Judge Blocks Development of Broadway Triangle Housing

A state supreme court judge issued a preliminary injunction that stops the city from moving forward with the development of housing at the Broadway Triangle on the grounds that the current plans would exacerbate racial segregation in the area. The city’s plans for the Broadway Triangle, the 31-acre property on the border of Williamsburg and Bedford Stuyvesant, involved building 1,851 housing units, of which about half were supposed to be affordable. A group of community organizations filed a lawsuit against the city that argued the project “would have given priority for the housing to people who live in a predominantly white section of Williamsburg (Community District 1) to the detriment of a neighboring community that is overwhelmingly black (Community District 3).” The plaintiffs said the proposal for the Broadway Triangle, as it stands, favored the Hasidic community over black and Latino residents by having a large number of three- and four-bedroom apartments and capping building heights at eight stories. Taylor Pendergrass, a lawyer for the NYCLU, said that the decision would have an impact on all city projects involving affordable housing: “This decision puts the city clearly on notice: When it proceeds to develop housing – whether in the Broadway Triangle or anywhere else – it must evaluate the potential impact on segregation and develop projects that include the entire community and will create more integrated neighborhoods.” Meanwhile, the Real Deal has a quote from Gabriel Taussig, the chief of the administrative law division of the New York City Department of Law, saying the ruling will be appealed: “The court mistakenly discounted evidence submitted by the city. After a two-year long temporary restraining order, we are grateful the judge has finally made a decision which now allows us to refute these outlandish claims before an appellate court.”

Ruling Blocks City From Developing Broadway Triangle Project [TRD]
Court Order Blocks Discriminatory Brooklyn Housing Development [NYCLU]