SURVIVE
AND
THRIVE
TOWARDS A JUSTICE-FOCUSED
GOWANUS NEIGHBORHOOD

Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition for Justice

March 2017

 SURVIVE AND THRIVE:
TOWARDS A JUSTICE-FOCUSED
GOWANUS NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN
Background
Gowanus’ historical legacy as an industrial and manufacturing hub, surrounding a
working canal, continues to shape the character of the neighborhood. Today it is also
home to incubators, offices, small commercial businesses, an artist enclave, and a
growing nightlife and indoor recreation destination. The neighborhood is also home to
a vibrant residential community dominated by three New York City Housing Authority
(NYCHA) public housing campuses north and west of the canal, and residents living in
rent-stabilized housing concentrated between Union and Carroll Streets, between
Nevins Street and 4th Avenue. The Canal and the particular mix of uses in the
neighborhood is what makes Gowanus distinct from the surrounding residential
neighborhoods, yet this delicate balance is under siege. An aggressive real estate
market threatens to displace longtime residents and businesses alike while further
segregating the predominately low- and moderate-income NYCHA residents from their
neighbors. Current neighborhood planning efforts in Gowanus present an
opportunity to build on the unique nature of this mixed use community. Equally
important, the efforts present the City and the community with an opportunity to curb
destructive real estate forces and to combat negative trends that continue to further
segregate the community, displace low- and moderate-income residents, and eliminate
industrial and small commercial businesses.
The context of the Department of City Planning’s (DCP) current neighborhood planning effort is critical. In the last two decades, Gowanus has undergone rapid transformation, the result of both private and public actions. The community has also been
subject to decades of environmental abuse and neglect; the Gowanus Canal is
Brooklyn’s first Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund site, and sewage
back-ups and toxic flooding frequently make their way into the neighborhood. At the
same time, loopholes in allowable uses in manufacturing zones have allowed
incompatible or conflicting uses, such as hotels and nightclubs, to proliferate. Through
its actions and inactions, the City has had a major impact on the area and has
accelerated the displacement of existing low- and moderate-income residents and
industrial businesses.
2

 Although residents of Gowanus welcome long-overdue infrastructure investments
and the environmental clean-up of the area, these changes also have the potential to
unlock additional land value, creating stronger displacement pressures. The City must
make concrete policy, funding, and infrastructure commitments that prevent
displacement and address structural inequality. In order for a rezoning to serve the
community in its entirety, local people and businesses who are most deeply impacted
and vulnerable to displacement must actively shape land use decisions – not merely be
“listened” to. This document aims to elevate the voices of our community that have
not yet been heard in the City’s planning process, and makes the case for a
community plan based on principles of social, economic, and environmental justice
for a just, inclusive, and resilient Gowanus neighborhood.

3

 Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition for Justice
The Gowanus1 Neighborhood Coalition for Justice formed out of an understanding that
City rezoning processes generally, and in our community specifically, privileged
voices and real estate interests hold disproportionate power. The Coalition represents
a concerted effort by local residents and stakeholders to promote social, economic,
and environmental justice as the primary framework under which any rezoning, land
use changes and/or public investments occur in Gowanus. The Coalition seeks to
specifically elevate the priorities of low- and moderate-income residents,
industrial firms and the neighborhood-based organizations and small businesses that
serve them, in a crowded rezoning conversation where the survival of the existing
community has not yet received serious attention. Our Coalition demands to be
included directly and meaningfully in land use decisions that will impact our
community.
The Coalition was convened by the Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC), which has engaged
stakeholders and community members in anticipation of the City’s most recent efforts
to rezone the Gowanus neighborhood as part of the Mayor’s affordable housing plan
to build and preserve 200,000 units over 10 years. These conversations built upon the
community planning framework developed from 2013-2015 through Bridging Gowanus,
a neighborhood visioning and planning process facilitated through Council Member
Brad Lander’s office with other local elected officials. While Bridging Gowanus ambitiously sought out to understand and document the spectrum of opinions and needs
of the various stakeholders and communities living in the neighborhood, some key
constituencies were largely under-represented in the process, most notably low- and
moderate-income residents, the majority of whom are Latin@ and African American. 2
To ensure the community’s comprehensive needs are met, including those most vulnerable to displacement in a rezoning, the Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition for
Justice has developed a set of five overarching principles that must be included in
decision-making with regards to the rezoning and neighborhood planning efforts. Any
rezoning, large land use action or public investment should affirmatively:
1. Advance racial and economic justice
2. Create real affordable housing and protect tenants from displacement
3. Promote environmental justice
4. Protect local businesses where we work and shop
5. Uplift the culture and community of long-time residents

4

 Coalition Groups (List in Formation)
Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC), Families United for Racial and Economic Equality
(FUREE), Gowanus Houses Resident Association, Gowanus Houses Arts Collective,
Wyckoff Gardens Resident Association, Wyckoff Gardens Resident Watch, Warren
Street Houses Residents Association, RAICES Spanish Speaking Elderly Council,
VOCAL NY, Christian Help in Park Slope (CHiPS), St Lydia’s Church, TRELLIS, Sacred
Hearts of Jesus and Mary & St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church, Southwest Brooklyn
Industrial Development Corporation (SBIDC), Gowanus Alliance, Gowanus Canal
Conservancy (GCC), South Brooklyn Local Development Corporation (SBLDC), Forth
on Fourth (FOFA) a Committee of the Park Slope Civic Council.

1. Advance Racial and Economic Justice
Racial and economic justice, or the proactive actions that aim to ensure equal
access to economic and educational opportunities and fair treatment of
communities historically oppressed, must be at the center of any Gowanus
neighborhood planning process. In our community, racial and economic justice
include:
1. Economic opportunity through targeted workforce development, adult education and local hiring practices;
2. Public investments that support an inclusive and environmentally and socially
resilient Gowanus;
3. Racial desegregation of our communities and schools;
4. Community policing strategies that prohibit racial profiling, uphold equality in
public space and focus on building community relationships; and
5. Mechanisms that ensure inclusive decision making, transparency and accountability.

