"In 2016, local environmental organizations Guardians of Flushing Bay and the Riverkeeper released a vision plan for an integrated and ecologically healthy waterfront. Activists, community residents, and the Flushing Rezoning Community Alliance also published a plan that prioritized the needs of existing residents and discussed safeguards against displacement. Both of these plans were created…
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"In “Separating Fact and Fiction About the Special Flushing Waterfront District,” published earlier this week and in part an apparent response to my criticism of the Special Flushing Waterfront District (SFWD) in these pages, the property owners and applicants of the SFWD make one fact crystal clear, and that is that the developers do not represent community interests. The developers continue to…
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"Dueling protests were held on Tuesday, Nov. 17, as groups of supporters and opponents of the Special Flushing Waterfront District (SFWD) voiced their concerns before the City Council Subcommittee vote on the rezoning application. Tenants, workers, small business owners and elected officials were gathered outside by Starside Drugs, located at 136-36 39th Ave. in Flushing, to discuss the damages…
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"퀸즈 플러싱 지역 주민들과 커뮤니티 단체들이 뉴욕시의회의 플러싱 강변 개발 프로젝트 표결을 앞두고, 피터 구 뉴욕시의원에게 반대 입장 표명을 촉구하는 집회를 개최했다. 민권센터와 플러싱주거권리수호연맹(FADA) 등은 17일 구 시의원이 소유한 플러싱의 스타사이드 약국 앞에서 기자회견을 열고 “지역구를 관리하는 구 시의원은 뉴욕시의회가 플러싱 강변 개발 프로젝트에 대한 표결을 실시하기 전에 반대 입장을 분명히 밝혀야 한다”고 목소리를 높였다."
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"A dozen councilmembers have come out against a plan to rezone a piece of the Flushing Creek waterfront for residential use, delaying a crucial committee’s hearing on the land use measure before it heads for a full Council vote. The rezoning would allow developers to create a 1,700-unit housing complex, alongside a hotel and retail space on the waterfront site and adjacent land they own and can…
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"A contentious Flushing waterfront project is upending the usual City Council politics around approvals — and dividing candidates running to replace Councilmember Peter Koo, a fan of the hotel and apartment development... On Tuesday afternoon, dueling sides of the fight made their voices heard on 39th Avenue in Flushing."
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"A rally Tuesday calling on City Councilman Peter Koo to oppose rezoning an area along Flushing Creek to allow a controversial mega project met resistance. Counter protestors support the zoning change, saying the development would bring needed jobs. Opponents worry the project would further gentrify the area, pricing out longtime residents and businesses."
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"Opposition to a sprawling 13-tower, mixed-use development proposed for the Flushing waterfront is growing among city lawmakers tasked with approving the plans. A dozen city council members said approving the project known as the “Special Flushing Waterfront District” in its current form would be “a grave mistake,” in a joint statement released Tuesday evening. The members said the proposal…
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"The fate of the “Special Flushing Waterfront District” project lies in the hands of the City Council and many members have expressed misgivings about the plan over the past week. Multiple council members have cast doubt as to whether they will support the project in its current form — arguing the project doesn’t include enough affordable housing units among their many concerns. One member has…
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"Flushing residents and advocates showed up in virtual droves Nov. 9 to voice their opposition or support for the proposed Special Flushing Waterfront District, a controversial 29-acre rezoning plan. The eight-hour City Council Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee public hearing included presentations by the developers and testimonies from over 100 public participants. Though not on the subcommittee…
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"特殊法拉盛濱水土地項目（SFWD）近日在城市規劃委員會投票通過，市議會舉辦相關公聽會長達8小時，民眾對該項目的態度十分兩級。市立大學皇后學院城市研究系主任、華裔教授譚婉雯（Tarry Hum）在網絡媒體《高譚公報》（Gotham Gazette）發表文章指出，法拉盛市中心已經缺乏可負擔住房，該項目恐怕會讓這一現象雪上加霜。 譚婉雯表示，開發商稱由於該項目的選址長期是一塊空地，並沒有佔用現有的住房空間，不會導致法拉盛居民流離失所。她說，這些開發商未能意識到該項目對房地產市場的衝擊，將威脅法拉盛市中心的可負擔住房。"
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"City Councilmembers cross-questioned the Flushing Waterfront rezoning applicants Monday for details on affordable housing, open space, environmental impact and job opportunities related to the development project, which also faces a pending lawsuit in Queens Supreme Civil Court. The entire City Council is due to vote on the private rezoning application for the Queens project, which would create a…
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"They plan to create the bare minimum number of affordable units on the rezoned lot based on the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing land-use rules, spurring criticism from several councilmembers, including Antonio Reynoso. He challenged the contentious project during the Council hearing on FWRA’s land use application. 'Why should we not expect a level of affordable housing?' Reynoso said. 'Over…
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"When faced with a crisis, whether 9-11 or Hurricane Sandy, New York has always rebuilt. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic damage means that, now more than ever, we need to invest in our city. But that doesn’t mean that all development is created equal, or that all proposed projects should get a blank check under the guise of recovery. That is why we have a review process for…
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"When the developers behind Industry City, a massive retail and manufacturing space, announced that they had pulled the plug on their plan to rezone a portion of their property on the Sunset Park waterfront in Brooklyn, community activists in Flushing, Queens celebrated. The proposed Special Flushing Waterfront District is a planned rezoning to usher in massive development along Flushing Creek…
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"'It’s not just an immense amount of traffic congestion, and the loss of local residents and small businesses, but you’re talking about impacts on one of the most polluted waterways in the city,' said John Choe, the executive director of the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce."
