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The Future of NYC Neighborhoods
FEATURE
Two Bridges Development Frames
Talk of Chinatown Rezoning
A city proposal to rezone only central Chinatown clashes with neighborhood groups who want a broader plan.
BY ABIGAIL SAVITCH-LEW
F
or almost a decade, stakeholders in China-
town and the Lower East Side have struggled
to pass a rezoning to protect the historic
character of their neighborhoods and prevent
the displacement of existing residents by rising
rents. The Chinatown Working Group plan, which
received endorsement from Community Board 3
and other groups, did not get support from the
Department of City Planning (DCP), which saw it as
too expansive and anti-growth.
This winter, however, community board 3 accept-
ed DCPs offer to discuss a potential Chinatown
rezoningwith the support of Councilmember
Margaret Chin, who sees the compromise as a way
to move forward. Though no one has defined the
borders of the potential rezoning, the announce-
ment infuriated members of an alliance called the
Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East
Side, who say their leaders are pitting Chinatowns
interest against those of the Black and Latino Lower
East Side.
Yet in recent months that discussion has been
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Photo: Roman Kruglov
overshadowed by another, ironically related
mattera development boom of luxury towers on
the Lower East Side waterfront, also known as Two
Bridges. The Chinatown Working Groups plan, had
it passed, would have instituted height caps and
stringent affordability requirements in this area.
In addition to Extell Development Companys
79-story luxury condominium already rising on
South Street, there are plans for four more luxury
towers, all between 62- and 79-stories and within
a two-block radius. The three developers of these
four towers have voluntarily offered to rent a quar-
ter of units at below-market rates, likely with the
help of the recently renewed 421-a tax credit.
Last year, Chin also pressed the city to require a
full public review process for the planned towers.
Instead, DCP brokered an agreement with the de-
velopers to participate in an extended engagement
process. The developers are holding four extra com-
munity meetings, while a task force of stakeholders
lead by Chin and Borough President Gale Brewer
will seek to represent community concerns.
The process will also include the customary pub-
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LOWER EAST SIDE
EDITION
APRIL 24, 2017
WWW.ZONEIN.ORG
lic hearings on the Draft Scope of Work, a doc-
ument outlining the methods used to conduct
the environmental review, the Environmental
Impact Statement, a document detailing the
potential effects of the towers on gentrifica-
tion, schools, transit and other factors, as well
as a community board hearing.
Ultimately, the City Planning Commission
(CPC) can require the developers to imple-
ment mitigation strategies to combat harmful
impacts. Chin and Brewer have also succeed-
ed in pushing the first public hearing to May
to provide stakeholders with more time to
understand the issues, and requiring the de
Blasio administration to publish the Draft
Scope of Work in Spanish and Chinese.
Because the projects are within a zone cov-
ered by special permits, CPC is only allowed to
grant modifications if certain requirements are
met, such as that the added density will not
adversely affect access to light, air or create
traffic congestion.
Current residents of the area have already
expressed concerns about gentrification,
shadows and blocked views, the effects of
construction on air quality and neighboring
buildings, taxed public infrastructure, and loss
of parking.
But while some already see the projects
as a win for developers at the expense of the
community, Victor Papa, president of the
Two Bridges Neighborhood Council, which
co-developed much of the affordable housing
in the area, sees potential benefits, including
new neighborhood amenities. His organiza-
tion sold development right to JDS Develop-
ment Group in exchange for much-needed
funds for repairs and flood-proofing at a
senior building.
And what of the long awaited neigh-
borhood rezoning? In time, its likely that
the community board will take the lead on
bringing together stakeholders to discuss a
rezoning plan for Chinatown. Deciding how
to define the borders of Chinatown may be
contentious, with some stakeholders likely
to push for borders that include parts of the
Lower East Side waterfront that have not yet
been grabbed for development.
EXPLAINER

Key Background: The Past and the Process

2008: Chinatown Working 2013: The Working Group pres- 2015: The de Blasio admin- 2016: City Planning proposes
Group, a coalition of LES orga- ents its comprehensive vision istration expresses concerns rezoning only a yet-to-be defined
nizations, begins developing a for the area to the Department about the scope of the Work- Chinatown Core. Community
neighborhood rezoning plan. of City Planning. ing Group plan. Board 3 gives qualified support
to the process.

