BK Reader: Brooklyn Pitches Ideas For Progress

Published in: BK Reader

Brooklyn Org and the Center for an Urban Future on Tuesday hosted a policy symposium where leaders from across the borough pitched ideas centered around building equity in Brooklyn.

The symposium also featured two panel discussions with leaders from Brooklyn-based organizations and politicians that focused on 50 Ideas for a Stronger and More Equitable Brooklyn, a recent report from the Center for an Urban Future.

“We did not want to just have those 50 great ideas sit in this document on our website, we want to move them forward and get it in front of people,” said Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the think tank.

When asked about the current state of Brooklyn, Jocelynne Rainey, president of Brooklyn Org, said a recent survey by the organization highlighted the affordability crisis in the borough. About 60% of respondents, across all socioeconomic demographics, said they struggle with affordability, “and not just people living below the poverty line,” she said.

“People love their neighborhoods, they want to stay there,” said Rainey.

Gregg Bishop, executive director of the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation Social Justice Fund, said Brooklyn’s large population, at about 2.6 million, made the borough strong and resilient. He noted a New York Times article that indicated how well Brooklyn fared during the pandemic.

“We had a mixture of people working from home and businesses that they supported. So instead of getting a drink after work in the city, they got a drink in their local neighborhood,” he said. “We have all the the makings of a major city.”

Topics ranged from housing access to artificial intelligence in education to how to tear down the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

“Imagine literally acres and acres of land that is returned back to the community for other uses,” said Michelle de la Uz, executive director of the Fifth Avenue Committee. “It would be a significant undertaking, but highways do get taken down,” citing the the Big Dig in Boston as an example.

Borough President Antonio Reynoso did not mince words for homeowners who oppose development in their neighborhoods.

“We’re not going to have a group of homeowners who are housing secure say that we can’t build affordable housing next to their lot,” said Reynoso, “It’s going to happen, congratulations, enjoy it.”

City Council Member Crystal Hudson spoke about the need for accessible apartments, pointing to a bill she passed requiring specialized design elements for seniors in certain residential developments.

“It’s wider doorways, grab bars in bathrooms,” as well as providing handles on doors as opposed to doorknobs, which are hard to operate if you have certain arthritis, Hudson said. “If you have grab bars in your bathroom when you move in at 30 years old, at 80 years old, you’re going to want those grab bars.”

Council Member Rita Joseph called for rent on affordable housing to be based on the median income of the neighborhood where the building is located, rather than the area median income (AMI) set by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“Most of our people in Flatbush are rent burdened,” and the rent calculation “has to match” to where we’re building, she said.

Jonathan Marvel, owner of his namesake architectural firm Marvel, said brownstone owners should be able to build on top of their homes in the same way a developer would.

“I believe the current housing crisis is here because the cost for building new affordable housing makes it unaffordable for someone to build them and be consumed by the average consumer,” said Marvel. “Give them [small homeowners] the tax incentives and low interest rates, the same things you give to big developers.”