Opinions, Orbiting, Options

In the CB6 universe, we held and/or co-sponsored 4 meetings. The first was on Monday with our Economic, Waterfront, Community Development committee meeting and after that, on Tuesday we co-sponsored a Heat/Cool Smart meeting, Wednesday was…

In the CB6 universe, we held and/or co-sponsored 4 meetings. The first was on Monday with our Economic, Waterfront, Community Development committee meeting and after that, on Tuesday we co-sponsored a Heat/Cool Smart meeting, Wednesday was our General Board meeting and last night with over 400 attendees we co-sponsored the DCP led the presentation on Public Place/ Gowanus Green.

There has been some coverage of the meeting, but if you’d rather watch or re-watch it you can find all the meeting materials here or on Youtube. In the most condensed summary possible the meeting and presentation were about the news that the city’s plans are for about 950 units all of which will be below market rate aka affordable housing together with space set aside for a school and 1.5 acres of open space. Regarding the ever-important question “affordable for whom?” at least half of the project’s apartments will be for households earning less than half of area median income(AMI). That translates into roughly an income of $50,000 for a family of three. In addition, I'm happy to report that 15% of the units will be set aside for the formerly homeless.

As is the case with any proposal of this magnitude there were a lot of varied and thoughtful opinions expressed. In this case, those included outright opposition with the suggestion of alternative uses and suggested alterations based on the proposal. Sadly there were some inappropriate comments that I hope, as a community, we will all refrain from making going forward. The next opportunity to redeem ourselves by exhibiting universal civility will be on December 2nd when DCP will present on Gowanus Infrastructure. 

Speaking of future meetings we have committee meetings coming up on December 3rd (Landmarks/Land Use) and December 7th (Permits & Licenses). Our next General Board Meeting will be held on December 9th. All three of these meetings will be via zoom and their agendas are still in formation. 

With that, I will recommend you check out the items below my email signature, enjoy the weekend, and stay safe. 

This is the web archive of a newsletter originally sent by email to Brooklyn Community Board 6 subscribers on Friday, November 20, 2020. The email edition may contain additional event listings and links.