“These same vacant lots have 314,048 square feet of residentially zoned land on which new affordable housing units may be built, as well as 114,2071 square feet with the potential for manufacturing space that could bring good jobs to the local community.”
While Gov. Kathy Hochul included a pathway to basement legalization in her February budget proposal, the word ‘cellar’ is absent from her plan. The two terms may be indistinguishable to most property owners, but they’re different under zoning and dwelling laws, and excluding cellars from the state’s plan would omit a significant swath of below-grade housing stock from potential conversion, advocates say.
Brad Lander’s Basement Resident Protection Law would create a “basement board” to oversee the conversions and ensure residents of these apartments—called accessory dwelling units or ADUs—have access to tenants’ rights and basic safety protections. It comes a year after rains from Hurricane Ida killed 11 New Yorkers in basement units.
Just six units remain occupied at the Arlington Village complex. Now, those who remain worry about what the owners’ plan to develop the site will mean for them. “What exists now won’t exist.”
Erik Martin Dilan, quien lleva cuatro periodos en el cargo, se enfrenta a Samy Nemir Olivares, respaldado por el DSA, en una de las elecciones primarias de este mes en las que los demócratas de izquierdas desafían a los demócratas establecidos.
The project would create about 664 housing units, two commercial towers and a new park in place of vehicle lots and low-rise buildings in an area that city officials have been eyeing for years for potential economic and real estate development.
Home prices in the predominantly Black and Latino neighborhood began to tick up before then-Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to rezone 190 blocks in 2014. But affordable housing advocates and local residents say the rezoning, approved in 2016, only drove more speculators to scoop up homes, jack up prices and push out existing residents.
In 2016, the mayor and city officials committed to doubling the manufacturing capacity of the East New York Industrial Business Zone, which they say would help create 3,900 local jobs there. But five years later, neighborhood leaders say the area has stagnated.
‘In other states that have established a legal marijuana market, large corporations with significant capital make up the bulk of the market share while BIPOC communities have seen little, if any, economic benefit from legalization. New York can create a more racially and economically equitable path.’
“Part of it is a little sad. I’m looking at all these statistics—the rates of rent-burdened residents, the poor housing conditions. When you see it in print, it makes it stand out and you see the severity of the situation,” one student said.
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