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1. Characterizing support for the affordable housing project as "screeching YIMBYs" is incredibly unfair. Much of the advocacy for this project is coming from local support organizations for seniors and the homeless, such as the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing, or LiveOn NY. Not to mention the heart-wrenching individual accounts of the elderly who are currently in old affordable housing units that are not accessible (think five floor walkup), thus trapping these people in their homes. 2. The ESG property is not some decades old staple of the neighborhood. It actually ALREADY WAS earmarked to be built as affordable housing in 1983. In 1991 the city decided to lease it out to Allan Reiver for his art gallery on a month to month basis while awaiting development. At this point it was not open to the public. It became semi-sort of public in 2005, but you still had to go through the private gallery. Only in 2013(!!!) did the site become completely open. And even now, the hours are extremely limited so most people can't take advantage of it (to be fair, this is something Friends of ESG are trying to change). So I just want to point out that the site is finally being used for it's intended purpose, and it hasn't really been open to the public for very long anyway. 3. Sarah Roosevelt, a much larger park, is LITERALLY two blocks away. http://imgur.com/gallery/CbYszsu 4. As you noted, some green space will remain, and will be ACTUALLY open to the public this time (it will be enshrined into law as part of a land disposition agreement). Residents of the area should feel free to adorn the area with statues as they see fit. Is anything I've said rhetoric?? I don't think so, of course I'm biased. To me, this is rhetoric: "Elizabeth Street Garden is unique in the continent, and is irreplaceable." That is an exact quote I heard at one of the CB2 hearings on ESG. In any case, CM Chin is probably going to support the project, so unless the rest of the city council votes against her all this hubub doesn't really matter. But I just think it's not accurate to say that the rhetoric is anywhere close to being equal on both sides of this issue. One side of the argument has considerably more support than the other. EDIT: I forgot to address your point about another affordable housing development nearby. ESG is located in an extremely desirable, high opportunity economic area. The fact of the matter is, the city just doesn't have that much land left to dedicate to affordable housing. And most of what it does have is out in the sticks of NYC. A site like this is a great chance to significantly improve the lives of people who really need it. There's a wait list of 200,000 for affordable housing, and that's just seniors. This is a relatively small four story building that is contextual with the neighborhood. Given all that background, the limited resources, etc, I don't think there's anything wrong with having two affordable housing projects within relatively close proximity. |
2. The 1990s were literally decades ago
3. Sarah Roosevelt is across the Bowery + a block.
4. I sure hope they do a decent job on the green space that's left, it's the only reason I support the project
Also, this is 100 units. Again, I'm on-balance for the project but it's not really that impactful and it alters the neighborhood significantly.
My big gripe is the just that you can be YIMBY _and_ give a shit about neighborhood character. Pretending that ESG isn't a unique feature of the neighborhood is ridiculous. Nobody walks by that for the first time without going "wow, that's pretty neat." It's a bummer that we'll lose another piece of the city, even if it is, on balance, worth it.