A conversation about gentrification, housing, affordability, and overpriced matcha with Brooklyn's borough president, Antonio Reynoso, who is now running for Congress
The uncomfortable fact that Mr. Reynoso skips over is that all of this housing that he wants is really out-of-control construction of luxury high-rise apartment buildings for the rich with maybe a few "affordable" apartments for those making $150-210,000/year. New York politicians decided in about 2011 that they wanted to solve the affordable housing crisis by offering developers tax breaks to build on 4th Avenue, but developers want to make lots of money building housing for the rich.
We have been living with the unintended consequences of this policy for years on 4th Avenue (a 6-lane, major highway) in Gowanus and the land around the Gowanus Canal, a waterway for industry that was so polluted that the federal government finally declared it a Superfund Site in 2010. Cleanup has already been going on for years and will take years or decades longer.
Save Gowanus Living is trying to save 4 historic houses on 4th Avenue and 7th Street providing 13 affordable apartments from a first-time developer who plans to demolish them for an 85-unit, luxury building that will also sit on 2 backyards that now help lessen flooding from rainstorms.
Rents on these monstrous buildings are now $5,000-$25,000/ month (not a typo) and "retail space" remains empty or is taken by large corporations, like hospitals, that paper over all the windows. It's a lonely and depressing streetscape, especially if you have to walk home at night.
We continue to lose needed, everyday businesses and those that stay raise prices or cater to the rich. Our major grocery store closed last year because the landlord wanted more money. It was replaced by a bigger version of the upscale Urban Market that now has a sushi chef, a butcher, and elevated prices. For example, one national brand of instant coffee costs $5 more than the same item at a nearby supermarket.
To make matters worse, none of these new, luxury residences are full because rich people don't want to live on a 6-lane highway, they want to live in the tony Park Slope, where large zoning prohibits large apartment buildings.
Our city officials just shrug and tell us that all the construction is legal under current zoning and that we residents, who made Gowanus a place people wanted to live in, should just live with the "inconvenience." I voted for Mr. Reynoso but will now support candidates who understand that these luxury high-rises are destroying neighborhoods.
I don't live in Brooklyn but I would vote for Antonio. I like his energy and we need new blood in politics!
The uncomfortable fact that Mr. Reynoso skips over is that all of this housing that he wants is really out-of-control construction of luxury high-rise apartment buildings for the rich with maybe a few "affordable" apartments for those making $150-210,000/year. New York politicians decided in about 2011 that they wanted to solve the affordable housing crisis by offering developers tax breaks to build on 4th Avenue, but developers want to make lots of money building housing for the rich.
We have been living with the unintended consequences of this policy for years on 4th Avenue (a 6-lane, major highway) in Gowanus and the land around the Gowanus Canal, a waterway for industry that was so polluted that the federal government finally declared it a Superfund Site in 2010. Cleanup has already been going on for years and will take years or decades longer.
Save Gowanus Living is trying to save 4 historic houses on 4th Avenue and 7th Street providing 13 affordable apartments from a first-time developer who plans to demolish them for an 85-unit, luxury building that will also sit on 2 backyards that now help lessen flooding from rainstorms.
Rents on these monstrous buildings are now $5,000-$25,000/ month (not a typo) and "retail space" remains empty or is taken by large corporations, like hospitals, that paper over all the windows. It's a lonely and depressing streetscape, especially if you have to walk home at night.
We continue to lose needed, everyday businesses and those that stay raise prices or cater to the rich. Our major grocery store closed last year because the landlord wanted more money. It was replaced by a bigger version of the upscale Urban Market that now has a sushi chef, a butcher, and elevated prices. For example, one national brand of instant coffee costs $5 more than the same item at a nearby supermarket.
To make matters worse, none of these new, luxury residences are full because rich people don't want to live on a 6-lane highway, they want to live in the tony Park Slope, where large zoning prohibits large apartment buildings.
Our city officials just shrug and tell us that all the construction is legal under current zoning and that we residents, who made Gowanus a place people wanted to live in, should just live with the "inconvenience." I voted for Mr. Reynoso but will now support candidates who understand that these luxury high-rises are destroying neighborhoods.