Some Ridgewood Residents Fear New Luxury Rental Development Will Cause Gentrification
Queens Courier attended the public hearing held by Community Board Five for a zoning change to build a luxury rental development at 176 Woodward Avenue, in Ridgewood. According to the Courier, some Ridgewood residents expressed a fear of gentrification that the build could bring. As a lifelong resident stated, “What are we going to get…
Queens Courier attended the public hearing held by Community Board Five for a zoning change to build a luxury rental development at 176 Woodward Avenue, in Ridgewood. According to the Courier, some Ridgewood residents expressed a fear of gentrification that the build could bring. As a lifelong resident stated, “What are we going to get that comes with this to make sure that our neighborhood could handle this and that it’s not a complete rift from the incomes that are in that neighborhood, so that when this wonderful looking project shows up all the folks that can’t afford wonderful looking projects in New York City don’t get kicked out.”
Estimated rental prices are $1,100 to $1,200 for a studio, $1,400 to $1,600 for a one bedroom and $1,700 to $1,800 for a two bedroom. Other residents expressed support for the zoning change, saying that the growth will have a good impact on the community. The Land Use Committee will discuss the community feedback before making a decision to support or oppose the rezoning, which will be announced at the general meeting on April 7th.
Ridgewood Residents Divided over Planned Luxury Apartment Building [Queens Courier]
176 Woodward Avenue coverage [Q’Stoner]
Manny Jalonschi is a lifelong resident of Glendale, not Ridgewood, and lives nowhere near this site. The overwhelming majority of Ridgewood residents at the meeting were in favor of this rezone, and most of them live within a block or two of the site.
Umm…Mr. Truth…where was this “majority”??
Signed…a witness who was there.
Jalonschi wins.
Tell the truth….developers were taking notes on opposition.
Tell the truth…. I grew up on putnam, lived my teens on madison, live off myrtle now (although I’d love to see the pro-developer ppl have to defend where they live in relation to their opinion)…
With the hope that this isn’t yet again the developer or the 20gs of their lobbying/pr efforts, and we’re not wasting our time, audio (which a few of us heard) of the meeting clearly shows a divided community, outside of the coordinated row of speakers that showed up as a group, strategized with the developers (even at the meeting, in fact, some of us have seen the pics on fb) and are not representative of a cross-section of the community.’ The most outlandish was the guy who yelled at anti-development folks.
Tell the truth… how many of those pre-coordinated pro-development speakers stand to gain in either a temporary job or rent-increases as landlords?
If this is the owner or the lobbyist (driscoll group), please stop issuing these untruthful and misleading statements. If this is not, do know that I’ve played wiffleball in the is 93 summer program, I’ve shared after school potato chips with my classmates outside my middle school 77, I spent decades playing at the 68, farmer’s oval and 93 playground…. we’re neighbors. We may not share opinions but there’s no reason to go around making stuff up about each other.
If this is the greatneck based developer (if you care so much about the community—-why don’t you live here?) or their lobbyist/pr group, don’t resort to these whisper tactics—you’re proving the worst things people think of you.
I have no connection to the developer at all, and actually have had a major issue with Bill Driscoll in the past, but I appreciate your paranoia. I live in the very area where this is proposed, and support it wholeheartedly. The narrative on BQBrew is totally off the wall and reveals the reporters’ bias against this project. There was only one speaker that was from Ridgewood (actually, a male-female couple) that did not endorse the development, and they didn’t say they outright opposed it; he said a mixed use zone would be more appropriate and she said she didn’t care for the look of it (even though the housing down there looks more like the rendering than the curvy front buildings in the rest of Ridgewood that she was talking about). And even they live nowhere near this site. The Starr Street area has been plagued with drug-dealing & prostitution since before I was born, and there have even been 4 murders within the last 4 years within 2 blocks of the site. Desolate areas like this are magnets for this kind of activity. I personally would like to be able to take the B57 or B38 buses at night and not have to feel like I need to run past this area. Furthermore, property owners and residents within the proposed rezoning area are REQUIRED to be notified of the hearings under the law. To say that no one knew about it is disingenuous, especially since the proposal was brought before the local civic association last year and the community board more than once. Where were all these activists back then? I didn’t notice anyone “poor-shaming” either. The last person to testify said that the rents that were quoted were in line with current rents in the area, and he is right. If anything, they’re lower. And if people had bothered to get involved in their community, they’d come out to a community board hearing more often, and they’d know where the board meets. They couldn’t find a school sitting next to a subway terminal, walk in the front door and ask where the CB5 meeting was being held? Seriously?
I now think you are one of the developers. What is this BqBrew you mention on a brownstoner.com blog? Why are you researching people who attended the meeting to then assert an ad hominem like that is reason enough to ignore an opinion?
