The Coalition was invited to participate in an exhibition at the Planners Network conference, held this past June at Pratt Institute. The conference focused on community-based planning, national urban policy, and confronting globalization. In addition to the workshops discussing methods to achieve economic, racial, and environmental justice in our neighborhoods, the conference offered tours of New York City neighborhoods.
One tour, led by Planners Network co-chair Thomas Angotti, explored the waterfront community of Red Hook, Brooklyn. Mr. Angotti served as a technical advisor to a committee that developed a 197-a Plan for Red Hook a few years ago. The main goals were to address the needs of the residents, including short and long-term housing, traffic, and manufacturing.
Among the old warehouses on the Brooklyn waterfront, developer Mr. Gregory O¹Connell is currently restoring properties for small business usage. Residents claim that a portion of this area was originally set aside for housing. Mr. O¹Connell apparently has changed his mind, intending to develop the area in question for more manufacturing. This issue has created an obstacle for the plan, but the community¹s eagerness to keep things moving forward may help generate a solution.
There are approximately 12 proposed 197-a Plans city-wide, but only Community Board #3 in the South Bronx has received approval. Challenges, which face the timely approval of many plans, include power struggles, attempts to consider too many issues at once, and problems with consensus-building. In Red Hook the residents can meet with Mr. O¹Connell and perhaps establish a compromise. The Hunters Point waterfront project, cloaked by its quasi-governmental organization status, oversteps local rules, regulations, and its responsibility of answering to its public constituents.
The HPCC enjoyed participating in this conference, as it linked our issues with local and nation-wide groups, and provided a thorough review of other community-initiated projects.
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