Category Archives: What’s the Problem?

What is Happening in Flushing West

What's the Problem?

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.

The Practical Problem. WIP

Future of Flushing West, What's the Problem?, What's the Problem? - Flushing West

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?

 

 

What’s the Problem?

What's the Problem?

It’s time to take stock of what we know, how we know it, and what we need to find out.  During class on Wednesday, please work in your groups to do the following:

    1. Translate your Topic into a Research Problem (Follow these Guidelines for focusing your group projects).  Cite your sources!
    2. Summarize your research problem and how it has developed (historical background)- in terms of key concepts from class readings.  Cite your sources!
    3. Summarize the power relations/politics surrounding your research problem and making it difficult to address (political context)- in terms of key concepts from class readings. Cite your sources!
    4. Explain how you know what you know. What kind of knowledge are you working with?
      • Community Knowledge—cultural practices and wisdom passed down for generations.
      • Knowledge from Experience—what we learn and know from living and doing it.
      • Academic Knowledge—published facts and data produced by research “professionals” usually from outside the community.
    5. Indicate the knowledge and kind of knowledge your group needs to move forward.  What are your next steps?

Someone from each group should your group’s response on your project page.  Others in the group can add and edit at any point, and anyone in the class can comment.  As you learn more, I encourage to you continue developing and refining your descriptions of the problem (in the same post!).