Economic Opportunity
Rising housing and rental prices are already contributing to growing income
inequality in Gowanus, further deepening the existing racial and economic
segregation. While neighborhood median income increased 162% between 2000 and
2015, economic growth has not benefited all residents.3 The growth in the gap
between the lowest- and highest-income census tracts has significantly increased by
121% from 2000 to 2015. Additionally, the two lowest median-income census tracts in
Gowanus (71 and 127) are the only ones composed of a majority people of color population. These census tracts are also home to the Gowanus Houses, Wyckoff

5

 Gardens, and Warren Street public housing developments. As the Gowanus
neighborhood continues to gentrify, increased economic activity will not necessarily
mean economic gains for low- and moderate-income households. In particular, NYCHA
residents are less likely to benefit from growing economic opportunities in the area
without intentional and strategic planning and public investments.
A 2015 study by the NYC Center for Economic Opportunity found that NYCHA
residents rarely benefit from the increased economic activity in their neighborhood,
as new retail establishments fail to hire them.4 This neighborhood plan and rezoning is
an opportunity to incentivize new and existing businesses to hire locally, and to ensure
that new jobs – including those created from the construction and maintenance of new
facilities and from environmental remediation – benefit local residents. There is also
a critical need to make targeted workforce development, adult education, and local
hiring investments to ensure that individuals with barriers to employment benefit from
increased local economic activity and investment.

6

 Median Incomes in Gowanus

Gowanus - $34,763

 

$91,319

- $19,000
$51,397

- $22,011
$35,390

seem

Census Tract 127

Census Tract 71

 

 

 

 

  
 

Census Tract 75 
135,597
I - 2000 El 2015
ighest- and Lowest-Income Areas in Gowanus
Bansus Tract 1271'
Census Tract 1'1 is the second
istns census tract Inwest?insm'ns census tract
{Median $35,350] [Median Income 551.3911}
Census Tract 15 I census tracts are alsu
is the highest?10mm ?'13 
census tract 11'3le Elf WHIP

[Median incums $135.59?!

I 1111:1111 Housing

School Desegregation
Racial and economic segregation plague schools citywide; in Gowanus however, this
issue is even more pronounced.5 In District 15, where students from Gowanus, Red
Hook, Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, and Sunset Park attend school, White students
in the district comprise 28 percent of the student body while over 50 percent of the
White middle school student population attend three of the District’s most selective
schools.6 School overcrowding is a persistent problem for District 15, with an average
classroom utilization rate of 111.5 percent.7 The unprecedented development boom
along 4th Avenue, in Gowanus, and in surrounding residential areas has already
exacerbated existing problems. In the most recent 4 year period, citywide enrollment
increased by 4% while enrollment increased by 13% for District 15.8 Other obvious areas
where desegregation is deeply needed include housing and in community spaces, and
each of these are addressed in more detail in later sections.

Community-Police Relations
All community members living in Gowanus deserve a safe and welcoming
neighborhood. The New York Civil Liberties Union reported in 2013 that in
‘immediately adjacent’ Park Slope, where the population is 67% White, nearly 85% of
the stops in 2012 were of Black and Latin@ people while 90% of people stopped were
innocent.9 New York City has already begun to move towards important police reform
measures, including halting the discriminatory practice of stop-and-frisk, and in 2016,
citywide crime rates were down despite the reduction of stops.10 Notwithstanding this

8

 improvement, people of color continue to be disproportionately impacted by policing
policies. Neighborhood gentrification changes policing patterns and can increase the
potential for longtime residents to be racially profiled and abused in public spaces,
such as sidewalks, parks, courtyards, stores, public transit and train stations. This kind
of racial profiling and harassment leads to distrust between many members of our
community and the police. There must be a plan for preserving culturally-relevant and
welcoming public spaces and ensuring that the influx of newer, whiter and wealthier
residents does not result in the over-policing of the existing community.
At public housing developments, many safety issues are directly tied to poor housing
conditions, including the need for lighting improvements, functioning front door locks,
and reliable and safe elevators. Addressing safety concerns in Gowanus-area public
housing requires a comprehensive strategy, including better partnership between
NYCHA, public housing watch committees, residents overall, and the police
department – as well as non-traditional partners such as the Department of Health and
Mental Health – to tackle physical security, repair, infrastructure issues, and residents’
needs at the developments.

2.  Create Real Affordable Housing and Protect Tenants from
Displacement
Displacement and Neighborhood Exclusion
Past New York City policies and land use actions have failed to plan for the community
as a whole and contributed to residential and business displacement. For example, the
2003 North Park Slope and 2007 South Park Slope rezonings along 4th Avenue, the
eastern edge of Gowanus, significantly increased market-rate residential development
without providing any affordable housing, displacement protections, or infrastructure
upgrades to the existing community. Following the rezonings, longtime low- and
moderate-income residents experienced landlord harassment and eviction, leading
to the deregulation and demolition of rent stabilized buildings. The corridor has since
seen a high-rise development boom, with luxury rentals and condos. None of these
buildings include affordable housing units and there are no retail opportunities for
small businesses due to parking garages located on the ground floors.
Rising land values from adjacent neighborhoods have spilled over to Gowanus, and
have increased displacement pressures. From 2004 to 2012, property value
assessments along the Gowanus Canal increased an average of 84 percent.11 As a
result, properties along the canal are breaking record sales. In 2016 an empty lot near
the Gowanus Canal – the most densely populated EPA Superfund site in the country –
sold for $2,775,000 – or $338 per buildable square foot!12

9

 Race and Ethnic Demographic Change in Gowanus

2015

2000

Median Rent in Gowanus

2010

2015

Since 2000, Gowanus has undergone rapid demographic change as low-and
moderate-income residents, most of whom are Latin@ and Black, have been forced
out due to harassment, rising rents, and the demolition of rent stabilized housing. In
2000, 5 of the 8 the census tracts that make up Gowanus were home to primarily
Latin@ or Black households; in 2015, only 2 were (see map on page 11). From 2007 to
2014, Gowanus and the surrounding neighborhoods, including Boerum Hill, Carroll
Gardens, and Park Slope13 saw a 22 percent net decrease in their rent stabilized14
housing stock (approximately 1,053 units), a much faster pace than the overall
citywide net decrease of 6 percent.15 This rapid decline in rent stabilized housing and
rapid growth in wealthier, White households go hand in hand. For example, the
median rent in Gowanus rose from $1,925 in 2010 to $2,900 in 2016, and in 2016,16
median home sales prices jumped 68% from just the previous year.17 Without new
protections and efforts to support the remaining rent stabilized tenants, long-time
homeowners, and low- and moderate-income renters in unregulated housing, the cycle
of harassment and resident displacement will continue.
10

