CB9 ULURP Committee Meeting, May 19, 2015

Fund Raising

A positive step for rezoning Prospect Lefferts Gardens

Dear Neighbors,

Broad support prevails throughout our neighborhood for a contextual rezoning by City Planning to prevent out-of-scale buildings like the 23-story luxury building at 626 Flatbush Avenue. Lack of appropriate zoning in Prospect Lefferts Gardens has lured developers seeking big profits threatening our community, stressing our infrastructure, while failing to preserve affordable rent.  Only community-defined contextual zoning can protect the neighborhood from changing overnight into a place we won’t recognize.

Unfortunately, however, controversies and delays surrounding recent efforts by our Community Board (CB9) to request a zoning study from City Planning have left many of us in PLG without confidence that CB9’s process will result in benefits for our neighborhood. Because the current agenda of City Planning seems to rely more on removing than imposing limits on developers, we feel we would be foolish to deal with the City unprotected by professional expertise.

We therefore propose to take a positive step as a community. And we’re asking for your moral and financial support. 

We feel strongly we must retain a professional planner to develop a zoning plan tailored to our specific needs. Such a plan would serve as a basis for negotiation with City Planning. Given the lethal combination of developers’ aggression and our unique vulnerability, there is no time to lose.

Paul Graziano is a deeply experienced planner with many successes in helping neighborhoods preserve character. (Explore Paul’s background http://www.paulgraziano.com/biography.html.) We want to retain Paul to develop a comprehensive, defensible zoning plan for PLG, taking into account both our desire for preservation of neighborhood character and diversity and the City’s agendas regarding housing and development. We think hiring Paul will not only help us arrive at a clear basis for negotiating with the City but also serve as a means for focusing community discussion on the rezoning issue.

Our immediate goal, therefore, is to raise $6000 to enable Paul Graziano to begin the first of four phases of work on the rezoning study. Concerned Citizens for Community-Based Planning have already raised $3000, and we’re in the process of forming a non-profit organization and establishing a dedicated bank account for the project. We have high hopes that raising many modest contributions toward the goal will empower community action, and we’ll be scheduling an event to further discuss the effort and report progress. In the meantime, no contribution is too small (or too large!).

There are two ways to donate:
(1) Credit or Debit Card - choose an amount and click the donation button on the right
(2) Checks should be made out to Concerned Citizens for Community-Based Planning and mailed to 190 Lincoln Road, Brooklyn, NY 11225.

To learn more about how zoning and other planning issues affect PLG, see the following website:

Concerned Citizens website www.CB9rezoning.org

Thanks for any support that you can give this effort to develop a plan to protect our neighborhood.

Signed,

Bill Hogeland and Gail Brousal, 87 Fenimore Street             
Alan P. Berger, 190 Lincoln Road
Suwen Cheong & Barnabas Wolf, 79 Fenimore Street                    
Sarah and Alex Prud'homme, 219 Lincoln Road
James Betts & Grace Kessler Betts, 227 Lincoln Road                    
Rebecca Burrows & Erik Addington, 246 Midwood
Grahame Conibear & Sandra Skoblar, 47 Sterling Street
J. Milton, Fenimore Street
Denise Dostaly, 55 Sterling Street
Susan Kuralt Smith & Nat Smith, 99 Hawthorne Street

Population Growth

Projected population growth for CD9 by the year 2030 is 2000-5000 people (see link and map below).

Department of City Planning uses an estimate of 2.7 persons per dwelling unit. Therefore, between 740-1850 new units of development should be needed to accommodate projected population growth over the next 15 years. According to the New Development map on our website, we already have 2529 units of new development in the pipeline for the next few years.

