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Long after Mayor de Blasio is gone from office, his physical imprint will remain on neighborhoods like East New York and Downtown Far Rockaway—communities his administration will have rezoned to spur redevelopment, especially new housing.
The mayor says he’s pursuing rezonings of a dozen areas or more to address the affordability crisis by creating new market-rate apartments to reduce competition and by getting subsidized units built. But some wonder if rezonings themselves cause the very rent hikes, evictions and neighborhood change the mayor says he’s trying to prevent.
What does the evidence say? BkLive on Tuesday invited Darma V. Diaz, a community advocate in East New York; Tom Angotti, a professor at Hunter College and the author of the recent book “New York for Sale”; and Alex Schwartz, a professor at the Miliano Schoolof International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy to talk about what they’ve seen in their studies or on their streets.
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native new yorker
Most neighborhoods prefer downzonings to upzonings. Bloomberg worked with community groups and elected officials to downzone most of S.I. in 2005-2006.
J
And downzonings – particularly in affordable neighborhoods loke Corona or Wakefield – contribute to the housing crisis by capping supply at a time when there’s more demand than ever.