HEARING TOMORROW ON MAYOR’S PLAN TO WRECK SOHO/ NOHO

The City Planning Commission has scheduled its hearing while New York City is out of town on vacation. It starts at 10 am and you can also speak by Zoom or send a written comment.

The Mayor’s upzoning plan will bring 100-story condos, big-box stores, and NYU dorms to these landmarked districts and their immediate environs. It is the end game for them and for adjoining Chinatown.

As always, the Mayor offers “affordable” housing as a putative compensation. Affordable for whom is never clarified by City Hall, since as it turns out what it deeems affordable is anything but for the people in New York City who are most hard hit by our housing crisis.

Furthermore, the plan is so riddled with loopholes that De Blasio’s developer friends won’t actually be forced to build any “affordable” housing at all.

The Mayor’s plan is an end game but also represents a precedent. City Planning Commission has brazenly announced that hey intend to upzone other historic districts provided that the City Council approves their plan.

What the plan represents as well is a stealth attack on the landmarked status of these districts. Not only will low-rise, rent-stabilized buildings on the outskirts of the landmarked perimeters be demolished, but buildings within the districts as well. For De Blasio’s intention to punch holes in historic landmarked districts is proceeding apace.

The NYC Landmarks “Preservation” Commission is permitting the demolition of two brownstones on lower Fifth Avenue, located within the Greenwich Village Historic District, each containing rent-regulated apartment units. This follows the demolition of rent-regulated buildings on East 11th St.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.