 Loss of Latin@ Residents in Gowanus
Major racial/ethnic* groups, 2000 vs 2015

Real Affordability Needs
The community needs strategies to ensure the development and preservation of
housing with deep affordability levels, specifically for households who make less than
40% of the area median income (AMI), or $32,640 annually for a family of three.
NYCHA residents are the largest population in Gowanus, with a median household
income of about $30,000.18 Unfortunately, the current Mandatory Inclusionary Housing
(MIH) program largely fails to meet this need. The two Options the City may require
under the MIH program mainly serve families at 60% or 80% AMI - up to $65,250 for a
family of three. Although MIH also includes a “Deep Affordability Option,” developers
cannot be required to elect this option, and it only requires 20% of the rent-restricted
units be made affordable to households making 40% AMI. This means that the vast
majority of apartments created with MIH would be out of reach for a majority of
NYCHA families, limiting their opportunities to move out of public housing yet remain
in Gowanus. Gowanus is one of the few neighborhoods announced for a neighborhood
plan so far where the market rate units could support affordability levels deeper than
what MIH outlines. The City must provide new affordable housing that truly meets the
needs of the entire community and provides the opportunity for NYCHA residents to
move into other affordable housing locally.

11

 Loss of Rent-Stabilized Housing, 2007 - 2014
22% decrease in rent-stabilized
housing in Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens,
Gowanus, and Park Slope

6% decrease in rent-stabilized
housing across the city

In addition to threats to rent stabilized and unregulated tenants living in privately
owned housing, any rezoning or major land use action must address the conditions in
Gowanus-area public housing. There are nearly 2,000 units of NYCHA housing in our
community, home to over 4,300 residents. Housing conditions in the NYCHA
developments are among the worst in our community, the result of decades of
neglect and made worse by Superstorm Sandy. Addressing Gowanus-area NYCHA
repair needs, bringing all public housing apartments into compliance with the NYC
housing code regulations and improving social resiliency must be a goal of this
rezoning. Improving NYCHA housing fundamentally aligns with the Mayor’s goal to
preserve 120,000 units of affordable housing citywide. Residents of public housing are
important members of our community and deserve to benefit from the rezoning and
public investment in the neighborhood. The City has a responsibility to fully
incorporate NYCHA into the planning process.
Affordable vs. Market-Rate Rental Housing in Gowanus, 2017

12

 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
Alfredo Rivera and Maria Rodriguez, Rent Stabilized Tenants at
140 4th Avenue

Starting in 2014, the tenants at 140 4th Avenue, an 8-unit rent stabilized building on
the border of Park Slope and Gowanus, started to experience harassment from their
landlord in the form of unsafe construction practices, interruptions in heat and hot
water, dust and debris in the hallways and leaks in their apartments. Conditions got
so bad that the building was placed in the Alternative Enforcement Program with the
Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). Although HPD
monitored the building, placed multiple violations and got several Stop Work orders
issued, this did little to change the landlord’s behavior or the living conditions in the
building. By the beginning of 2016, six of the eight families had left, exhausted by the
relentless noise, debris, lack of repairs and overall lack of safety.
“I’ve been living at 140 4th Avenue since 1962 and the area’s changed a lot,” says
Alfredo Rivera who lives in the building with his mother, Maria and adult daughter,
Emily. They are one of just two families remaining at 140 4th Avenue. “The owner put
two floors on top of ours. And the construction conditions, they affected me for a long
time: the dust, the debris, all the cracking. We’re just scared.”
The landlord’s tactics come in the context of the 2003 rezoning which incentivized
the harassment and displacement of rent stabilized tenants. Specifically the rezoning
allowed for greater building density along 4th Avenue -- with no additional protections
to residents or requirement of inclusionary housing. This touched off a wave of
harassment and displacement in rent stabilized buildings along 4th Avenue; over the
13

 last 13 years many tenants in these buildings have come to Fifth Avenue Committee
seeking help. Landlords using construction as a way to harass out the rent-stabilized
tenants by making their apartments unlivable has emerged as a persistent tactic that
continues to this day. In the case of 140 4th Avenue, the owner took advantage of the
City’s new zoning rules and decided to build two new floors on top of the existing
building.
“When it rains, a lot of rain comes down from the ceiling from the roof,” says Alfredo.
Every day my mother wakes up early, she can’t think, she can’t concentrate. She can’t
go to sleep. I see her go through that and I’m going through it too.”
“They offered us money to get out, but it wasn’t enough money because the rents are
so high,” says Alfredo. “$70,000, $80,000 goes fast. That’s peanuts.”
In 2016, the two remaining families, with the help of Fifth Avenue Committee and
South Brooklyn Legal Services, sued the landlord, resulting in a temporary relocation
and repair agreement for the tenants while the landlord corrects more than 70
violations in their apartments and the building as a whole. Tenants and their advocates
are hopeful that situation has turned a corner and that these two families are on their
way to being restored to decent conditions and services. However not all tenants are
able to prevail in these situations, such as the six families who left 140 4th Avenue
under duress.
The 2003 rezoning of 4th Avenue offers a cautionary tale of what can happen to existing affordable housing and longtime tenants when the City does not adequately
protect them. When the City changes development rules and spurs real estate
speculation, it bears responsibility for the displacement that follows. The City must
approach the rezoning of the Gowanus area differently and implement strong tenant
protections.
“No one should we going through what we’re going through,” says Alfredo. “We didn’t
now this was going to happen. I didn’t know and it’s scary.”