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The City Planning Commission held a public hearing on Wednesday for the controversial Special Flushing Waterfront District project. Opponents held a rally in Flushing on [September] 12th to protest against the development. Organizers, including local organizations MinKwon Center and the Chhaya CDC and state assemblyman Ron Kim, said Flushing needs more affordable housing, and the project would…
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Approximately 100 protesters gathered in front of the Flushing Library Sept. 12 and marched to City Councilmember Peter Koo’s (D-Flushing) 38th Avenue office, calling on the representative to join them in rejecting the proposed redevelopment of a 29-acre stretch of waterfront industrial property and surrounding land in Downtown Flushing to construct a luxury condominium building, two hotels and…
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"Days before the City Planning Commission (CPC) held a hearing on the proposed Special Flushing Waterfront District (SFWD), community groups against the project marched through Flushing to voice opposition and express concerns about the development. On Saturday, dozens of residents, advocates and critics of the Flushing waterfront project rallied in front of Flushing Library before marching to…
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Despite FRWA LLC’s efforts to characterize community opposition to the SFWD rezoning as “misinformation” by “a small group of loud, misguided voices”, presenting the massive waterfront market-rate residential, hotel, and retail development as a largely as-of-right project that will benefit Flushing’s immigrant community appears to me, as misinformation.
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"Several civic groups, including MinKwon Center for Community Action, the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce and Chhaya CDC oppose the rezoning project. The groups say an influx of luxury buildings would intensify gentrification and displacement in Flushing. Two influential unions — 32BJ SEIU, which represents property service workers, and the New York Hotel Trades Council — are also against…
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Community residents led by MinKwon Center for Community Action, Flushing Anti-Displacement Alliance (FADA), and Flushing for Equitable Development and Urban Planning (FED UP) organized a protest in Flushing, Queens, to urge New York City Council Member Peter Koo to oppose the redevelopment of the Special Flushing Waterfront District (SFWD). With more than 80 local Flushing residents and allies in…
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Over 80 Flushing residents and community leaders rallied on Saturday, Sept. 12, urging Councilman Peter Koo to oppose the redevelopment of the Special Flushing Waterfront District (SFWD) proposal. Members of The MinKwon Center for Community Action, Flushing Anti-Displacement Alliance (FADA) and Flushing for Equitable Development and Urban Planning (FED UP) were gathered in front of the Flushing…
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In March, Gov. Andrew Cuomo closed housing courts throughout the state, concerned that rising unemployment would cause mass evictions during a global pandemic. But what was a legislative opportunity to secure housing for all has been effectively wasted, and as many as 50,000 New Yorkers are estimated to face eviction when housing courts reopen. With the termination of added federal unemployment…
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The influx of transnational capital and rise of luxury developments in Flushing has displaced longtime immigrant residents and small business owners, as well as disrupted its cultural and culinary landscape. These changes follow the familiar script of gentrification, but with a change of actors: it is Chinese American developers and wealthy Chinese immigrants who are gentrifying this working-class…
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A trio of groups — Chhaya CDC, Minkwon Center for Community Action and the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce, along with a community member — have filed suit against the Department of City Planning and the City Planning Commission, arguing that an environmental review must be conducted for the 40-acre development proposal. Since a three-developer consortium announced the Special Waterfront…
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A virus may not discriminate, but it is no surprise that poor, Black and Latino New Yorkers have experienced the most devastation from the COVID-19 crisis. This outbreak has laid bare the underlying systems that leave the elderly, immigrants, and those living paycheck to paycheck most vulnerable in this crisis.
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“The scale and scope of the plan will significantly change the landscape of Downtown Flushing with long lasting impacts on the area within and surrounding the SFWD,” [Acting Queens Borough President Sharon] Lee’s negative recommendation read. “Downtown Flushing, however, is not immune to the consequences of transformative large-scale new development that inadvertently leaves many behind, such as…
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"While proponents say the development will benefit the community, critics are concerned that development will have 'immense impacts' on the fragile condition of the Flushing waterfront. 'Adding significant residential development could overwhelm the Creek’s overburdened infrastructure that already releases over one billion gallons of raw sewage and stormwater runoff into the Creek every year,' the…
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