Brooklyn A Wins Injunction Blocking Broadway Triangle Rezoning

Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A ("Brooklyn A," a program of Legal Services NYC) represents a coalition of community groups opposed to the rezoning plan, which would violate the Constitution as well as federal and state
civil rights laws by excluding and discriminating against minority groups around the
Broadway Triangle site. The injunction, issued in State Supreme Court on December 23rd, came just one day after the City Council approved the controversial plan.

(Photo above from NY1 News; see below for story link)

The December 23rd New York Times quotes Brooklyn A Project Director Marty Needelman:

The plan would allow the construction of up to 1,851 units of
housing on the blighted parcel, bordered by Throop, Flushing, Harrison
and Union Avenues and Lynch Street. City planners said that more than
800 of those units would be set aside for low- and moderate-income
families.

Opponents said the rezoning process was secretive and
the proposal did not go far enough to ease what they called a shortage
of moderate-income housing.

Justice Emily Jane Goodman of State
Supreme Court in Manhattan issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday.
Lawyers representing a coalition of community groups opposed to the
plan said on Wednesday that the injunction prohibits the city from
taking any further steps to carry out the rezoning plan until a hearing
on the matter in March.

The injunction came in response to a
lawsuit the lawyers filed on Tuesday, claiming, among other things,
that the process that led to the rezoning excluded and discriminated
against minority groups around the Broadway Triangle site, including
blacks Hispanics, and some Hasidic Jews, violating the United States
Constitution and federal and state civil rights laws.

In a
statement, one of the lawyers, Martin S. Needelman, said, “Until we got
to the court, no governmental agency was willing to overrule the
politics of the situation and address the outrageous impropriety of the
process.”

For more than two years, the rezoning of the Triangle has attracted controversy and touched off old neighborhood rivalries, like those between Hispanic and Hasidic groups that have often fought over housing in the Williamsburg area.

Further coverage: The Brooklyn Paper, The Epoch Times, and NY1

Brooklyn A serves as legal counsel for the
Broadway Triangle Community Coalition (BTCC), which represents community residents and local business people who are committed to a
transparent public planning process – a process that meets the
needs of the area’s residents and family owned businesses. This
coalition includes over 40 church, civic, educational and community
organizations that represent the area’s largely African-American,
Chassidic and Latin- American communities and includes the area’s
diverse array of ethnic, economic, business and religious
organizations.

The
coalition advocates for a balanced plan that represents an optimal
development configuration that best meets the need of all stakeholders
in its diverse community. The coalition seeks a planning process that
is transparent and open to all, and free of political favoritism and
special interests. The coalition has a special focus on affordable
housing but seeks a balanced plan that builds community supports
schools, open spaces and public amenities.

Learn more about the coalition, and the history of the Broadway Triangle rezoning process, at BroadwayTriangle.com. You can also view a presentation on the BTCC's alternate Broadway Triangle plan on YouTube.