 

 

14

 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
150- 158th 4th Ave

The subject buildings in 2007 (left) and luxury housing development 2010 (right)

In 2003 the North Park Slope rezoning allowed for developers to build taller
buildings along 4th Avenue without requiring affordable housing. Shortly after the
zoning change, the owner of 150, 152, 154, 156 and 158 4th Avenue began a tenant
harassment campaign to remove stabilized tenants from their homes in order to sell to
a luxury housing developer.
The primary method used by the owner to remove tenants was harassment in the form
of building neglect and verbal abuse. Families suffered through no hot water or heat,
flooding, mold and vermin. Trash and urine in the halls were a consequence of broken
front doors. Despite hundreds of violations placed on the buildings through HP actions
(tenant-initiated court cases to force landlords to make repairs) the City failed to move
on code enforcement. By December 2006, the owner had successfully displaced 40
low/moderate income families and deregulated 40 rent stabilized units. The buildings
were demolished and a luxury rental development was built in their place.
In 2014 the owner of the luxury building, 150 Fourth Avenue LLC, agreed to pay
$500,000 as part of a settlement for failing to deliver on a promise to pay building
employees prevailing wages, but receiving a 421a tax break of $300,000 to do so. The
City and state cannot continue to reward unscrupulous landlords and developers who
subject families and children to dangerous housing conditions and make a profit doing
so. Tenant protections must be precursor to any rezoning or land use actions and
government tax policy should be rational and be enforced in a timely manner.

15

 3. Promote Environmental Justice
Disparate Impacts
In recent years, especially propelled by the Gowanus Canal EPA Superfund designation
in 2010, the City has begun to focus on sustainable development and addressing
environmental hazards in the Gowanus neighborhood. As the City, State, and
Federal government moves forward with the implementation of other
neighborhood-wide sustainability measures, Environmental Justice (EJ) must be at
the center of decision-making with respect to remediation of contaminated sites and
implementation of environmental policies. EJ requires that no community should bear
the disproportionate burden of negative environmental, health, and climate impacts
from private and government policies and activities. To achieve Environmental
Justice, communities who have suffered from injustices must be at the forefront of
decision-making with regard to environmental resolutions and policies.
As the clean-up of the Canal proceeds, our community is already experiencing
disparate impacts. In addition to the Superfund clean-up and the remediation of the
former Fulton Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) site, one of two Combined Sewer
Overflow (CSO) multi-million-gallon retention tanks will be constructed near the
Douglass and DeGraw (“Double D”) community pool. Disruptions to the Thomas

16

 Greene Park and Double D Pool will potentially take both off-line for years. It remains
undetermined how alternate facilities will be provided to the northern Gowanus
community as a whole, and to public housing residents in particular, during these
clean-ups that strip the area of the only park, public pool, and green space in the area.

Vulnerability to Climate Change
Three public housing sites, the Gowanus Houses, Wyckoff Gardens, and Warren
Houses, are located adjacent to the Superfund site and/or near upland brownfield
sites, areas that are already prone to flooding during normal rainfall. For decades,
residents living in these NYCHA developments, as well as other locals, have had to
contend with deplorable and inequitable conditions such as street flooding and toxic
indoor housing conditions that include leaks, mold, lead, vermin, and sewage overflows. These conditions lead to and exacerbate physical and mental health problems,
especially for children and seniors, and they heighten residents’ vulnerability to climate
change impacts, as witnessed during Superstorm Sandy and its aftermath. In October
2012, Superstorm Sandy left one fifth of the City’s public housing units damaged by
the storm, where people of color make up 80 percent of residents.19 At the Gowanus
Houses 2,836 residents went without heat and electricity for 10 days when basement
flooding destroyed boilers and shorted out electrical cables. Many residents, including
the elderly and people with disabilities unable to use the stairs, were stranded in their
upper floor apartments when elevators were out of operation. Similarly, affordable
housing in Gowanus that is managed by Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC) was also
impacted, with residents losing electricity and heat for days or weeks, depending on
the property. Meanwhile, other residents in Gowanus and in the adjacent
neighborhoods of Park Slope and Carroll Gardens saw their power and heat restored
immediately or were not similarly impacted.

Beyond Sustainability: Developing a Resilient Community
As New York City’s One New York: The Plan for A Strong and Just City recognizes, a
justice-centered definition of resilience goes beyond the notion of ‘bouncing back’ and
instead focuses on ‘bouncing forward’ to eradicate inequalities and the unsustainable
resource use that is at the heart of the climate crisis. 20 Recovery after Superstorm
Sandy has been painfully slow and six years after the disaster, NYCHA residents
continue to wait for building restoration and reconstruction to repair the damage,
while some local impacted building owners and businesses are just seeing Post-Sandy
investment. Currently, NYC Economic Development Corporation’s (EDC) investment in
FAC’s Gowanus Wi-Fi Mesh Network is in its first phase, and is a result of Post-Sandy
FEMA funding. This will be an important community resource that must be
expanded to encompass all of Gowanus, especially around NYCHA where many
households lack access to the internet. The Gowanus Wi-Fi Mesh network seeks to

17

 improve neighborhood resilience and connections and information sharing between
local residents, businesses and organizations.
Research has found that neighborhoods lacking social cohesion, or trust in their
neighbors, had a harder time recovering from Superstorm Sandy. 21 We’ve been taught
the importance of improving our neighborhood’s infrastructure while also
strengthening social networks and developing an emergency preparedness plan with
multi-agency coordination. Where there is investment in sustainable physical
infrastructure, there must also be investment in building social capital, measured by
the trust, respect, and reliability within a community. 22 Multi-agency coordination, as
well as tapping into community knowledge, is needed to achieve social cohesion and
develop a resilient neighborhood.

Leverage Existing Opportunities
The City has a responsibility to ensure that any ongoing and future investment
leveraged by public agencies and through the rezoning process advances equity goals
and directly improves the lives of NYCHA residents. Gowanus Houses, one of the
NYCHA developments hit hardest by Superstorm Sandy, will be the recipient of
millions of dollars of FEMA funds to address Sandy-related repairs. Meanwhile,
Wyckoff Gardens is one of six developments across the City where public land at
NYCHA will be leased to private developers to produce housing units that are 50%
market-rate and 50% affordable. This is part of NYCHA’s strategy to create new
affordable housing and fund long-needed repairs. With the unprecedented multibillion dollars of public and private investments planned in the neighborhood, the
Department of City Planning (DCP) must work closely with NYCHA and other City
agencies to ensure that residents see the economic benefits facilitated through this
rezoning, including access to jobs created through new construction and new
businesses. This includes ensuring the enforcement of Section 3 Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) hiring requirements for FEMA funds and
applying similar local hiring requirements for all public investments. NYCHA’s failure to
actively enforce Section 3 hiring requirements and the City’s reluctance to require local
hiring more broadly when public investments are made continue to strip residents of
potential job opportunities.