Today:
.

The neighborhood is waiting to learn more

about the Chinatown Core study. Mean-
while, a separate process has begun to
review plans for massive skyscrapers in the
Two Bridges area. These require modifica-
tions to existing regulations and an envi-
ronmental review. A draft scope of work for
that review has been issued.

THE PROCESS

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4 9
2 7 10
3 5 8
TAKE ACTION! CONTACTS AND RESOURCES
KEY CONTACTS CITY COUNCILMEMBER MARGARET CHIN MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
SEND WRITTEN COMMENTS ON THE TWO chin@council.nyc.gov We want to hear from you about your plans for,
BRIDGES DRAFT SCOPE OF WORK District Office: 212-587-3159 comments on or questions about the future of your
Legislative Office: 212-788-7259 neighborhood.
Environmental Assessment and Review Division
Department of City Planning, MANHATTAN COMMUNITY BOARD 3 VISIT our website to comment on stories and get
Attn: Robert Dobruskin info@cb3manhattan.org more info: zonein.org
120 Broadway 31st Floor 212-533-5300 CALL us toll-free at 844-ZONE-NYC to leave a
New York, NY 10271 voice comment
RDOBRUS@planning.nyc.gov UPCOMING EVENTS EMAIL us at zone@citylimits.org with criticisms,
212-720-3423 PUBLIC HEARING ON TWO BRIDGES DRAFT comments, story ideas or questions
SCOPE OF WORK MAIL us at City Limits, 394 Broadway, 5th floor,
These will be accepted until June 8 at 5 pm. Manhattan Municipal Building, Mezzanine level, 1 New York, NY 10013 and tell us whats on your mind.
Centre Street, Thursday May 25, 2 pm and 6 pm

