Flushing West’s rezoning plans, intends to alleviate the stress on Main St. Flushing, expanding the area of economic growth
Practical Problem: The city has plans for Flushing West that coincides well with the cleaning project of Flushing Creek, unfortunately the city’s plans do not really take into consideration the community’s interest (affordable housing, mental health services and senior care). What can the city do listen to the community?
Issue: The city uses the city’s average low income to base low income housing. MinKwon Center for Community Action says that the actual income is much lower. Possible solution could be to propose to the City to recollect the income of those living in Flushing West and create a new average low income based on those numbers. However, a problem with recollecting the data is that it requires a lot of resources.
Issue 2: Does the city only decide to clean up polluted areas if the surrounding area has promise for high economic growth? The Gowanus Canal is one of the most polluted bodies of water in NYC but cleanup plans have been put off again and again – the area is mainly warehouses, is there not as much evidence of its economic capability compared to Flushing West?
Hey guys. So it seems like Minkwon makes sense as a community contact. Have you tried to be in touch? I don’t have any connections there but hopefully as local-ish residents and eager students you’ll be able to make contact on your own. I recommend doing this ASAP. Introduce yourselves, send a link to the website, and briefly explain the project (including that it will result in a white paper and popular education product that they can use!). And try to set up a meeting to get their input on your project.