Dear El Barrio Unite Membership:
CB11 has reconvened their much anticipated ReZoning Taskforce due to our overwhelming El Barrio Unite pressure to dismantle the Mayor’s proposed unjust Rezoning for East Harlem Plan because this proposal was viewed as a displacement plan for lower income earning households that we opposed furiously. CB11 voted against this proposal as an Action Item in Executive Session during the famous November 23rd meeting of 2015. However, this rezoning continues to creep up attracting various nefarious schemes to downplay its direct and indirect effects detrimental to our community. We submitted the following to compliment our own findings of how the 2003 Rezoning of East Harlem affected our community (see the EH Rezoning Effects at
Enclosed is a report from the Chinatown Working Group which specifically targets the rezoning effects to three other neighborhoods which proves that Rezoning communities displaces low income residents. NYC Dept. City Planning contends that this is untrue and refuses to take this into account on their analysis of East Harlem. We oppose this unfair discriminatory action being attempted under our noses.
At the December 15, 2016 Public Hearing in East Harlem, El Barrio Unite submitted its own testimony-see: http://www.elbarriounite.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Jan-4-2017-CPC-Rezoning-Comments-from-RJH.pdf
with its analysis from the Regional Planning Association Report- Saving Affordable Housing in East Harlem. Now the CB11 Rezoning Task Force is resurfacing with a committee that we hope will help address our community fears and protect the interest of the currently discounted Low Income Families.
Kindly read the enclosed Chinatown Working Group Report: Chapter 5 analysis enclosed in summary for your knowledge and discussion. Do not allow the rich and powerful to use the weak and uninformed mediocre to screw the unsuspecting lower income families who will be lost forever from El Barrio without a fighting chance. We need a Just Affordable Housing Plan that will create housing opportunities for those most at risk to be displaced and become homeless like so many before.