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EXPLAINER
Plans, projects and proposals on the LES
The Chinatown Working Group has
proposed comprehensive rezoning
across several sections of the Lower
East Side.
The de Blasio administration has
objected to the CWG plan as too
large and proposed instead a zoning
study of the Chinatown Core,
whose borders are not yet defined.
Meanwhile, a development boom in
the Two Bridges area has triggered
a unique review process, with many
residents expressing worry about
the impact of those towers.
From a coded City Planning map of the area.
4A/4B 5 6A
247 CHERRY 260 SOUTH 259 CLINTON
STREET STREET STREET
JDS Developers. 79 stories Two Bridges Associates, Starrett Development.
on stilts atop existing LP. One 69 story tower and 62 stories.
senior housing. one 62 story tower.
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WHAT IS
ZONING?
Zoning is a set of laws that
govern how large buildings
can be, how they are built
and what they are used for.
Every square inch in New
York City is zoned.
Property owners within a
zone can undertake some
kinds of devleopment as of
right, meaning no change
in the zoning is needed.
This is the case with the
planned towers in Two
Bridges that have generat-
ed controversy and spurred
a unique review process.
A rezoning is when the
city changes the zoning
rules for a particular area
to permit larger buildings,
or to require that any new
buildings be smaller than
currently allowed, or to
change the type of build-
ings permitted on each
parcel. Some rezonings do
a combination of these.
The de Blasio administra-
tion is planning to rezone
a dozen or more city neigh-
borhoods to permit denser
development and, City
Hall says, create more af-
fordable housing. Some
community groups have
called for rezonings, and
others have resisted.
The administraton is con-
sidering a rezoning of cen-
tral Chinatown. They plan a
zoning study first.
Community groups, say-
ing they want to control
development and fend off
gentrification and displace-
ment, want a larger area
of the Lower East Side re-
zoned.
MORE AT ZONEIN.ORG
OPINION
Neighborhood View: The Rezoning that LES Workers Really Need
The fate of neighborhood culture in Chinatown is deeply linked to what occurs in the broader Lower East Side, the authors say.
BY CATHY DANG AND MELANIE WANG
C
hinatown and the Lower East Side are
neighborhoods of historic significance
where residents and workers orga-
nized for unions, rent strikes and takeovers
of vacant buildings, and where liberation
struggles were led by the Red Guard Party,
Young Lords and Black Panther Party. Our
neighborhoods survived Hurricane Sandy
and built resiliency in the recovery process.
This is where immigrants find means of
survival, familial language, culture, food,
and a sense of community. Chinatown
and the LES arent just hip and upcoming
neighborhoods for gentrifiers. These are
neighborhoods with rich and vibrant history
that serve a present-day purpose to work-
ing-class Jewish and Chinese immigrants,
Latinos and African-Americans.
In Community Board 3, weve experi-
enced grave losses of cultural institutions,
residents, housing, and community centers.
Chinatown and the LES once had the second
largest rent-regulated housing stock in Man-
hattan. Today, we suffer loss after loss. As
luxury hotels and high-end retail has arrived,
rent-regulated units and Asian residents
have been driven out. For over a decade at
CAAAV, our Chinatown Tenants Union (CTU)
has been organizing tenants. CTU fights
landlord after landlord, but we have realized
that rezoning is a tool to proactively protect
the community.
In 2008, CAAAV and nearly 60 tenant
associations, organizations, landlords and
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businesses, and Community Boards 1, 2, and
3 gathered to form the Chinatown Work-
ing Group. With the support of the Pratt
Institute, our goal was to design a compre-
hensive, community-led rezoning plan. After
years of studies, long meetings and debates,
we were able to find unity and agreement
on a much-needed plan for the residents
and small business owners who have been
fighting to stay in Chinatown and the LES.
Initially, the Department of City Planning
(DCP) disregarded the entire plan, but with
pushback from the community, DCP is now
considering the Chinatown Core. However,
our communities will not settle for just the
rezoning of the Core.
DCP claims our neighborhood plan is too
expansive. But the CWG plan covers 103
blocks, which isnt that much bigger from
other current plans like East Harlem, which
is 95 blocks, and is smaller than some earlier
ones.
There is an assumption that rent-regulat-
ed apartments will remain rent-regulated
and market forces would not deregulate the
units. There is also an assumption that zon-
ing Chinatown as a historic neighborhood
protecting the character of the buildingsis
sufficient in protecting the people who live
in them. These assumptions are hollow. We
know firsthand that developers and land-
lords will use all their wealth and power to
manipulate the laws to earn greater profits.
And we know that if we dont protect the LES
waterfront from development, Chinatown
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Photo: EventPlannerNYC
will also experience even deeper gentrification.
The CWG plan wasnt initially taken seriously
by the administration because we have limited
land and air space for development. The ad-
ministration is prioritizing upzonings that will
create market-rate and affordable housing,
but due to minimum income restrictions, that
affordable housing wont actually be affordable
for working-class and poor people, like many of
the Chinatown residents who make up CAAAVs
organizing base.
There is an assumption that wealth is an answer
to our housing crisis. Instead, we must recognize
that wealth and exploitation are actually the root
of our crisis. An influx of wealth would perma-
nently change the fabric of the Chinatown and
LES community.
Chinatown Tenants Union members are fight-
ing for anti-harassment protections, a historic
district, small business protections, restrictions on
hotel development, and height caps outlined in
the CWG plan for the waterfront and Chinatown.
CAAAVs members deserve more, and the working
people of New York deserve better.
In this Trump era, isnt it clear that our collective
humanity is more vital than profits and getting
re-elected? In a time when our communities are
feeling the repression of mass deportations and
the loss of social safety nets, the local adminis-
tration can take a bold stand by respecting and
implementing community-led rezoning plans that
protect our homes and livelihoods.
- Cathy Dang is the executive director and Mel-
anie Wang the CTU Tenant Organizer at CAAAV.