CITY WIRE: THE BLOG
Watch Video of the East Harlem Rezoning Meeting
Marc Bussanich |
The Department of City Planning discusses its draft rezoning framework for East Harlem.
The Department of City Planning discusses its draft rezoning framework for East Harlem.
The de Blasio administration says there’s need for city-subsidized housing across a wide range of incomes. But data indicates middle-class households face a far less severe affordability problem.
It’s at an early stage, but the official East Harlem rezoning vision follows the general thrust of a detailed plan produced by community groups and the Council speaker.
It’s unclear how closely the city’s rezoning proposal will follow the most detailed community-based plan to emerge during the two-plus years of the de Blasio administration’s housing push.
The MTA is relocating its bus depot at East 126th Street so the city can create a memorial honoring the history of an African burial ground formerly located at the site. But the full plan calls for much more than a memorial.
A process led by the speaker’s office and a community organization produced a plan for a denser East Harlem—but one offering deeper affordability than the de Blasio administration has proposed elsewhere.
An elaborate community planning process underway in East Harlem has the Council speaker’s backing, foundation support, critics and fans. What it doesn’t have is a sense of whether and how the city will be guided by the plan it produces.