18

 Selected Investments in Gowanus Area

4. Uplift the Culture and Community of Longtime Residents
Longtime residents who have deep-seated roots in the community, particularly those
who live in rent stabilized and public housing, deserve to experience the benefits of
increased public and private investment coming into the neighborhood. In Gowanus,
public housing and rent stabilized tenants comprise 33% of the renter-occupied
population. 23 For decades these residents and the local organizations that serve them
have remained invested in their community when others, including the City and
developers, would not. Now these residents find their neighbors have been pushed out
and their community centers and institutions are no longer able to stay.

19

 NYCHA and Rent-Stabilized Tenants Have Long-Term Ties to the Community

On average, residents of public
and rent stabilized housing tend
to live longer in their homes than
those who live in market-rate
housing. The average resident
living in NYCHA or rent stabilized
housing lives there for 22 and 12
years, respectively, compared to 6
years for market-rate tenants 24,25

The loss of important institutions and programs that serve as a resource to low- and
moderate-income residents fundamentally impacts the quality of life for these
residents and exacerbates existing problems. The City must support the availability
and affordability of cultural and recreational opportunities for low-income residents,
especially to combat some of the negative impacts of gentrification, including the
feeling of isolation experienced by longtime residents from new establishments.

20

 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
The Gowanus Community Center

The Gowanus Community Center served as a crucial post-Sandy resource to meet the
basic needs of NYCHA residents who lost heat, electricity and hot water. Though the
Center had once served as an important hub for residents for job training, personal
development and a space to celebrate cultural events, prior to Sandy it had remained
mostly closed due to defunding by NYCHA. 26 Reopening the Gowanus Community
Center to serve as a vital economic development and cultural resource for NYCHA
residents should be a goal of the rezoning and can build upon past Participatory
Budget commitments to the Center.
In addition to protecting and expanding the institutions and programs that are
recognized as cultural and artistic hubs for the existing community, it is important that
the City recognize and preserve those places where the art and culture of
longtime community residents lives more informally and unprofessionally. For
example our definition of such institutions can and should also include religious
institutions, stores, restaurants, non-profit community-based organizations, athletic
spaces and public spaces that have served low- and moderate-income residents. In
general the City should protect institutions and spaces that are welcoming and
culturally relevant for public housing residents, longstanding racial and ethnic
communities including the African-American community, Italian-American community,
multiple Latin@ communities, people of color, longtime residents, recent immigrants,
young people, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ community, people with mental
health issues and members of our community who are insufficiently housed or
homeless.
21

 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
Lifting Up Gowanus Culture

Ijaaza El-Nuwaubun, poet and Gowanus Houses resident

Ijaaza El-Nuwaubun has been a resident of the Gowanus Houses development for 15
years. Among her many talents, Ijaaza is a published poet who teaches poetry to residents both inside and outside of the neighborhood. In an interview with Fifth Avenue
Committee, Ijaaza discusses the rich artistic community life and important small
businesses in Gowanus.
Although she remembers drug trafficking and violence when she first moved to
Gowanus, Ijaaza also recalls the neighborhood businesses as one of the most positive
and welcoming aspects of the area. Now that crime is down and real estate
speculation is up, there is a threat of displacement of the neighborhood businesses
that Gowanus Houses residents rely on. “I’ve come to an understanding that a lot of
people are losing their businesses because of the rezoning situation. I want to know
what is going to happen to people that are actually in a low-income situation; how all
this change is going to affect us….What is going to come and replace these things that
we need most?”
Many residents in Gowanus Houses and elsewhere in the neighborhood, who are
low- and moderate income artists, make their living outside of the arts. Some are
informal entrepreneurs that provide services the community can’t always access, such
as the neighbor who is an artist but also fixes computers on the side.
“He’s someone you would want to stay in the neighborhood because he has his own
Mom and Pop shop right there in his building, so he helps everybody in the whole
neighborhood and he doesn’t charge a lot of money to help people, to keep their
computers running. Because in most places you would have to pay hundreds and
hundreds of dollars, and he charges much less…and he cares.”
22

 There is also the need to make sure the rezoning supports the everyday artistic and
cultural needs of the neighborhood, not just professional artists. “I feel that with the
City and their rezoning they should play a part in allowing people…to be recognized
for their talents. They should be able to give us a structure where we can set up major
programs for people to be able to attend, to feel proud of, pertaining to our talents.”
Ijaaza also speaks about the need to provide arts programming for young people as
part of the rezoning. “I think the City should be coming in and doing something about
our [community] centers”
Ijaaza also speaks of the importance of food and of culturally relevant restaurants as
centers of culture. “We as Caribbeans love to eat our cultural food…there used to be a
number of Caribbean restaurants around here but I don’t see too many of them
(anymore)…. I have to go very far to eat…they’re like in spots, it’s not in the
neighborhood where you can just go...that’s what I miss most of all.”
Like many NYCHA residents, Ijaaza is looking for engagement from the City about a
rezoning which stands to so drastically transform her neighborhood. “We know that
this is a City thing and that NYCHA is a whole other entity, but they should be able to
work with the Mayor to make things happen for us as low-income consumers.”
“What can they do to help us to begin an initiative for people with talents that have
gone unnoticed? What can they do to give us an opportunity to express our talents?
And do it in a professional way…because we all live in this neighborhood together and
we should all be able to share, and they should give us an opportunity to do that.”