In other words, new construction in this district has already exceeded new supply required to accommodate the highest estimates of population growth by nearly 40%. What will be the future of our district if we do not downzone to significantly reduce development?? Years of disruptive construction ending with hundreds of vacant luxury units? Or the Manhattanization of our quiet and stable neighborhoods?

http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/downloads/pdf/hazard_mitigation/section_3c_population_and_development_trends.pdf

Past population growth trends

Population has been relatively stable in Community District 9 from 1970 to 2000; by comparison Park Slope, Bedford Stuyvesant and North Crown Heights (Board 8) lost significant population density while Flatbush and Midwood gained.

COMMUNITY DISTRICTS			Total Population					Change 1970-2010
			1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	Number	Percent
M	1	Battery Park City, Tribeca	7,706	15,918	25,366	34,420	60,978	53,272	691.30%
S	3	Tottenville, Woodrow, Great Kills	72,815	108,249	126,956	152,908	160,209	87,394	120.00%
M	5	Midtown Business District	31,076	39,544	43,507	44,028	51,673	20,597	66.30%
Q	4	Elmhurst, South Corona	108,233	118,430	137,023	167,005	172,598	64,365	59.50%
S	2	New Springville, South Beach	85,985	105,128	113,944	127,071	132,003	46,018	53.50%
BX	10	Throgs Nk., Co-op City, Pelham Bay	84,948	106,516	108,093	115,948	120,392	35,444	41.70%
Q	3	Jackson Heights, North Corona	123,635	122,090	128,924	169,083	171,576	47,941	38.80%
Q	9	Woodhaven, Richmond Hill	110,367	109,505	112,151	141,608	143,317	32,950	29.90%
S	1	Stapleton, Port Richmond	135,875	138,489	137,806	162,609	175,756	39,881	29.40%
M	4	Chelsea, Clinton	83,601	82,164	84,431	87,479	103,245	19,644	23.50%
BX	7	Bedford Park, Norwood, Fordham	113,764	116,827	128,588	141,411	139,286	25,522	22.40%
Q	7	Flushing, Bay Terrace	207,589	204,785	220,508	242,952	247,354	39,765	19.20%
Q	2	Sunnyside, Woodside	95,073	88,927	94,845	109,920	113,200	18,127	19.10%
BK	14	Flatbush, Midwood	137,041	143,859	159,825	168,806	160,664	23,623	17.20%
Q	14	The Rockaways, Broad Channel	98,228	100,592	100,596	106,686	114,978	16,750	17.10%
M	6	Stuyvesant Town, Turtle Bay	122,465	127,554	133,748	136,152	142,745	20,280	16.60%
BK	12	Borough Park, Ocean Parkway	166,301	155,899	160,018	185,046	191,382	25,081	15.10%
BK	7	Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace	111,607	98,567	102,553	120,063	126,230	14,623	13.10%
BX	12	Wakefield, Williamsbridge	135,010	128,226	129,620	149,077	152,344	17,334	12.80%
M	8	Upper East Side	200,851	204,305	210,880	217,063	219,920	19,069	9.50%
Q	12	Jamaica, St. Albans, Hollis	206,639	189,383	201,293	223,602	225,919	19,280	9.30%
Q	10	Ozone Park, Howard Beach	113,857	105,651	107,768	127,274	122,396	8,539	7.50%
BK	5	East New York, Starrett City	170,791	154,931	161,350	173,198	182,896	12,105	7.10%
BK	11	Bensonhurst, Bath Beach	170,119	155,072	149,994	172,129	181,981	11,862	7.00%
BX	11	Pelham Pkwy, Morris Park, Laconia	105,980	99,080	97,842	110,706	113,232	7,252	6.80%
M	2	Greenwich Village, Soho	84,337	87,069	94,105	93,119	90,016	5,679	6.70%
BK	13	Coney Island, Brighton Beach	97,750	100,030	102,596	106,120	104,278	6,528	6.70%
