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City Limits’ ZoneIn project exists to improve public dialogue around the de Blasio administration’s proposals to rezone a dozen or more city neighborhoods. The voices of residents and other readers are fundamental to that exchange, and every week we will sample some here:
The week of June 5-9, 2017
Moshe Ben Aryeh-Leib on Clash of Opinions on De Blasio’s Approach to Rezoning
“I doubt the homeowners would spend that money. They might (voluntarily!) sell to a developer who will be able to build far more units, housing more people on that land in exchange for ensuring a percentage (20% let’s say) are affordable. The scenario herein described isn’t a ‘progressive family’, it’s a capitalist one, only tempered by that 20% requirement.”
Morland on CityViews: East New York was a Responsible Rezoning
“How is the fair share Law being taken into consideration when considering an equal distribution of homeless shelters and permanently affordable housing throughout the city. It appears that convenience not coincidence is what is currently driving this push to stop economic diversity in the city’s poorest neighborhood. People in wealthier neighborhoods do not want shelters on their blocks because they don’t want their home values to drop. However, they have more free time, resources and a greater voice to stop it. Logically Affordable housing and homeless shelters should be placed in wealthy or middle class neighborhoods that offer job opportunities and schools with greater resources and economic diversity. This rezoning plans seems like an underhanded method to make the rich developers more money and keep the poor segregated. If you really want to help the community bring jobs, create incentives for people to start businesses, add a CUNY school, improve public transportation, create incentives for more health care services in the community, offer grants and PMI free home loans. Focusing all this energy and money on building homeless shelters, homeless hotels and more ‘projects’ is a way to enrich developers and their benefactors at the expense of the poor. I am not fooled. Shelters and ‘projects’ are not being placed in poor neighborhoods because that is where poverty is. Instead poverty exist their because it was designed to be there.”