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Wednesday’s Community Board 9 ULURP committee meeting — one of three planned and highly anticipated and long-awaited meetings on the topic of PLG rezoning — was disorderly and unproductive, according to bloggers and press who attended. The purpose of the meeting was a public discussion of the community board’s request to City Planning to study zoning in the area.

Long before the 23-story as-of-right tower at 626 Flatbush was even a hole in the ground (it topped out in December), residents of the area have been asking for a downzoning. But lately, the group called Movement to Protect the People, or MTOPP, has advocated no rezoning for a stretch of Empire Boulevard, above, where currently no housing is allowed. Other residents and members of the board say they would like to see housing there, as long as it’s not more than a certain number of stories, includes affordable housing, and caps are put on building heights throughout the neighborhood.

MTOPP’s leader, Alicia Boyd, says the process is corrupt and City Planning is likely to upzone most of the neighborhood if they do anything at all. MTOPP has been a thorn in the side of the board and local politicians and has drawn condemnation from some area residents for its disruptive tactics, threats of lawsuits and racially charged accusations.

Wednesday night, City Council Member Laurie Cumbo personally called out Boyd on her tactics, and the two got into a heated shouting match. “I want to say to you, personally, Alicia: What do you want to have happen here? You want to have fisticuffs right here?” Cumbo said, according to a report in DNAinfo.

We thought commenter Zach S, a self-proclaimed newcomer to the area, on local blog Q at Parkside had an interesting analysis of the situation:

MTOPP’s actions — shutting down public meetings, shouting down fellow members of the community, trying to stop a City Planning-led zoning study at all costs — are justifiable if it’s true that the city-led process can’t be trusted and that promises have been broken and can be expected to be broken again. If that’s the case, maintaining the status quo (which is bad) may be preferable to a rezoning that only accelerates the luxury units (which is even worse).

To read more, check out DNAinfo’s story, Q at Parkside’s two stories here and here, and a discussion thread on Brooklynian. Also, Truthout published a long feature on the dispute yesterday.

Racially Charged Shouting Match Heats up Crown Heights Rezoning Debate [DNA]
Notes From the ULURP Meeting [Q Parkside]
Cheap Post [Q Parkside]
CB9’s ULURP Meeting on Wednesday [Brooklynian]
“Progressive” Gentrification: One Community’s Struggle Against Affordable Housing [Truthout]


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. Not reaching out to grassroots organizers and local activists makes Cumbo seem quite smart, considering how these meetings go. Even the more reasonable voices have done their own share of really mean spirited speech and writing, and rabble rousing in the last couple years. It’s been such a huge turnoff for bystanders, I can’t imagine what it’s been like for CB9, the city council and others. Yuck.

  2. I agree with your take somewhat. While it was all entertaining (and its good to see that our politicians still know how to tangle with the best/worst of us), you must never let misfits like AB make you stoop to their level with threats, etc. This is so particularly when there are cameras rolling! Definitely look for video footage of the encounter to be circulated widely during the next dem. primary for the seat (although, it could ultimately help Cumbo by showing that she’s “tough” and will stand up to foolishness).
    .
    CB9 certainly isn’t the best CB, by far. But I think the new chairman Dwayne Nicholson is trying. Before he took over, multiple committees did not meet for many, many years. That’s just unacceptable for a board doing the people’s business. It’s going to take time to right a ship that has been poorly managed for so long, but I’m hopeful that things will improve there.

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