23

 5. Protect Where We Shop and Work
Small Business Protection
Longtime commercial and retail businesses are part of the fabric of the community, yet
in recent years important mom-and-pop establishments and even locally-owned
franchises that provide affordable goods and services have closed due to rising
commercial rents and new development. These important businesses—such as
laundromats, bodegas, 99 cent stores, pharmacies, affordable “take-out” spots, and
restaurants and supermarkets—serve the everyday needs of low-and moderate-income
residents, including NYCHA tenants. They also contribute to the cultural heritage and
identity of the community. Without mechanisms to help mom-and-pop stores thrive
where low-income residents can shop, residents are forced to commute outside of
their own neighborhood for basic goods and services. The City must actively promote
and preserve retail and commercial spaces for affordable supermarkets and mom-andpop stores and encourage local business ownership.

Before: Boerum Hill Met Foods
closed in 2014, another
24
affordable supermarket.

After: Purchased for $18
million in May 2014 by Jackson
Group.

25

Clothing chain store,

TJMAXX, rumored to replace
affordable supermarket.

Before: Bodega/market,

After: Developer Avery Hall

laundromat, Chinese take-

Investments bought the site

out restaurant closed in 2015.

in 2013 for $2.55 million, and

At 3rd Avenue at St. Mark’s

then flipped it for $5.65 million

Place

in April 2015. Slated for market

26

rate housing.

24

 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
Coalition members talk about how losing small businesses and amenities impacts daily
life
Ed Tyre
Resident Association President, Gowanus Houses

“

When luxury buildings come in, not just to my
community but all the communities I know of, it has a
history of taking from, and not bringing benefit to, the
community. The only ones that benefit are the ones that
are moving in, and the people that live in the area lose
vital things like drug stores, restaurants and
laundromats and the other buildings that housed our
neighbors are forced out. A lot of times, I have to travel
out to Long Island to do my shopping, and I see some of
my neighbors there as well, and that’s a shame. Also as far as check cashing places, most
of them are gone, so we have to find time to find one that’s close enough to get to. A lot of
the stuff that we used to have that made it convenient for us is gone.

”

Ms. Harriet Hughes
Tenant Association President,
Warren Street Houses

The pharmacy on Bergen Street was there for a very
“long
time, maybe 60 years, and the locksmith on 4th

Ave, and they took away the 99 cent store across on
(Wyckoff) street. There used to be a KFC on 4th Ave
and Warren Street and that got closed and that property has been empty for years. What is going to go
there, more co-op’s? Every little space there is going
to be a co-op or condo, it’s all about the money
making. We have a lot of elderly people who can’t get around. We need restaurants,
markets, laundromats and pharmacies close by, you have to go so far for different things,
you have to take the bus or Access a Ride.

”

Sandra Garcia
Tenant Association Vice President, Warren Street
Houses
Sandra Garcia has lived in the Gowanus neighborhood
community for over 45 years, she moved into Warren
Street houses public housing in 2010 after her
previous landlord sold the building she was living in.
Her husband is disabled and used to get his medicine
from the nearby Walgreens on Atlantic and 3rd but
since that store closed they have to travel further
distances for his needs. In regards to the loss of the
local pharmacies she says:

25

 It’s difficult to get things like medicine, especially when it’s needed right way. It’s a big
“loss,
especially for the senior citizens in my building… sometimes they ask friends and
family to go to the pharmacy to get their medication or to go wash clothes for them or to
go to the supermarket and it’s a loss for everybody. There are many seniors in public
housing who do not have home attendants and they rely on family and friends to take
them to shop.

”

Over the last 5 years there has been a remarkable loss of local businesses for low income
residents and senior citizens to get their medicine and food. Sandra worries about the
future of the area.
The prices of the groceries are now so expensive we don’t know what to buy
“anymore.
“What are we going to be left with if they take it down and rebuild, what’s
gonna’ happen to all of us?
”

Diana Felix, Warren Street Houses
Diana Felix, a resident of Warren Street houses, has
seen all of the local businesses she relied on for her
needs, the affordable restaurants, bodegas, 99 cent
stores, hair salons, nearby laundromats and pharmacies
disappear in the last 8 years.
It makes it rough when everything you relied on is
“closed
or has moved far way and we can’t afford to

walk so far to get the things we need. The loss of the
businesses is hard and we’ve lost connection to the
people (and businesses) we know and the food is
expensive now.

”

Karen Blondel, Red Hook Houses West
Resident and Environmental Justice Organizer at
FAC

“

Rezoning brings about issues to the people who are
native to this community. Part of what is
happening in this community of South Brooklyn is that
a lot of the smaller stores that we all rely on are being
priced out because of luxury rentals and properties
going up in the area and that’s a problem for this
community. We recently lost Pathmark and I was a
regular customer of that store since the 80’s and went
there because of the affordable pricing and the quality
of the food. The closing of the supermarket put a stress
on my diet, so I either have to buy less from one of the
new expensive stores in the area or I have to eat a lower
quality of food.

”

26

 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
Local Family Businesses in Gowanus

Maria Baez, local resident and family business owner/worker
For 14 years, Maria Baez worked in a popular local laundromat on 3rd avenue near
St. Mark’s Place, across the street from Wyckoff Gardens and down the block from
Warren Street Houses. The laundromat, along with its neighboring small businesses, a
corner bodega/meat market, and a Chinese food take out restaurant, all closed in 2015
after the property owners who leased the business spaces sold the buildings to
Developer Avery Hall Investments (AHI) for $2.55 million. These affordable
neighborhood ground floor businesses, as well as the low-income residential
renters who lived above them were all displaced and AHI flipped the vacant buildings
for $5.65 million. The displaced bodega and meat market had been Maria’s brother
in-law’s business for almost 30 years.
“I’ve known this corner for 20-something years. Everyone asks if we can put in another
laundromat, but we can’t because the rent is too much. The owner of the laundromat
had to go back to his old job, he lost everything. It was too expensive to move the
machines and for the Chinese food place too; they gave us nothing, only 3 months to
move.”
Once the family found out they were losing their business they signed a new shorter
lease on another bodega across the street. Maria now works in her family’s new
bodega but the other businesses were not able to survive. Although she is thankful to
be working in her family’s new bodega, Maria fears she will lose her livelihood again
because of the rising rents and speculation associated with the proposed Gowanus
rezoning.
“It’s hard to start again, but we had to do it. All the small businesses (are) going too,
the 99 cent store has closed and the barbershop next door and the hair salon say their

