Arrow Action

Community Board 7 Meetings about Arrow’s Proposal

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We said will let you know when Arrow Linen’s application officially starts the Land Use Review (ULURP) Process. THAT TIME IS NOW!

THE COMMUNITY BOARD NEEDS YOUR WRITTEN TESTIMONY! PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR EMAILS YOU CAN SEND WITH ONE CLICK. Only some of us can speak at these meetings, but all of us can be heard!

See the links below for details about these meetings and a link to add the meeting to your calendar:

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19 Stories? How Did That Happen?

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While Arrow Linen’s rezoning application was being reviewed by the Department of City Planning (DCP), the Adams administration was busy pushing the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity which purports to provide “a little more housing in every neighborhood.” If and when passed, this initiative will increase zoing across the board in NYC between 20% and 60%. Rezoning applications currently under review had to amend their applications to show the effect that passing this initiative will have on their application.

On their first pass, Arrow Linen’s owners updated their application to show that the 13 stories they’ve applied to build could be as much as 15 stories after City of Yes for Housing Opportunity. But at about the time their application entered the ULURP process, we latest amended filing for Arrow Linen’s application now shows that their 13 story application could be as high as 19 stories after City of Yes for Housing Opportunity. This means that the buildings could be 250 feet tall.

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Renter Displacement

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The owners of Arrow Linen have filed an application with the City of New York to be able to build 13 stories of luxury high-rises on Prospect Avenue in Brooklyn. They have recently updated their application to show that this could be 19 stories following the city-wide zoning changes underway with City of Yes for Housing Opportunity.

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Our neighbors who rent have told us of their concerns at our community meeting. One family who moved to Prospect Ave from Greenpoint was displaced as their rent was dramatically increased following rezoning in their neighborhood. Another family who moved to Prospect Ave from Crown Heights shared stories of their landlord withholding services and not making repairs to force tenants out so that their rent-stabilized building could be sold to developers.

We strongly support adding more housing in our neighborhood, but that housing must be contextual for the neighborhood to avoid this sort of displacement of renters that massive rezoning and luxury development inevitably brings. Many studies have found that for-profit housing development leads to renter displacement in affordable neighborhoods.

Churches Unified for Fair Housing published research on the consequences of rezonings in Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and Park Slope. The most significant findings for Park Slope and the influx of high-rises on 4th Ave include losing nearly 1500 units of rent-stabilized housing, and massive displacement of Black and Hispanic residents from the area.

Please see “Zoning & Racialized Displacement in NYC” below; the 4th Ave rezoning is specifically discussed starting on p.13:

Zoning+and+Racialized+Displacement+in+NYCDownload

Update: In our July Newsletter, we updated our community about our work with non-profit developers who could make attractive market-rate offers for Arrow Linen’s property, and deliver over 200 units of 100% affordable housing at only 7 stories. We believe that this strikes the right balance of creating more housing in our community, ensuring that housing is affordable, and avoiding displacement of existing tenants.

April 16th Community Meeting

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Our latest Housing Not High-Rises Community Meeting was held on Tuesday, April 16 @ 7:00 pm at Holy Name Church on Prospect Park West. About 300 members of our community came to learn about and discuss Arrow Linen’s spot rezoning proposal.

District 39 Council Member Shahana Hanif addresses the community
About 300 neighbors came to learn about and discuss Arrow Linen’s spot rezoning proposal

We were privileged to host the following speakers:

  • Brooklyn Community Board 7’s Land Use Committee Chair, Diana Gonzalez:
    • Diana encouraged participation in the process, and acknowledged that CB7 is going to need a much bigger room when Arrow Linen’s proposal comes up for community review.
  • New York State Assembly Member for the 44th District, Bobby Carroll:
    • Bobby is a strong supporter of a compromise position that focuses on affordability and the needs of the community, and has consistently called Arrow Linen’s proposal “inappropriate.”
    • While serving at the state level and not directly involved in the zoning process, Bobby is a tireless advocate for the community he represents and has been very supportive of our efforts.
  • New York City Council Member for the 39th District, Shahana Hanif:
    • The rezoning to 13 stories is not an issue for Shahana, despite the concerns of the community.
    • Council Member Hanif acknowledged that we are not even negotiating in good faith with an actual developer, but rather with a landowner who wants to maximize profits as they sell their property, leaving the city and eliminating local jobs.
    • Please visit our How To Help page and click the link to send Council Member Hanif an email to let her know that you oppose this 13-story cash grab and her lack of consideration for the people who have elected her to represent them.

The agenda of the meeting (view the slide presentation):

  • Background & an overview of Arrow Linen’s proposal
  • Updates since our last community meeting
  • Information about the process and how new city-wide initiatives will affect it – City of Yes, a plan to add “a little more housing in every neighborhood”
  • Guest speakers – our elected officials
  • Q&A

Please see the press coverage:

Many thanks to the hundreds of community members who came to this event, and to Father Ryan and the Holy Name community for making this meeting possible!

Urgent Community Meeting April 16, 2024

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Our next meeting is Tuesday, April 16. We need you to come, to demonstrate to our elected officials that we care about housing and keeping it consistent with our neighborhood.

Our elected officials have been invited.  Shahana Hanif’s office has confirmed their attendance, and her support is pivotal in this issue.

The only way our elected officials can help us get what we want is for us to let them know what we want. Your attendance is important to deliver this message.

Please join us on April 16 at 7:00pm at Shepherd’s Hall in the Holy Name of Jesus Church (enter by way of the parking lot at 245 Prospect Park West).

Agenda:

  • Welcome and thanks to our community
  • Background on Housing Not High-Rises (formerly Arrow Action)
  • Updates on city-wide zoning efforts via the City of Yes initiative
  • Reports from subcommittees, including recent meetings with our representatives
  • Neighborhood outreach and request for more signatures on our petition
  • Q&A
  • Post-meeting committee sign-up

We are looking forward to seeing you on April 16!

Thanks,

  – Chris, Jack, Jay, Julia, Kate, Marty, Phil and Steph

Add this event to your calendar or use the event link on our Calendar page.