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CBS News
5 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Williamsburg-Greenpoint Rezoning has complicated legacy 20 years later
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the historic Williamsburg and Greenpoint rezoning that changed the northern Brooklyn waterfront forever. The area's industrial waterfront gave way to a vision of parks and high-rise developments after the historic vote in 2005. Twenty years later, after a first-of-its-kind rezoning, the landscape has drastically transformed and carries a complicated legacy. "You look at a place like North Brooklyn, which has had a lot of increased green space since the rezoning, but the amount of residents has also increased dramatically," said Katie Denny Horowitz, executive director of the North Brooklyn Parks Alliance. The North Brooklyn Parks Alliance was founded in 2003 to advocate for access to green space. The community was promised more than 50 new acres of parks as part of the rezoning of 175 blocks along the Williamsburg and Greenpoint waterfront. While parts of Bushwick Inlet Park now provide much-enjoyed recreation, the promised 27-acre promenade remains unfinished. "As of right now about a third of the total acreage has been completed. We're super excited that a third parcel at the northernmost tip around the Bushwick Inlet itself, that should be open quite soon, as early as this September. And that's going to be the third parcel to be completed in over 20 years," Horowitz said. Former New York City Councilmember Diana Reyna, who represented parts of Williamsburg from 2002-2013 and grew up in the neighborhood, recalled the stark conditions before the rezoning. "None of this existed. This was desolate, prostitution, crime, gangs, drugs," she said. She also remembers a tight-knit and resilient community, including many, like her own family, who were displaced as rents began to soar. "I would have fought to get the affordable homeownership. There's nothing like owning your home. The reason why my family left Williamsburg, we were living in a three family home, privately owned. The landlords sold, went to Puerto Rico to retire, and the new landlord left us to dry for seven years in and out of court without heat and hot water," Reyna recalled. The 2020 census showed a 41% population increase in Williamsburg over the past decade. Rent increases and displacement came with it. David Yassky, the former Councilmember for Williamsburg and Greenpoint, said housing instability predated the rezoning. "People who had lived there 20, 30 years were already getting priced out. And it was obvious that was going to continue. So to me, the rezoning was an opportunity to open up that waterfront and provide some affordable housing that would allow people in the neighborhood, some, to stay," Yassky said. Asked whether the rezoning was ultimately a net benefit, their responses were mixed. "There's no question in my mind the rezoning was a net benefit for the area. For the people who were living there in 2005, it was still a net benefit, but it was more mixed because, you know, the rise in prices had an impact," said Yassky. "I would say it was a net zero," countered Reyna. "Unfortunately, I would say it's too early to say even though we're 20 years in. A lot of the plans have yet to be realized," said Horowitz. Data shows Kings County had the most land rezoned in the city over the last 25 years, with more than 550 blocks affected. Local leaders say lessons from North Brooklyn, like the importance of advocating for affordable housing and public green space, have informed more recent rezonings in neighborhoods like Gowanus and East New York. Have a story idea or tip in Brooklyn? Email Hannah by CLICKING HERE.
New York Times
6 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Customers Griped About High Grocery Prices. The Grocer Agreed.
On Sunday, Young Kim was working in the grocery aisles of Jubilee Marketplace in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, when he overheard some shoppers complaining about the prices. This refrain has been sung around the country since the pandemic, and it wasn't the first time Mr. Kim, the store's chief executive, had listened to it. But that night when he got home, he did something about it. In a 'Dear Greenpoint' letter he posted on Instagram, Mr. Kim wrote, 'I just want to say I'm sorry for the high prices and you were right,' modifying 'high' with another, more pungent adjective. After looking around northern Brooklyn to see what other stores charged, he'd decided to match or beat them. He has already dropped prices on thousands of items, he wrote, about 15 percent of what Jubilee sells. Re-pricing the whole store has become his mission, and he has been out on the floor making the changes for 14 hours every day this week. 'I'm trying to work as fast as I can,' he said. 'If you bought a product yesterday and I changed it today, you overspent yesterday.' As in much of the city, the high cost of living is an obsession in Greenpoint. In the Democratic mayoral primary last month, Zohran Mamdani, who has made affordability the main theme of his campaign, won 75 percent of the vote in the neighborhood. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Time Out
30-06-2025
- Time Out
Yet again, G train shutdowns are coming this summer—here's what to know
Brace yourselves, Greenpoint faithful: The 'Summer of G' is back—and not in a fun, alphabet-themed beach towel kind of way. Starting July 14 through Aug. 18, the G train will once again ghost riders between Court Square and Bedford-Nostrand Avenues on select weeknights and weekends. It's all part of the MTA's ongoing effort to drag the line's Depression-era signals into the 21st century (1930s tech may be vintage-cool in fashion, but less so when you're stuck waiting in a dark tunnel). There will be no G service between Court Square and Bedford-Nostrand from 9:45 p.m. to 5 a.m. on the following weeknights: July 14–18, July 24–25, Aug. 4–8 and Aug. 11–15. Weekend closures run from 9:45 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday on July 25–28, August 1–4, Aug. 8–11 and Aug. 15–18. If your summer social calendar includes Williamsburg dive bars or a late-night taqueria run in Fort Greene, plan to pivot. The MTA is deploying fare-free shuttle buses that will stop at every affected station, running every 3–4 minutes overnight and every 5–10 minutes on weekends. G service will still operate south of Bedford-Nostrand down to Church Avenue. It's all part of a $368 million signal modernization project that's installing CBTC (communications-based train control), which promises faster, more reliable trains once complete in 2027. This is the fourth phase of outages following last summer's sweeping shutdowns, which came with a few silver linings: 10 stations got deep-cleaned, lighting and tile upgrades were installed and yes, 5G is on the way (expected this fall). Even some of the new open-gangway R211T trains have begun rolling out on the G and when the CBTC is live, they'll be fully compatible, so while the summer detours are annoying, they're also paving the way for a smoother ride.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NYC pol accused of blocking critics from posting on her social media and dares naysayer to take her to court: ‘Not democratic'
