Carroll Gardens Downzoning Rally: Morning After
Yesterday morning, Carroll Gardens resident, community activists and local politicians gathered on the steps of Borough Hall to try to create some momentum for a downzoning of their neighborhood, which is under increasing development pressure. The 45-minute long rally was organized by City Council Member Bill de Blasio, who is introducing a City Council resolution asking the Department of City Planning to move quickly on rezoning the neighborhood. Mr. de Blasio said that the City Planning Office is committed to a study of rezoning the neighborhood, but the Department's timetable has always been 18-24 months.
Gary Reilly, who produces the Brooklyn Street, Carroll Gardens blog and is running for Mr. de Blasio's seat next year, said that he wanted to prevent Carroll Gardens from "becoming the next Williamsburg." He later wrote in his blog:
A quick note on the Williamsburg comment, before it's taken out of context - I've got nothing against Williamsburg. What I'm opposed to is what crap developers and their architects like "Hot Karl" Fischer have done there . . . and for the record, Hot Karl is currently straddling Carroll Gardens and making his first deposit at 100 Luquer Street. We can't have more of that.Meanwhile, blogger Pardon Me for Asking wrote:
Had it not been for the tireless work of the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association and C.O.R.D., we may not have gotten as far in our effort to protect C.G. I guess this is the place where I should thank our Councilman Bill de Blasio for his contribution. His announcement that City Planning will begin consideration of our rezoning request was welcome news. Also welcome was his resolution for a moratorium on construction until City Planning initiates the the rezoning even though it is not legally binding. In another positive development, the city is going to review and clarify the wide-street issue, hopefully closing a loophole for developers to build higher on blocks with deep gardens which were being counted as part of the street.The Carroll Gardens rezoning push picked up speed last May after early renderings of the "Heavy Metal Building" at 360 Smith Streets were circulated and has been pushed with particular vigor by the CORD group. Yesterday, CORD launched another email and letter writing drive, this time urging residents to contact the Mayor and ask for help to "preserve" the neighborhood in the face of development pressure.
Related Stories/Posts:
Carroll Gardens Downzoning Rally [Brooklyn Streets Carroll Gardens]
Carroll Gardens is Mad and Isn't Going to Take It Anymore! [PMFA]
At Rally, News of Carroll Gardens Downzoning Progress [Brownstoner]
PM Update: Rally Calls for "Short and Happy" Carroll Gardens [GL]
Keeping Carroll Gardens from Being the 'Next Williamsburg' [Curbed]
Carroll Gardens Residents Seek Zoning Change to Protect Low-Rise Character [BDE]
Labels: Carroll Gardens, Rezoning
posted by rsguskind at 8:20 AM
3 Comments:
What about the part of the story where the Carroll Garden's down zone is being "balanced" with an upzoning on land that sits along the side of the Gowanus?
What a game we see unfolding here!
I hope C.G can successfully avoid the landscape of as-yet-vacant luxury high rise condos in Wburg.
Yeah as a Gowanus/Carroll Gardens (Bond St) resident..the downzoning vs. upzoning is a situation that is very hard for me to swallow...the upzoning really shouldn't happen because we are sitting on brownfields down here..although i know it is my choice to stay, my building was built in the late 1800's, my problem with the upzoning is that they will be digging into toxic land and god only knows what will be released into the air..the developers on 3rd & Bond skirt the issue constantly on their blog on brownstoner, all they care about is whether Whole Foods will open to make themselves more marketable, which i find hard to believe, that means more traffic past their houses..who wants that?!
I am also on the side of the moratorium as what is wrong with protesting out of context building in a victorian era neighorhood? Williamsberg, Greenpoint, most of Queens (and i grew up in Flushing which is, if you read Queens Crap all true and UNBELIEVABLE! Talk aaout bad Feng Shui! and much of Manhattan are ALL models of what shouldn't happen here..as a life long NYC resident I just get so depressed..to see all the things i grew up with disapeering, I get off the subway half the time and dont know where I am, surrounded by identical cold glass and steel...Bloomberg will go down in history as the man who sucked out NYC's soul and core..uh..did my comment have anything to do with this?sorry if i digressed, its all connected and C.G is lucky enough to be spared up until now and like I said lucky to have models to see what they dont want to turn into.
Post a Comment
<< Home