Power Relations/Politics
Councilman Peter Koo’s concerns about the plans for the rezoning of Flushing are that Flushing Creek needs to be cleaned up, the capacity of the Tallman Island Wastewater Treatment Plant needs to be improved, the developments in Flushing West should be made to meet the needs of the community, and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) needs to be made affordable to the local residents. The MinKwon Center for Community Action is also concerned with people in Flushing not being able to afford the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (Edmonds, ”Koo: Clean Creek, Then Rezone Flushing West”). To take these problems into consideration, City Planning officials have been holding community meetings in Flushing.
What kind of knowledge are you working with?
In the area proposed for rezoning light manufacturing zones are going to be turned into residential zones, and heavy industry zones are going to be turned into light industry zones (Edmonds, ”Koo: Clean Creek, Then Rezone Flushing West”). This type of city planning also happened in Sunset Park. The development of a waterfront property in Sunset Park has contributed to gentrification and displacement of Brooklyn residents (Hum, “The Hollowing-Out of New York City’s Industrial Zones“). Displacement and gentrification are also concerns of Grace Shim, Executive Director of the MinKwon Center for Community Action (Jordan, “Plan to Rezone Flushing West Flies Under the Radar”).
What are our next steps?
We plan to contact people from the MinKwon Center for Community Action so that we may learn more about their stance on the rezoning of Flushing West and how the Department of City Planning is handling their input.