A Brooklyn Assembly member is allegedly blocking locals from making posts she doesn't like on her social media pages — and she even dared one critic to take her to court. Greenpoint's Emily Gallagher, a Democratic socialist, has been stealthily deleting critical or uncomplimentary comments or has altogether restricted certain users from interacting with her political media pages for as long as she's been in office, The Post has learned. That could be a First Amendment violation as a public official, according to experts. 'The parallels between the way that she operates and the way theocracy operates or how fascism starts, it's right on the money,' Shannon Phipps, the founder of the Berry Street Alliance, told The Post. Phipps said she has been blocked from Gallagher's Instagram account since June 2024 after years of publicly blasting the city's Open Streets program, which the Assembly member supports. Phipps said she had noticed that her replies in response to Gallagher's tweets seemingly disappeared shortly after she posted them — possibly as part of an X feature that allows users to 'hide' unwelcome interactions. Other neighbors have lodged similar allegations in recent months — with claims they are being punished for criticizing Gallagher's policies or simply for asking her to take action on neighborhood issues. Gallagher's public Instagram page on Thursday showed minimal negative comments. Various posts indicated that there were numerous comments that were not populating under pictures — an indication that she might have hidden them from the public. The Post also viewed various screenshots showing that Gallagher restricted several users from directly interacting with her on social media. 'People are being blocked for having a political critique of her, or if you're posting something about a political issue that you want her to pay attention to. It's that stuff. It's not, 'Emily, you're fat and ugly.' It's the real stuff,' Phipps said. Denise Meyerson, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than two decades, first noticed she was restricted from commenting on Gallagher's Instagram posts back in 2021 — the same year the politician took office. Meyerson had been critical of Gallagher's support for the McGuiness bike lane and demanded that the politician step in on a plan to turn 300 free parking spots on Meeker Avenue into metered spots. 'I would comment on her posts and then my comments would disappear. It was related directly to neighborhood things, but she always erased comments,' Meyerson said. The Brooklynite even called out Gallagher for censoring her posts, leaving up only those that were complimentary, but the politician pleaded innocent, screenshots shared with The Post show. Even more brazenly, the Rochester transplant dared Meyerson to take her complaints to court, saying: 'Feel free to take it to court, but it wasn't intentional. But this tactic of repeatedly commenting on every post with totally inaccurate statements is pretty frustrating!' Meyerson countered 'that's her attitude.' 'She doesn't handle being a local politician very well,' Meyerson said. 'She's not really mature enough for the position of being like a diplomat in the neighborhood.' 'It's very frustrating and it's not democratic, which they claim to be. It's absolutely not. It gives me no faith in the local government.' The censorship is even more egregious because Gallagher does not respond to constituent emails and her office runs limited hours, both Phipps and Meyerson alleged, adding that only those with mirroring viewpoints get a callback. When reached for comment, Gallagher did not acknowledge allegations around censorship, but said she offers plenty of real-life opportunities for her constituents to connect. 'Our office takes accessibility and availability extremely seriously,' she said in a statement. 'We host regular, in-person events and have a public office, open phone lines, and email access. We engage in conversations all day long with constituents — those who agree with us and those who don't.' Should Gallagher be found to be deleting or restricting comments, there is no question that she would be acting in clear violation of the First Amendment because her accounts — under the username 'emilyassembly' — are clearly marked for office, according to Diane Peress, who teaches constitutional law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. 'A social media page is created so that there can be communication exchanges with your constituents. You can't block people because you don't like the message,' Peress said. Peress pointed to a similar case lodged against President Trump in 2018, which resulted in a federal judge ruling the president could not block critics from his social media pages. A second lawsuit was filed in 2020, but because the case dragged on until Trump was voted out of office, the Supreme Court ultimately dropped it. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has also been hit with several civil suits by people she's allegedly blocked — a move she admitted to making back in 2019 because they were allegedly harassing her. But even cyberbullying doesn't excuse stifling free speech, said Peress. 'If you were doing this as part of your job as a public servant, I cannot think of a case where you can allow some people to post and go back and forth, and you can't allow other people. You're basically discriminating because of the message. You can't do that,' Peress said. Phipps is considering taking legal action against Gallagher. The censorship hits especially hard for the civic leader, whose father immigrated to the US from Iran in the late 70s in search of the very freedoms she accused Gallagher of suppressing. 'He left a very violent situation where half of our family was being killed. People were protesting for freedom. They were losing their lives. They were disappearing and being oppressed … I've never even been able to go back to the country because it's been so much turmoil since I was born,' Phipps explained. 'There's no freedom of speech, there's no freedom of press. There's no freedom to engage in politics. It's a theocracy. It's all through the eyes of God. So I really have no tolerance for this in Williamsburg in 2025.'
