Dear Brad Lander: Give Us A Democratic Vote On the Gowanus Rezoning

Councilman Brad Lander at the first 39th Council District Participatory Budget Assembly in 2011.

Councilman Brad Lander at a Gowanus Planning meeting in 2014

3D model of a fully built-out Gowanus after rezoning

by New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) students

This week in the 39th Council District, thousands of area residents as young as 11 years old cast their votes to fund neighborhood projects as part of Participatory Budgeting, a "democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget."

In all, local citizens can have a choice in how $50,000 of expense projects and $1.5 million in capital projects gets spent in our neighborhoods.

Whether one votes for diaper changing stations for nine parks and playgrounds, bilingual mental health First Aid training in Kensington, a down payment for an elevator at 7th Ave F/G Station, a Prospect Park sidewalk at Lichfield Villa for pedestrian safety, or a new all-gender bathrooms and water fountains, the projects are certainly all worthwhile.

Councilmember Brad Lander was one of the first New York City Council members to embrace Participatory Budgeting, Our 39th Council District was one of four to introduce it in New York in 2011.

Back then, Lander told the community:
"This is real grass-roots democracy. We are trying something new. This is a way to work together, identify what your community needs and turn the ideas into real projects."
Lander should be applauded for supporting this democratic process, giving residents an opportunity to shape their community.

However, he is not allowing the community to vote on a much more important issue that will reshape a big swath of his district, one that will have a huge impact on Gowanus, Boerum Hill, Park Slope, Carroll Gardens and even Cobble Hill: the massive up-zoning of Gowanus by the Department of City Planning.

Councilman Lander kicked off Bridging Gowanus, his "community planning process to shape a sustainable, livable, and inclusive future for the Gowanus neighborhood" with stakeholders in August 2013. Hundreds of people took part in the process in subsequent years,

Right from the start, there was skepticism that the Bridging Gowanus process could truly impact the resulting rezoning by the City. How could we, as a community, make sure that our wishes and suggestions would be reflected in the finished product?

Several stakeholders asked Lander directly at that first meeting in 2013 (and subsequently) for a community vote at the end of the process. Making sure that we got the rezoning right by allowing residents a final vote seemed 'democratic.'
Lander's answer was a categorical "NO".

As many suspected, New York City's upzoning of Gowanus, the densest rezoning currently proposed in the City, guarantees none of the things the community had asked for.
-a sustainable , resilient, healthy community 

-a clean Gowanus Canal
-investments in new parks, new schools, and public transit
-sustain and strengthen Gowanus' manufacturing community
-keep Gowanus creative and support the existing artist community.
-keep Gowanus affordable for current, as well as future residents.

That is, sadly, not how planning happens in New York. Brad Lander knew that right from the start. He was also aware that the Department of City Planning did not have the tools in its toolbox to create a unique rezoning, respectful of Gowanus' unique character and sensible to the area's plethora of environmental challenges.

That's what made Lander's Bridging Gowanus such a sham right from the beginning. This is the same technique which is being used all over the city to convince citizens that they have a say in the future shape of our city and is then used to claim that the community supports the resulting proposal which merely pays lip service to the citizen's concerns.

So, let us ask Lander for a DEMOCRATIC COMMUNITY VOTE ON THE GOWANUS REZONING before the official Uniform Land Use Review (ULURP) begins.

Lander claims that his track record shows that "we can strengthen our democracy, make government work better, and build a city that reflects our values."

Let's take him by his word. After all, the Gowanus upzoning is one of the most consequential issue to ever face the 39th Council District.

Please leave a comment and add your voice, email Brad Lander at lander@council.nyc.gov and while you are at it, demand the same of Brooklyn Borough President at askeric@brooklynbp.nyc.gov.
And if you plan on voting at one of the Participatory Budget poling places this week-end, ask his staff directly.

"DEAR BRAD, I AM ONE OF YOUR CONSTITUENTS AND 

I DEMAND A DEMOCRATIC COMMUNITY VOTE ON THE GOWANUS REZONING."

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