27

 rent is going up too. They’re all gonna disappear from this neighborhood. They’re
making big buildings and apartments, everything is going.”
For many years her family lived in a rent stabilized apartment just a few blocks away
on Baltic Street between 3rd and 4th Avenues. Reacting to the rising rents and new
development associated with the 2003 rezoning, the landlord began pushing out long
time tenants. Although Maria got help from the Fifth Avenue Committee and could
technically have stayed in her apartment, the pressure from the lack of repairs and
battling with the landlord took its toll. When her family’s name came up on the waiting
list for public housing, they moved to a development in another neighborhood.
“The neighborhood needs help, it’s too much money for rent and we need small
businesses. Where are all the people from public housing going to go? It’s unfair. We
need a pharmacy and laundromat; sometimes we help seniors who don’t walk so well
and have to push their shopping carts for many blocks. In 10 years’ time, I don’t think
we will be here.”

28

 Industrial Protection
The industrial and manufacturing sector in Gowanus is a crucial component of the
neighborhood’s economic vitality and its character. Within the area that is being
considered for rezoning, there is an Industrial Business Zone (IBZ) as well as significant
areas that are zoned for manufacturing that are outside the IBZ. Neither the IBZ nor
the manufacturing areas outside the IBZ have protections that ensure that
manufacturing uses will predominate in the area. In fact, there have been such
significant changes to these areas in recent years under the existing zoning that one of
the major goals that the community coalesced around in Bridging Gowanus is to
institute stronger protections for manufacturing within the IBZ as a precursor to
changing zoning designations. After these protections have been secured, Bridging
Gowanus calls on the City to create and employ real mechanisms in the areas outside
the IBZ for achieving a balance of manufacturing with new uses such as housing or
commercial uses. Protecting industries that provide quality-paying jobs, especially for
people with modest educational attainment or other barriers to employment, should
be a priority for the City if it seeks to truly create an equitable city and housing that is
affordable for its people; by obvious logic, solving the housing affordability crisis also
requires planning for the creation and preservation of quality-paying jobs.

29

 NYC Jobs Paying More than $30,000 per year

Industries are at risk of displacement due to a number of factors related to the cost of
real estate. Currently allowed non-industrial “as-of-right” uses, such as hotels, selfstorage operations, nightclubs, and other entertainment uses that can generate higher
revenues are proliferating in the area, threatening to displace existing manufacturers
and to change the character of the area, making it more difficult for surviving
manufacturing businesses to operate. Hotels, in particular, are dramatically more
lucrative enterprises than the industrial uses and manufacturing start-up incubators
that need increasingly scarce affordable space. Because hotel and residential
development brings visitors and residents to the area who have expectations about
surrounding uses (limited noise and truck traffic, proximity to commercial amenities),
they impact daily operations for surrounding industrial businesses. The explosive rate
of hotel development in the area is a major threat to the future of the Gowanus
neighborhood. The map below shows the proliferation of hotel uses in
manufacturing areas.

30

 Industry in Gowanus is already under siege because of real estate speculation and
as-of-right non-industrial uses. Action is needed to control current trends. Most businesses in Gowanus rent and are therefore vulnerable to displacement once their lease
is up. In some cases, landlords can terminate a lease in the event of a rezoning due to
lease provisions. As a result of this uncertainty and lack of protections, business owners hesitate to make capital investments in their work spaces, a pattern which can lead
to depressed job offerings. When the time comes to expand, business owners who feel
uncertain about the City’s commitment to protecting industrial businesses will relocate
outside the city, taking away with them quality- paying jobs from New Yorkers.
Previous proposals for “mixed use” in other rezoning areas have employed the “MX”
designation which allows for developers to choose either manufacturing or residential
uses for their sites. This has been shown to be a wildly ineffective mechanism, heralding the almost unbridled large-scale conversion of MX zones to residential – making
them mixed use only in name. 27 There are limited examples of “vertical” mixed use
(housing and manufacturing in the same building) and there are ways to achieve “horizontal” mixed use (housing and manufacturing both across a given area). To date, with
exception of the 25 Kent Avenue rezoning, the Department of City Planning has been
vehemently resistant to innovating and implementing large-scale balanced mixed use
models, and all mixed use proposals have suffered from the lack of an adequate enforcement mechanism to ensure that manufacturing is actually created. The unique
character of Gowanus and the significance of industry to its economy requires that
an innovative, well-enforced balanced mixed use zoning is created and implemented
outside the IBZ.
Without proper policy protections, changing the zoning in Gowanus’ industrial areas
for housing will accelerate loss of industrial business and well-paying jobs and may not
lead to affordable housing being built, given the lot size of some parcels. Any change
in use from manufacturing to residential, regardless of the total square footage in the
new development, should trigger MIH. The City must commit the financial and political
resources to enforce the regulatory structure that balances industrial and commercial
uses, including policies proposed in the Mayor’s 10-Point Industrial Action Plan.

31

 Conclusion
The Gowanus neighborhood is slated for significant land use actions and public
investment by the City of New York that will change our community and impact
surrounding neighborhoods for decades to come. These changes have the potential to
address long standing challenges and problems in our neighborhood or to significantly
increase the displacement of longterm residents and businesses and deepen existing
inequality. No community should be expected to tolerate a rezoning that fails to
address issues of displacement and other critical needs of the people that already live
there.
We affirm and demand that the City must include the people most deeply
impacted by these changes in decision making – not merely “listen” to our concerns.
In the coming months we look forward to developing concrete proposals within our
community to address the issues identified in this report. We similarly look forward to
sharing these proposals with the City and securing from DCP, the Mayor, and our local
elected officials support for implementation, funding, and infrastructure commitments
that will ensure that all stakeholders in our community can survive and thrive.

32

 Endnotes
1. 
We refer to the neighborhood as Gowanus for simplicity, however, due to the closeness in
geography, many of our members have strong ties and identify with Boerum Hill as their community
2. 

Bridging Gowanus http://report.bridginggowanus.org

3. 

