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Neighbors get a look at new building plans for Long Island City
By
Arun Venugopal
Published Jun 25, 2024
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Arun Venugopal / Gothamist
By
Arun Venugopal
Published Jun 25, 2024
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The line of people snaked up escalators and through long hallways, filling up a large room that was evidently not large enough. A wide array of people were in attendance, including artists, tech entrepreneurs, public housing residents, musicians and PTA members, and they were all seemingly united in their concern for their neighborhood’s future.
The event was a town hall at CUNY School of Law where residents could learn about how the city intended to transform Long Island City through rezoning and other changes. Many came to the Monday night gathering armed with skepticism. From their perspective, the neighborhood had already changed plenty, and not necessarily for the better.
One participant, Christina Chaise, booed loudly as a presenter detailed the plan for the neighborhood. It's where Amazon tried to build its sprawling new headquarters, but folded in the face of community opposition.
“I was saying boo to the rezoning plans,” said Chaise, who wheeled her child in a stroller from their home in the nearby Ravenswood Houses, where Chaise is a member of the resident association. She said she grew up in the Queensbridge Houses, another NYCHA development in the area.
“As it currently stands, it's another plan to build more luxury housing," Chaise added.
The Pepsi-Cola sign at Gantry Plaza State Park in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City is seen from the UN headquarters in New York on Sept. 26, 2023.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images
The event was organized by the Department of City Planning, City Councilmember Julie Won and a private firm, WXY Studio. Long Island City is New York City's fastest-growing neighborhood, and the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment there jumped from $4,000 a month in 2020 to $5,300 a month in 2022 — more than double the citywide average of $2,600 a month, according to official figures.
The area under consideration for more development is prime waterfront property with commanding views of the Manhattan skyline.
“You have a lot of players in a hotly contested area, with huge potential profits,” said Memo Salazar, a filmmaker and co-chair of the nonprofit Western Queens Community Land Trust. He said many local residents are “wary” of rising rents and “don’t want another high-rise in an already taxed neighborhood.”
Long Island City neighbors and others check out planning materials during a workshop led by Studio WXY, a private firm that has been facilitating discussions around a large-scale rezoning of the Queens neighborhood. The gathering was held at CUNY School of Law.
Arun Venugopal / Gothamist
The city’s plan currently proposes higher density and a total of 16,000 new homes, of which 4,000 or more would be affordable. It also promises seven to nine acres of continuous open space along the waterfront, new schools and improvements to local parks and NYCHA communities.
But many important details still have to be worked out. City officials say the neighborhood plan would continue to evolve over the next year or two, accounting for community input.
Dan Garodnick, director of the planning department, said in a statement that the town hall was an opportunity to consider the neighborhood's “strengths and needs” and “plan for a more affordable, resilient neighborhood.”
“With this plan, we can deliver much-needed housing, including mandating affordable housing for the first time in this neighborhood, good jobs, improved transportation and excellent open spaces and waterfront access," he added.
Becca Olinger, a city employee, said she’s lived in Long Island City since 1995 and was frustrated by what she heard.
“This is not gonna work, because we're just building housing for people who have lots of money or whose parents are paying their bills,” she said. “And I'm getting ready to retire. And I'm really, really scared.”
Chaise, the Ravenswood Houses resident, said the plan was inadequate without more public housing.
Long Island City neighbors and others turn out for a presentation by Studio WXY, a private firm that has been facilitating discussions around a large-scale rezoning of the Queens neighborhood at CUNY School of Law.
Arun Venugopal / Gothamist
“This plan is not a plan for housing for the people of New York,” she said. “It's going to end up pushing out the last vestige of people who call New York home, who live here, who were born and raised here like myself as well as my baby.”
The town hall is just one of several steps that precede an environmental impact review, which proceeds as the city initiates a formal rezoning process.
“The other thing the city is now more recently required to do as of 2021 is a racial impact study,” said Bahij Chancey, director of planning at WXY Studio. “People were rightfully concerned about displacement, especially racial displacement from rezonings. So now, for every single rezoning, the city has to study how that might affect the neighborhood's demographics.”
Won said she was not “in full agreement” with the neighborhood plan and wanted to ultimately see “100% affordable housing for public land.”
Some residents expressed skepticism about the process itself. That includes Salazar of the Western Queens Community Land Trust, which is fighting to take a large city-owned building in the targeted area off the market in hopes of keeping it permanently affordable for street vendors, artists, nonprofits and others.
Five years ago, a coalition of community groups helped prevent Amazon from moving into the area. Despite that accomplishment, Salazar said local residents feel the process is hardwired to benefit deep-pocketed developers.
“The machinery of the city is almost impossible to steer in a different direction,” he wrote in a text message, noting that many city officials “clearly want to do the right thing but have a mandate from the Mayor and other city leaders to build build build.”
Won said residents need to be patient as the process plays out.
“We have 18 months more to go,” she said. “And right now, this is a draft, the first draft of many, many drafts to come.”
Tagged
housing
development
long island city
economy
queens
Race And Justice Unit
Arun Venugopal
Arun Venugopal is a senior reporter for the WNYC and Gothamist Race & Justice Unit who focuses on issues of race and bias in our region. His reporting also tackles the topics of immigration, faith, and inequality. Arun serves as the regular fill-in host of the station's "U.S. of Anxiety" program. Arun was the creator and host of Micropolis, a series about race and identity. He is a contributor to NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He has appeared on PBS Newshour, On the Media and Studio 360, and has been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and Salon. He also frequently serves as an emcee and moderator of panel discussions on race, religion, and identity issues and has been a guest host of NPR's "Fresh Air." He lives with his family in Queens.
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