THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
CONTACTS: Kristina Naplatarski (CM Reynoso): knaplatarski@council.nyc.gov; (646) 584-2676
Lauren Liles (CM Espinal): lliles@council.nyc.gov; (718) 642-8664
January 13, 2020

COUNCIL MEMBERS REYNOSO AND ESPINAL RESPONSE TO THE CITY’S DECISION TO NOT IMPLEMENT THE
BUSHWICK COMMUNITY PLAN.
“Mayor de Blasio and Deputy Mayor Been have informed us that after working with us for the past five years on
the Bushwick Community Plan, they are not interested in implementing the community’s vision for the
neighborhood. This past week displayed perhaps the most incongruous moment of the de Blasio
administration, in which the Mayor simultaneously released a report purporting his commitment to affirmatively
furthering fair housing, while leaving a neighborhood that suffered years of disinvestment followed by ruthless
gentrification to be swallowed by irresponsible development. The Mayor’s decision to walk away from
Bushwick, continuing the cycle of government neglect the neighborhood has suffered under for the past 50
years, is shameful as it ignores the voice and will of a community. When we began the process of developing
a community-based plan for Bushwick, we could have never imagined that Bushwick would receive a level of
apathy from our local government reminiscent of the policies that left Bushwick to burn in the 1970’s. We
remain committed to our community’s vision as outlined in the BCP - nothing that affects Bushwick will be
determined without Bushwick.
The process to develop the BCP was catalyzed by a near universal recognition that Bushwick was facing
severe development and displacement pressures and warranted planning attention to ensure that these forces
were mitigated to the greatest extent possible, that people who had struggled for years to build up the
community from decades of neglect reaped the benefits. In 2016, NYU’s Furman Center identified Bushwick as
the 4th most rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in the City, while the Mayor’s own Where We Live report
identifies Bushwick as having some of the highest rates of market rate-rental housing and new housing
construction in the City, while suffering from some of the lowest numbers of rent-regulated and owner-occupied
housing units. We entered this process with full knowledge that no matter how objective the evidence was that
Bushwick warranted intentional planning study and investment, the history of community planning was littered
with failed efforts and broken promises. This was a risk we accepted for two reasons, the status quo in
Bushwick was already leading to mass displacement and urgently needed to be addressed and the de Blasio
administration committed to partnering with the community to craft a plan. The status quo remains the same,
our community continues to be displaced, but now the Mayor has rubber stamped his approval on this crisis.
The BCP is in no way radical. The plan increases the overall housing capacity of the neighborhood, allowing all
the market-rate development potential that exists today, while mapping mandatory inclusionary housing to
ensure that increased density results in affordable housing, and identifying areas where density makes sense,
primarily along transit corridors, characteristics that are completely in line with the de Blasio housing agenda.
We fundamentally reject Deputy Mayor Been’s assertion that this is a downzoning, moving density from narrow
side streets to wide transit corridors, while creating opportunities for affordable housing is sound planning
rationale. We will not be extorted into taking more density simply to receive what we already deserve.
Bushwick has already contributed thousands of units to our City’s housing supply over the past 10 years and
will contribute thousands more under the BCP, while other neighborhoods have developed almost no new
housing at all. The de Blasio administration’s decision to walk away from the BCP is merely a continuation of
the discriminatory housing policies that have been inflicted on Bushwick for decades, actions that are all the
more dangerous today as the Trump administration works to roll back fair housing protections across the
country. Bushwick will continue to fight for the resources it deserves, it’s what we’ve always had to do.”

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