Tag Archives: Bronx Coalition for a Community Vision

The City’s Decision to Begin Jerome Avenue Rezoning Public Review Process After Community Opposition March Highlights the Significant Work Ahead

Yesterday afternoon the City Planning Commission kicked off the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) for the City’s proposed Jerome Avenue rezoning, beginning the seven-month public review process that will culminate in a binding vote by the City Council. Yet the decision to start ULURP came just days after the community marched in opposition, demanding that the City immediately stop the rezoning from moving forward until it has firm commitments in place to address displacement, deep affordability, and labor standard concerns. The fact that the City chose to start ULURP regardless highlights the significant work they have ahead to meet the neighborhood’s vision.

The Bronx Coalition for a Community Vision has engaged with the City for over two years, trying to facilitate the creation of a community-driven plan that truly meets the priorities of the neighborhood. In that time, they’ve made clear that no rezoning can move forward without firm commitments to ensuring building truly affordable housing, creating local, career-track jobs, and anti-displacement polices that are inclusive and representative of the community. The Coalition is asking the City to consider the effects that potential federal budget cuts might have on New York City’s affordable housing programs and urging the City to hold off on any rezoning until the new federal budget has passed and firm financial commitments can be made. In addition, the Coalition points out that the City is already building affordable housing around Jerome Avenue at a fast enough pace to reach its numbers without a neighborhood rezoning, and requests more explanation as to why a major increase in density and market-rate housing is needed at all.

As Community Action for Safe Apartments (CASA), a project of New Settlement Apartments leader Carmen Vega-Rivera – one of the hundreds of New Yorkers to attend the march on Saturday – said, “We the community have been meeting and planning for over two years to come up with a platform that meets the needs of the community. The fact that the city is moving forward with their plan and not our plan speaks volumes about the City’s priorities. The City still has time to stop this plan.” The City also has time to get this right. As the Coalition has repeatedly made clear they are not simply saying no to change; they are instead trying to demonstrate a new model for real community investment through rezoning. This represents an important opportunity for the City, and getting it right is the only timeline that should matter.

Photos Courtesy of Community Action for Safe Apartments (CASA)

Christopher Walters, ANHD’s Rezoning Technical Assistance Coordinator

Last night, hundreds of tenants, workers, business owners, and other local community members packed the Department of City Planning (DCP) scoping hearing for the Jerome Avenue Rezoning. Following a rally and march where community members chanted, “Fight, fight, fight, housing is a right” and “Who’s Bronx? Our Bronx,” members of the Bronx Coalition for a Community Vision streamed into the auditorium at Bronx Community College. Speaker after speaker expressed concerns about how the proposed rezoning would impact existing community members, and voiced skepticism as to whether, a year and a half into the process, the City was taking seriously the community’s concerns.

“I’m a single mother, work day and night to pay rent, and I know the housing built in the rezoning won’t be affordable for me,” said one community member.

“Where are the autos shops going to go? You have no plan for them!” said another.

These stories and others made it clear that without new, significant, proactive anti-displacement protections, new development would benefit people making higher incomes than most local residents and would simply make these stories of harassment more common. Several specific policy recommendations were highlighted, including the need for citywide Certificate of No Harassment legislation to proactively disincentivize harassment.

Many speakers also pointed out that any new affordable housing created under existing programs – specifically Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) and the City’s Extremely Low- and Low-Income Affordability (ELLA) development program – would largely create housing out of reach for a large percentage of current residents. MIH does not reach the nearly one third of New Yorkers whose incomes are at or below 30% of AMI, and the city’s existing programs for creating affordable housing have only a limited ability to target those at the low end of the income spectrum, who are in fact those most in need of affordable housing in the Jerome Avenue area and throughout the City.

Nearly a year ago, the Bronx Coalition put out a policy platform with thoughtful and detailed recommendations to address their four primary areas of concern: the development of new housing at levels affordable to local residents; anti-displacement & anti-harassment policies for residential and commercial tenants; the creation & preservation of good jobs with local hire; and real community engagement in the planning process.

Coalition members strongly made the case that the draft scope put out by DCP last month did not reflect their policy platform nor did it include detailed recommendations made separately regarding how to conduct an environmental review that would appropriately capture a wide range of possible impacts on the community. While the City has engaged in a wide range of meetings and public forums with local community members, speakers last night pointed out that a real community engagement process needs to result in the local community’s interests being prioritized in the actual plans that move forward.

The communities along Jerome Avenue are not simply saying no to change, a point repeatedly emphasized by opposing speakers. But change can come in a variety of forms to a community that is experiencing rising market pressures, and that change will be fundamentally shaped by this rezoning process. Local residents have a right to see their needs prioritized in the plan.