Testimony of Justin Collins to the NYC Council Land Use Committee, Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises, in Opposition to the Proposed Rezoning of Industry City
Respected Members of the New York City Council,
Thank you for the opportunity to submit written testimony regarding the proposed rezoning of the Industry City complex along the Sunset Park waterfront. As a resident of Brooklyn since 2006, a workforce development professional who spent several years working in economic development in Southwest Brooklyn, and a member of Brooklyn Community Board 7, I vehemently oppose Industry City’s proposed rezoning, which would lead to irreparable harm for the Sunset Park and Southwest Brooklyn communities, most notably in the form of residential and industrial displacement. I also want to express my displeasure with a land use process in which the deck has seemingly been stacked in favor of the current owners — Jamestown L.P., Angelo Gordon, and Belvedere Capital — and their planned rezoning of the properties in question.
Objections to the Proposed Rezoning on its Merits
My objections to the rezoning, on its merits, fall into three key categories, and are as follows:
The False Promise of “Jobs”
Industry City has repeatedly claimed their requested rezoning is in the interest of the surrounding community, based upon the vague, unsubstantiated claim of 20,000 potential jobs. However, despite repeated requests from both the community board and other local stakeholders, they have failed to indicate how this 20,000 number was calculated, whether these jobs would provide a living wage, and whether they would be accessible to members of the local community.
Over the past few years, since the complex was purchased by its current owners, we have witnessed extensive development at Industry City — most of it focused on food service and retail. Based on this recent behavior, and the requested rezoning allowing for an even greater shift toward these sectors (as well as hotels), we can easily infer that any potential jobs that might be created would primarily be in the food service, hospitality and retail sectors. This is deeply concerning for multiple reasons.
1. We are in the midst of a pandemic that has not only taken the lives of tens of thousands of our fellow New Yorkers — particularly poor and working-class New Yorkers, and New Yorkers of color. This pandemic has decimated the city’s economy. Among the hardest hit sectors have been the retail and hospitality sectors. On August 11, 2020, the New York Times reported on how retail and restaurant chains are “abandoning Manhattan” due to declining demand and revenue. This includes some of the nation’s largest and wealthiest corporations. Small businesses, especially those owned by women, people of color, and immigrants have been hit even harder. In this environment, the rezoning of additional property for retail, restaurant, and hotel use would simply add more supply in an environment where existing restaurants and retail businesses are barely scraping by.
2. Hospitality and retail jobs are among the lowest-paying in the city, and this was the case even prior to the rise of COVID-19. If Industry City were in fact able to create these jobs, they would be disproportionately low-wage, with limited potential for career advancement.
3. At a time when retail and hospitality sectors are suffering, and other sectors have begun to rely on a remote or virtual workforce, industrial and manufacturing jobs require the majority of their workforce to remain on-site. Meanwhile, Industry City is attempting to shift away from the very sectors that are most reliant on brick-and-mortar facilities to do their jobs. Manufacturing is as essential as ever, and the displacement of industrial jobs and industrial businesses from Industry City would not only hurt the neighborhood economy, but the economy of the broader city as well.
Potential for Community Displacement
At no time has Industry City provided any data on the potential for indirect displacement, of either Sunset Park residents or industrial businesses that call the Sunset Park waterfront home. With regard to residents, Sunset Park is a community largely made up of working-class immigrants and people of color, many of whom are renters who are at severe risk for displacement if a luxury mall opens in their backyard. This threat of displacement is compounded by the fact that poor and working-class communities of color across New York City, especially in Brooklyn, have been facing displacement due to gentrification over the past decade or more. As a result, if current residents are displaced from Sunset Park, it is increasingly likely that they will have to leave New York City entirely.
Meanwhile, the industrial businesses that have provided living-wage jobs to Sunset Park residents are under threat as well. Sunset Park is historically one of New York City’s largest walk-to-work communities, with residents working living-wage jobs and building careers right in their own neighborhood. Many of these industrial businesses are renters, and their displacement could lead to the loss of living-wage industrial and manufacturing jobs for local residents. While Industry City promises jobs, these jobs would need to offset the lost industrial jobs, many of which would pay more and offer better benefits than the promised hospitality, restaurant, and retail positions at Industry City.
