Development

I’m not sure who decided that BIG was a qualified architecture firm to build in NYC, but they have consistently designed the ugliest architecture we have to date. This rendering for the Gowanus neighborhood just adds insult to injury. His west 57th street and The Eleventh towers are just monstrosities; completely out of scale, proportion and material context to their neighborhoods. We should never allow another hideous building of his to deface our beautiful city. Period.

One correction: 457 Nostrand Avenue is not a former Department of Education site. It is currently a very active, well-attended and much-needed Adult Education Center allowing New Yorkers to earn their GED and teach English as a second language. This historic landmark building dating to 1886 is the former Brooklyn Girl's High School, the first secondary academic institution for women in New York City. The Atlantic Avenue Mixed Use Plan has targeted 2 sites that are not on Atlantic Ave. The plan to build a 200-unit building on the campus of Girls High is stridently opposed by the residents. This is a landmarked building on a landmark block in the Bedford Historic District. A building of this scale will be highly inappropriate for this site. Residents in opposition will protest on Monday evening a the regular meeting of CB3.

The Brooklyn infrastructure is not equipped to support more housing. The streets and subways are overcrowded, and the situation is far worse than in Manhattan. If you're seeking housing, the best course of action is to move upstate or to New Jersey, where there’s ample open land ready for development.

I'm a member of Housing Not High-Rises, and I'm quoted in the article. For Council Member Hanif to claim that she invited Housing Not High-Rises to participate in negotiating the Community Benefit Agreement is beyond disingenuous, it's plain untrue. As concerned members of the community, we repeatedly asked Council Member Hanif for a seat at the table negotiating the CBA, and were stonewalled every time. Even after she informed us that the CBA was already signed, we made repeated requests to get a copy of the text, and she only sent us the memorandum that outlines what would be in the agreement. To this day, she has not sent us a copy. We received a copy from a journalist to whom Council Member Hanif's office sent it. Having finally gotten access to what should have been a public document, we have concerns about its content, its enforceability, and the potential conflict of interest of the Fifth Avenue Committee being the only signatory to the agreement. Windsor Terrace and South Slope deserve better than to be stonewalled by our most local representative. The council member has let down the very people who elected her to represent them. She has eliminated "community" from the Community Benefit Agreement that she negotiated behind closed doors, as she has done since Arrow Linen's lobbyists have been meeting with her since early 2022, the very first quarter she took office. Council Member Hanif did not come to the community with this project. We had to find out about it late in 2023 and come to her - only to be rebuffed. Shame on you, Council Member Hanif; you could have earned the respect of your constituents and been a hero, and you chose instead to ignore us, even to the end. Your constituents deserve better.