Almost lost in the drama of the Council’s final votes on the Inwood rezoning was one member’s vow not to negotiate any more changes to the zoning map until the city committed to study the effect of revisions so far.
Bitterly opposed by many neighborhood residents, the rezoning passed the Council with a single no vote.
After a Council committee approved the Inwood rezoning, a lawmaker had harsh words for the mayor. And back in the neighborhood, Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez faced protesters occupying his office.
Tenants in illegal basement and cellar apartments typically have no lease and limited rights while living in substandard conditions.
The controversial ‘Commercial U’ is out, and the rezoning has cleared its subcommittee and committee votes.
Two Councilmembers invited neighborhood stakeholders to draft a rezoning plan. But it could encounter the same misgivings that top-down plans have faced.
The Partners in Preservation program, first mentioned in the update to the mayor’s housing plan issued in November, expects to seek nonprofit bidders by year’s end.
But key parts of the rezoning, which was shelved in 2016 over concerns about infrastructure and flight paths, remain off the table.
Ydanis Rodriguez would not specify which parts of the rezoning were still being negotiated with the city but said he was looking at all options—especially those pertaining to the Commercial U.
The city’s announcement of a developer for one site and financing for the first phase of work at another encountered cautious optimism among neighborhood stakeholders.