Q	8	Fresh Meadows, Briarwood	142,468	125,312	132,101	146,594	151,107	8,639	6.10%
BX	5	University Hts., Fordham, Mt. Hope	121,807	107,995	118,435	128,313	128,200	6,393	5.20%
M	12	Washington Heights, Inwood	180,561	179,941	198,192	208,414	190,020	9,459	5.20%
Q	5	Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth	161,022	150,142	149,126	165,911	169,190	8,168	5.10%
BK	17	East Flatbush, Rugby, Farragut	149,496	154,596	161,261	165,753	155,252	5,756	3.90%
BX	9	Soundview, Parkchester	166,442	167,627	155,970	167,859	172,298	5,856	3.50%
Q	1	Astoria, Long Island City	185,925	185,198	188,549	211,220	191,105	5,180	2.80%
BK	18	Canarsie, Flatlands	188,643	169,092	162,428	194,653	193,543	4,900	2.60%
Q	13	Queens Village, Rosedale	184,647	173,178	177,535	196,284	188,593	3,946	2.10%
BX	4	Highbridge, Concourse Village	144,207	114,312	119,962	139,563	146,441	2,234	1.50%
M	7	West Side, Upper West Side	212,422	206,669	210,993	207,699	209,084	-3,338	-1.60%
BX	8	Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Marble Hill	103,543	98,275	97,030	101,332	101,731	-1,812	-1.70%
BK	9	Crown Heights South, PLG, Wingate	101,047	96,669	110,715	104,014	98,429	-2,618	-2.60%
M	9	Manhattanville, Hamilton Heights	113,606	103,038	106,978	111,724	110,193	-3,413	-3.00%
BK	15	Sheepshead Bay, Gerritsen Beach	164,815	149,572	143,477	160,319	159,650	-5,165	-3.10%
BK	1	Williamsburg, Greenpoint	179,390	142,942	155,972	160,338	173,083	-6,307	-3.50%
BK	10	Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights	129,822	118,187	110,612	122,542	124,491	-5,331	-4.10%
Q	6	Forest Hills, Rego Park	120,429	112,245	106,996	115,967	113,257	-7,172	-6.00%
Q	11	Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck	127,883	110,963	108,056	116,404	116,431	-11,452	-9.00%
BK	2	Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene	110,221	92,732	94,534	98,620	99,617	-10,604	-9.60%
M	3	Lower East Side, Chinatown	181,845	154,848	161,617	164,407	163,277	-18,568	-10.20%
BK	4	Bushwick	137,902	92,497	102,572	104,358	112,634	-25,268	-18.30%
BK	8	Crown Heights North	121,821	88,796	96,400	96,076	96,317	-25,504	-20.90%
M	11	East Harlem	154,662	114,569	110,508	117,743	120,511	-34,151	-22.10%
BK	6	Park Slope, Carroll Gardens	138,933	110,228	102,724	104,054	104,709	-34,224	-24.60%
BK	3	Bedford Stuyvesant	203,380	133,379	138,696	143,867	152,985	-50,395	-24.80%
BX	6	East Tremont, Belmont	114,137	65,016	68,061	75,688	83,268	-30,869	-27.00%
M	10	Central Harlem	159,267	105,641	99,519	107,109	115,723	-43,544	-27.30%
BK	16	Brownsville, Ocean Hill	122,589	73,801	84,923	85,343	86,468	-36,121	-29.50%
BX	1	Melrose, Mott Haven, Port Morris	138,557	78,441	77,214	82,159	91,497	-47,060	-34.00%
BX	3	Morrisania, Crotona Park East	150,636	53,635	57,162	68,574	79,762	-70,874	-47.00%
BX	2	Hunts Point, Longwood	99,493	34,399	39,443	46,824	52,246	-47,247	-47.50%

CB9 Board Meeting, April 28, 2015

43rd Assembly District Special Election May 5th, 2015

Candidate Forum at Grace Church 

Sponsor:  Prospect Lefferts Gardens Neighborhood Association.

Moderator: Rachel Holiday Smith, DNAInfo

Candidates:

Geoffrey Davis, Love Yourself Party (not present)
Shirley Patterson, Independent Democrat Watch Video
Menachem Raitport, Conservative Party (not present)
Diana Richardson, Working Families Party Watch Video