Industry City has been repeatedly asked, by both the Community Board and other stakeholders, for data on potential displacement and how they will work to prevent it from occurring. To date, that have provided nothing in this regard.
The Threat of Climate Change
As a waterfront development, Industry City is particularly at risk of extreme weather events and rising seas due to climate change. As we saw in 2012 with the devastation wreaked by Superstorm Sandy on waterfront neighborhoods like Red Hook, Brooklyn and the Rockaways, there exists potential for extreme flooding that could cause significant damage to Sunset Park. In light of that, any potential rezoning or redevelopment for Industry City must focus on climate resiliency. Climate change is here. We’ve seen Hurricane Sandy and its impact on our waterfront neighborhoods. California is currently on fire due to climate change. And we’re only going to see more extreme weather events in the near future. Yet the proposed rezoning offers zero provisions for climate change adaptation or mitigation, and once again, it is going to fall on New York City’s residents and taxpayers to clean up the mess and pay for the recovery.
A Deeply Flawed Process
In addition to the inherent problems with the proposed rezoning itself, the process through which Industry City has pursued this rezoning, and the treatment this land use proposal has received from the city, has been beyond flawed — rising to the level of deeply alarming. From the beginning of the rezoning process, the community has faced challenges from both Industry City and city government. This has occurred in various ways:
1. In spite of requests from the Community Board and other local stakeholders, Industry City refused to provide any concrete data on jobs or community displacement.
2. While supposedly negotiating with members of the community on potential concessions, Industry City filed its ULURP request in fall 2019 without warning, only withdrawing it upon condemnation from the local council member and two members of the United States House of Representatives.
3. When the filed their ultimate ULURP request, Industry City filed it in advance of the holiday season, an act of gamesmanship that made it particularly difficult for the Community Board to convene meetings to review and debate the specifics of the land use changes requested.
4. The Department of City Planning failed to include the significant comments and recommendations from the Community Board land use review process in the materials provided to the City Planning Commission. These materials, compiled after more than 30 meetings of the Community Board and its committees, offered explanations for the Board’s decisions as well as recommendations for how the application should be changed. In doing so, DCP claimed these recommendations were substantially similar to those of the Brooklyn Borough President, in spite of the fact that the Community Board did not vote in favor of the land use changes requested, while the Borough President did vote in favor.
5. In spite of the typical deference paid to local representatives in land use planning decisions, elected officials representing other New York City neighborhoods have taken the unprecedented step of writing open letters and op-eds in favor of Industry City’s rezonings and are attempting to run an end-around through the Speaker of the New York City Council to approve the rezoning request. Meanwhile, Sunset Park’s elected member of the New York City Council, our new State Assemblymember-elect, our State Senator-elect, and our Member of the House of Representatives have all spoken out against the rezoning. These attempts demonstrate a total lack of respect for the local community and the decisions articulated by the Community Board and local stakeholders.
For the above-mentioned reasons, I implore the New York City Council and its Land Use Committee to consider the desires of local residents and businesses not to be displaced by yet another luxury development that will provide nothing but low-wage service-sector jobs and exacerbate gentrification. I urge the Council to consider the words of elected local representatives, who are opposed to these land use changes as well. This is not a local neighborhood taking a NIMBY approach to a perceived nuisance — — this is a community fighting for its very existence. I also urge City Council, the City Planning Commission, and the Department of City Planning to examine the current ULURP process, and how it privileges the positions of real estate developers, limits transparency, and hampers local community efforts to understand and address proposed land use changes. I stand in solidarity with my friends, neighbors, and colleagues across Sunset Park and its waterfront in opposing these dangerous changes to our waterfront.
Sincerely,
Justin Collins
Member, Brooklyn Community Board 7
