time of
unprecedented development and displacement in NYC.
Gentrification is the racist, classist system by which
people are economically forced from their homes and
local businesses are replaced with corporate chains. Us
hipsters (yes many of us anarchists are much more apart
of the hipster community in Williamsburg then we are a
part of working-class and long-term resident communi-
ties) can either fight to hold our ground or continue the
cycle of gentrification by hopping from neighborhood to
neighborhood, raising the rents and evicting long-term
residents as we move.
  Unless one is very rich it's almost impossible not to be
affected adversely by the epidemic of development and
gentrification in NYC. Most New Yorkers, and many
radicals, have seemed to resign themselves to the omni-
present development, thus leaving our fate in the hands
of the blood-sucking real estate tycoons. If as anarchists
we seek to build a new world based on cooperation, mu-
tual aid, and love for one another and the planet, inside a
society which exists in diametric opposition to our goals,
then we must at least have the physical space to do so. If
we don't fight for our neighborhoods there won't be any
abandoned buildings left and we'll all be working all the
time to pay gargantuan rents.
  We must do everything we possibly can to resist the
implementation of the city's nefarious development plan
to save the Williamsburg and Greenpoint communities.
We should all bombard city council with calls, emails
and faxes, but more importantly, the time for direct ac-
tion against the city plan is NOW!
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