That makes me suspicious of “Tell The Truth”… and I’d like to know what community board meeting you were at, cause it sounds a hell of a lot different than the people who were denied the chance to sign up and then speak.
But then you’d probably research them, and then bad mouth them on a blog?
Shenanigans. You are the developer or are a friend of them. Probably one of the suits that came in together and prevented people from signing up to talk, and then shouting them down when they brought that up.
And then nerve to act like someone who objects doesn’t belong in the community? Shame on you and your scare tactics on a regular citizen. Why don’t YOU tell the truth about who’s obviously paying you.
Hey, thanks for returning to comment,
I hope you don’t think I’m attacking your perspective since as you say you’re in no way connected to the developer. Even if we disagree, this conversation about the rezoning is an important one. I hope you understand my initial sentiment directed at a potential undemocratic intrusion of a community conversation. If you think I’ve overstepped any lines as a neighbor, I really do apologize.
So… let’s talk, then…
I took the b38 every day to get to high school, so I know exactly which line you’re talking about and I don’t disagree that the place should be safer. The Community Board has a subcommittee on transportation issues (I believe they just recently met or are about to meet in fact) and one on safety issues. Both them and several local politicos have the power to push for funding to make that a safer neighborhood. If you contact me and devote the next year to making that block safer through the already- available channels, then I, and I promise at least three others, will fight right along side with you. Get at me. We can make our neighborhoods safer without rushing in this rezoning/redevelopment, and without the ensuing increase in property taxes and housing costs for the local community. Many of those you label as “activists” are folks with family demands, job demands and overall life demands. For the same reasons not everyone that supported this project could come out, that’s why everyone who opposes this project couldn’t come out. Their life demands, and daily challenges, don’t make their voices invalid. Most of us in the new economy are juggling a few jobs or responsibilitie to make ends meet and the CB isn’t the only (or most effective) place to be active in your community, is it? If it is, let me know and I’ll get you in contact with other folks in your area. It can be unpleasant and debilitating to lack an outlet for civic activity. Even if you hate my politics, it’s great that you’re vocal and involved, and I hope we get to meet and expound on these issues further in person.
It is, however, a suspect claim to say I don’t live in Ridgewood and therefore I should shut up. A)if we’re gonna go in on doxlevel discovery, you’ll find I’m right in Ridgewood. Lived here for 20+ years.
–but–
B) context: businessfolks who own property or business in the community don’t need to live there to have a say at the CB–which funny enough, neither do contractors and developers. And furthermore Ridgewood is a part of larger communities as well, in the cb, in the borough(s), in the city—which means its a part of those communities’ struggle to protect some degree of affordability. What happens in our Ridgewood, also affects our neighbors, our borough and our city. I think it’d more realistic of us to have this conversation with the understanding that this will impact other communities (business and residential alike) as well.
C) But if this is the angle folks feel a community could converse around, why is there no “they’re not from ’round hurr” attack on the developers? This will be a fairer conversation if we keep our standards consistent, right?
If we’re gonna be all gungho populist about it (which I respect and welcome from either the developer or the opposition), then some of the good local-oriented questions we should be asking include:
Has the developer promised a percentage of good long and short term jobs from the potential site to Ridgewood residents?
Is there an enforceable agreement on rent prices with the neighborhood to protect it from housing speculation?
Will this development be paying the entirety of its taxes to cover the additional services (from school capacity to sewer capacity) it will require? Are they getting subsidies?
What preparations are city administrators making (if any) to prepare for the extra wear and tear on local resources?
In the big picture, when all the numbers are counted, is this a net tax/job gain or loss?
Imo, these aren’t rhetorical. Neither is our conversation. We should be democratically deciding this with our neighbors. We should really know if this is going to be worth it. Personally, I believe this is going to break an important link in the city’s light industrial belt, costing both growth industries (thus culminating in down-the-line increase in cost of products, housing and doing business in the city) and long-term good paying blue-collar jobs. I think it’s going to bump up taxes on small property holders and drive up rents for all of Ridgewood and Bushwick. I think this will make it harder to have a family or a small business in the area without being a medium to high-wage earner (although, for a while, there’ll still be some space for us). I think the safety issue should’ve been handled 30 years ago…. and if the city STILL won’t handle it, I’ll chip in if you chip in and we’ll buy some floodlights. Let’s build a community watch, which we’ve done before in Ridgewood (remember the 80’s…. )
Finally, to be totally honest I happily and whole-heartedly welcome your informed disagreement with my own view. Loving that there’s a public convo in Ridgewood about this at last.
Generally, I hope you’ll contact me about the b38 safety issues, even if we disagree. There are quite a few things we could strategize as a solution. We can help grow Ridgewood as a community-in-conversation not a community divided. When these developers and their financiers and their financial hook-ups leave…. me and you, we’ll still be here. So let’s just make sure it fair for us and our community as well.