How Shameful! Without Public Announcement, Councilmember Lander 'Stepping Up' Gowanus Community Planning Process

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Councilman Brad Lander at one of the Bridging Gowanus meetings, promising an 'inclusive and transparent process"

Bridging Gowanus Study Area

Unbeknown to most Gowanus residents and business owners, Councilman Brad Lander has recently
"stepped up a handful of meetings with local leaders in the Gowanus neighborhood to talk with them about next steps in the Bridging Gowanus community planning process," according to Catherine Zinnel, his Deputy Chief of Staff.

I found out about Bridging Gowanus' next steps by pure coincidence when someone whose organization had been invited by Lander's office mentioned a meeting on June 16th with the  representatives from the NYC Department of City Planning.  Obviously, the person thought he had committed a gaffe, since as soon as the words were spoken, he tried to back paddle and asked me repeatedly, in a strong tone, not to call Brad Lander's office to find out more.

Obviously, that person does not know me very well.

That same evening, I reached out to Ms. Zinnel to inquire about the meeting.  She acknowledged that Gowanus Canal Conservancy and Gowanus by Design 'among others' would be attending together with City Planning staff.  

The purpose for the gathering, according to Zinnel, was to discuss the next steps in the Bridging Gowanus community planning process and to talk about what progress "has been made over the past 18 months on some of the recommendations" made by the community during previous Bridging Gowanus meetings.
When asked to provide a complete list of attendees, Zinnel did not oblige, even after the meeting.***
( From another source, I learned that, along with NYC Department of City Planning, representatives of Gowanus Canal Conservancy, Gowanus Dredgers, Gowanus by Design, Build It Green, and the LES Ecology Center had received an invitation.)

Why is any of this important?
Of course, our Councilman can have meetings with whomever he chooses but it should be part of the public record so there is no suspicion about motives.  We are talking here about the overall rezoning of the Gowanus neighborhood and the meetings associated with this re-zoning should be made public.

When Councilman Lander, together with several other local elected officials, launched Bridging Gowanus, a conversation "about a shared, sustainable vision for the Gowanus" in August 2013, he promised the community a "broad-based, inclusive, transparent and robust process," and vowed "to make sure that the communities around the Canal could take the lead in identifying the values that will shape future actions."

That first Gowanus Planning kick-off meeting held on August 5, 2013, didn't seem so inclusive to some. Though various stakeholders and representatives from local organizations had been invited, the meeting was not announced to the public, not posted in any way on the internet, not open to the general public and was closed to the press.

Councilman Brad Lander, when faced with the criticism in the press, wrote a letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Paper stating that the meeting 'was not secret' and promised that Bridging Gowanus would
"be an effort to open up the planning process so that community residents, business people, and community groups can work together to shape a vision for the area around the Gowanus Canal rather than have decisions made by developers, the city, or by elected officials."

Subsequent Bridging Gowanus meetings held throughout 2014 were indeed publicized and well attended.  However,  the meetings were eerily controlled and orchestrated by Pratt Center for Community Development, which had been hired by Lander as consultant in charge of running the planning process.

Participants were divided amongst several tables where Pratt Center moderators seemed to lead the conversation according to a carefully scripted plan that led to a pre-determined outcome,  It all seemed designed to give the appearance of community input rather than to actually achieve it.

In November 2014, Pratt Center for Community Development presented the findings of the "Bridging Gowanus." These findings, the community was told, would help develop a neighborhood framework for "the infrastructure and land use plan needed for a safe, vibrant and sustainable Gowanus." The 'shared values' reflected in the framework are "going to hopefully guide New York City Planning and the De Blasio Administration when a re-zoning plan for Gowanus will be put forth."

Though groups and organizations like the Fifth Avenue Committee, Gowanus Alliance, Gowanus Dredgers, and Wyckoff Gardens Tenants Association expressed their approval of the framework, quite a few local residents objected to the assertion by Pratt and Councilman Lander that many in Gowanus were open to high rises from 8 to 18 stories to achieve the goals set forth by Bridging Gowanus.
The density had been determined by a rather misleading exercise given to residents at the public meeting in June which asked residents to add two stories to a four story building for every amenity, like school, park or art space, that would be added to the neighborhood. Those who checked off every amenity ended up with residential buildings up to 18 stories high.

To Lander, it was all a trade off for providing more parkland, more schools, more affordable housing and protection of manufacturing zones in Gowanus.

"We did ask people to think hard of the tradeoffs that are necessary," Brad Lander commented. "These kinds of investments and achieving the level of preservation we just talked about costs a lot of money."

It is interesting to note that 'Bridging Gowanus' is not the first time the community was asked to envision the future of the neighborhood. Back in 2007, Pratt Center helped convene Gowanus Summit, "a coalition of civic, housing and community development, manufacturing, and labor groups to establish ground rules for development around the Gowanus Canal."
The summit "aimed to ensure that new development meets the needs of area residents and sets high standards for local quality of life."
Even more interesting, Brad Lander was the director for Pratt Center for Community Development in 2007.

Shortly afterwards, in May 2008, while Bill de Blasio was our councilman, the New York City Department of City Planning released its Gowanus Canal Corridor Draft Zoning Proposal The agency was ready to push a major re-zoning through, though there was much opposition from the community.
That re-zoning effort was eventually put on hold after the Environmental Protection Agency declared the Gowanus Canal a Superfund in 2009.

The prospect of a re-zoning has caused developers to circle around the neighborhood like sharks in a feeding frenzy. Since 2008, most of the land around the Gowanus Canal has been snapped up in a veritable gold rush.  But before that land is re-zoned from manufacturing to residential, they can't start building their luxury condos.
Developers are probably calling our elected officials on a regular basis to apply pressure (or, perhaps to host fundraisers and contribute to campaigns).

Which brings me back to last Thursday's meeting.
After all his promises and assurances that the Bridging Gowanus process and subsequent re-zoning will be transparent and inclusive, Councilman Brad Lander should know better than to 'step up' the process without announcing it to the community.
Shame on him.


***As of this morning, Catheribe Zinnel of Lander's office had not provided the requested attendance list for last Thursday's meeting.  Nor did she provide a list of attendees of another 'Bridging Gowanus Part 2' meeting that took place earlier on Thursday.