American Community Survey of the U.S. Census 2000 and 2010

4. 
The Effects of Neighborhood Change on New York City Housing Authority Residents. NYC
Center for Economic Opportunity. May 2015. Accessed at http://www.nyc.gov/html/ceo/downloads/
pdf/nns_15.pdf
5. 
“Can a new DOE initiative fight gentrification-influenced segregation in the schools?” – Brick
Underground. February 18, 2016. Alanna Schubach accessed at www.brickunderground.com/blog/
can_a_new_doe_initiative_fight_segregation_in_the_schools
6. 
Why Brooklyn’s Middle Schools Are So Segregated - The Atlantic. July 17, 2016. Patrick Wall.
Accessed at https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/07/the-great-middle-schooldivide/491483/
7. 
“Brooklyn Neighborhoods Look to Address School Overcrowding, Avoid Rezoning Issues Seen
Elsewhere” – Gotham Gazette October 26, 2015 Ryan Brady accessed at http://www.gothamgazette.
com/government/5951-brooklyn-neighborhoods-look-to-address-school-overcrowding-avoid-rezoningissues-seen-elsewhere
8. 
Demographic Snapshots 2011-2012 through 2015-2016 – NYC Department of Education.
Accessed at http://schools.nyc.gov/Accountability/data/default.htm
9. 
Analysis Finds Racial Disparities, Ineffectiveness in NYPD Stop-and Frisk Program; Links Tactic
Soaring Marijuana Arrest Rate. NYCLU May 22, 2013. Accessed at https://www.nyclu.org/en/pressreleases/analysis-finds-racial-disparities-ineffectiveness-nypd-stop-and-frisk-program-links
10. 
“NYC crime, stop-and-frisk searches drop in first half of 2016”. NYCLU – New York Daily News.
Thomas Tracey and Graham Rayman. October 11, 2016. Accessed at http://www.nydailynews.com/newyork/crime-stop-frisk-drop-nyc-months-2016-article-1.2826671
11. 
Neighborhood Insight and Trends, Gowanus Brooklyn. NYCEDC Economic Research & Analysis.
September 2013. Accessed at https://www.nycedc.com/sites/default/files/filemanager/Resources/
Economic_Data/neighborhood_trends/Neighborhood_Trends_Gowanus_Sept.pdf
12. 
“‘Anticipated Development”’ Drives Record Sale of Gowanus Empty Lot” –DNAinfo By Leslie
Albrecht   March 28, 2016 accessed at https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20160328/gowanus/
anticipated-development-drives-record-sale-of-gowanus-empty-lot
13. 

Include boundaries here

14. 
Rent Stabilized is defined as the rent regulations applying to buildings that contain 6 units or
more and that were built before 1974.
15. 

NYC DCP PLUTO2016 and V1 NYC DOF Tax Bills

16. 
“How Leslie Albrecht   (May 3, 2016) How Contaminated Land on the Gowanus Became a Luxury
Housing Development” – DNAinfo. Leslie Albrecht. May 3, 2016 accessed at https://www.dnainfo.
com/new-york/20160503/gowanus/how-contaminated-land-on-gowanus-became-luxury-housingdevelopment
17. 
Property Shark accessed at http://www.propertyshark.com/Real-Estate-Reports/2016/12/21/
most-expensive-nyc-neighborhoods-2016
18. 

ESRI American Community Survey 2010

19. 
Sandy’s Effect on Housing in New York City Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy.
March 2013. Accessed at http://furmancenter.org/files/publications/SandysEffectsOnHousingInNYC.pdf
20. 
Pathways to Resilience: Transforming Cities in A Changing Climate. Kresge Foundation. 2015.
Accessed at http://kresge.org/sites/default/files/Pathways-to-resilience-2015.pdf
21. 
“Want to Survive Climate Change? You’ll Need a Good Community” – Science Eric Klinenberg
October 25, 2016 accessed at https://www.wired.com/2016/10/klinenberg-transforming-communitiesto-survive-climate-change/

33

 22. 
Social Resiliency and Superstorm Sandy: Lessons from New York City Community Organizations.
Association for Neighborhood Housing and Development accessed at http://www.anhd.org/wpcontent/uploads/2011/07/Social-Resiliency-and-Superstorm-Sandy-11-14.pdf
23. 

The geography used to derive this calculation is census tracts 71, 127, 119, 121, 117, 71, 75

24. 
Map: “New York City’s Disappearing Grocery Stores – Boerum Hill Met Foods” – Curbed.
Accessed at http://ny.curbed.com/maps/map-nyc-grocery-stores-disappearing/boerum-hill-met-foods
25. 
“Met loss! B’Hill Met Foods Closure Sparks Shopper Agita” – The Brooklyn Paper July 30, 20
Noah Hurowitz14 Accessed at http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/37/31/dtg-smith-street-met-foods2014-08-01-bk_37_31.html
26. 
“Boerum Hill Bodega to Be Replaced by 13 Apartments” – Curbed Jessica Dailey August 10,
2015 accessed at http://ny.curbed.com/2015/8/10/9931996/boerum-hill-bodega-to-be-replaced-by-13apartments
27. 
Making Room for Housing and Jobs. Pratt Center for Community Development. 2015, p
4. Accessed at http://prattcenter.net/sites/default/files/making_room_for_housing_and_jobs_
may_5_2015_0.pdf

34

 GOWANUS NEIGHBORHOOD
COALITION FOR JUSTICE
WHO WE ARE
Coalition Groups (List in Formation)
Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC), Families United for Racial and Economic
Equality (FUREE), Gowanus Houses Resident Association, Gowanus
Houses Arts Collective, Wyckoff Gardens Resident Association, Wyckoff
Gardens Resident Watch, Warren Street Houses Residents Association, RAICES
Spanish Speaking Elderly Council, VOCAL NY, Christian Help in Park Slope
(CHiPS), St Lydia’s Church, TRELLIS, Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary & St.
Stephen Roman Catholic Church, Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development
Corporation (SBIDC), Gowanus Alliance, Gowanus Canal Conservancy (GCC),
South Brooklyn Local Development Corporation (SBLDC), Forth on Fourth
(FOFA) a Committee of the Park Slope Civic Council.

With Support From

35