I’m happy to be able to start off this column by cheering some neighborhood heroes on a hard-fought victory.
Last year I wrote about the plans of an investor to build a huge apartment building over where the Chase Bank is on Hamilton Avenue. I called it a ridiculous idea, based upon their presentation at the community board. In addition to its height, which was to be double anything else in the vicinity, the application was made by the own- er of one lot, but the zoning change would also include two adjacent lots.
At the time, it was thought that the reason for that was to avoid being seen as spot zoning – asking for a variance for only one building, which goes against NY zoning norms.
What I didn’t realize, though, was that another reason for the aggregation of lots was to make the case that with such a zoning change, the possibility would then exist for a large enough building to be created that would trigger the new Mandatory Inclusionary Housing provision, a hard-fought victory for affordable housing championed by the local councilman, Brad Lander.
The board rejected the application unanimously, and I naively thought that was the end of it.
Until I read on some blog that the case was heard by the borough president and was on its way to the City Planning. Planning pretty much gave it the thumbs-up, much to the chagrin of not only myself but an ad hoc group of determined Columbia Waterfront neighbors who, unlike my- self, followed the application through the ULURP process (ULURP is what all this change-of-zoning process is called in NYC).
The final step in the saga of this ridiculous affront to the Columbia Waterfront District was to be the determination of the local councilman himself, Brad Lander.
I was made aware of a last-minute community meeting that was held in late February at the offices of the Carroll Gardens Association, on Columbia Street.
The large boardroom table in the back of 201 Columbia Street was filled with actual concerned citizens, many of them dedicated community gardeners who were upset at the prospect of a tower looming over the area’s largest community garden, the Backyard Garden, on Hamilton and Van Brunt.
The tower would block a lot of sun- light, which of course gardens thrive upon. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is facing a similar threat from a developer, coincidentally.
As we were sitting around the table exchanging ideas to create a strategy to try and convince Brad that this three lot charade would be a detriment to the community, and that he should kill the project, Brad himself joined us.
As I described a couple of months ago, he listened to all of us, but told us passionately that he was inclined to vote in favor of anything that would in- crease the supply of affordable housing in the city.
In the end, the community won. What happened was that the ad hoc group brought to the City Council hearing a piece of paper that they were able to get from Chase saying that they had no interest in closing their branch to be part of a real estate deal.
With that, the prospect of affordable housing ended, as did any chance of approval.
This might not have happened if not for the hard work of the community and the integrity of Brad Lander. I love it when I see government working and I’m happy to tell you about it.
BASIS has new owners
Elsewhere in this issue you will read about how the new private school in Red Hook has been sold to a new private school consortium backed by Chinese hedge fund money.
Some years back, when BASIS, a somewhat controversial charter school company from Arizona picked Red Hook to build their first East Coast for-profit private school, I wrote about how the concept of a for-profit school was somehow not what one might want as an educational model.
Public schools like PS 15 are the most democratic form of education, and what has traditionally brought this melting pot of a country together.
Traditional private schools have been not-for-profit institutions. Among other things, that enables them to fundraise and create endowments. The endowments are how they are able to offer scholarships to those who might
want to attend a private school but whose parents cannot afford to send them.
But a for-profit school exists basically like any other for-profit business — to make money.
Coca Cola is a for profit business. As long as people buy Coke, they will make Coke. But if trends change, and the public demands something different, they will switch in order to maintain and grow their sales.
Just this week I read that Burger King will be adding a new kind of vegetarian Whopper to their selection, in all their stores around the country. They test-marketed the Impossible Burger in St. Louis and people bought them- so now everybody will get a chance to eat a vegetarian burger that smells and tastes like one made from a dead cow. Just like that, the cattle industry takes a hit, and pea farming (peas are part of the new burger formula) will be put on the front burner.
I would like to think that education ought to be more than a basis for financial profit. The BASIS story was that a couple from Eastern Europe came to America with some sort of different educational vision that would provide a public benefit.
But in the end, the benefit was theirs, as I suspected when I read about their charter school history. In any case, they started a new brand in Red Hook, expanded to Manhattan and other places, and, just like many other successful chain businesses, sold out for the big bucks.
The very sincere sounding email that we are publishing is from the new owner, Spring Education Group.
A quick check reveals that the Spring Education Group was formed last year with the merger of three other for-profit school companies. The CEO, Shawn Weidmann, was most recently CEO of one of those three schools, a chain much like BASIS.
Here is some more information about him from a press release I found on- line: Shawn Weidmann currently serves as CEO of Stratford Schools, a privately-owned operator of private schools. Prior to joining Stratford schools, Shawn served in a variety of roles and industries. Most recently, he was COO for Public Storage. In this role Shawn had responsibility for all retail operations including over 2,200 facilities, 5,000 employees and 2 call centers with over $2 billion in annual sales. Shawn’s previous position was as President of Teleflora, the world’s largest network of retail florists.
I’m not making a judgment here, I’m just informing.
NYCHA and gentrification
Lately there seems to be a lot of meetings having to do with Gowanus. In the middle of a long rezoning process, attention was forcibly placed by the Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC) on what is described as a social justice issue.
What it boils down to is that FAC is taking the position that when a rezoning leads to increased property values and profit opportunities for real estate developers, any neighboring NYCHA property deserves a piece of the action.
Now, I’m no fan of real estate developers or Brooklyn skyscrapers, but as Gowanus scholar Joe Alexiou once said, the story of New York is the story of real estate.
Meaning that, sooner or later, real estate developers will have their way.
There is for sure a case to be made for a neighborhood getting something back for giving up their open spaces and sky, and in this case, Council- member Brad Lander (again), has led the way to negotiating givebacks, as he led a series of neighborhood meetings he called Bridging Gowanus, for a couple of years. His plan, which includes affordable housing, some preservation and some amenities, has become part of the plan the city is now considering.
But now, at the tail end of the process, FAC is making demands.
For sure, the Gowanus Houses need work. So do the Red Hook Houses, and every other NYC public housing development.
But it’s a citywide problem, and needs to be fixed citywide.
If I were a resident of East New York’s Pink Houses, and I found out that my friends in Gowanus were living much better than me because of skyscrapers being built in their neighborhood, my first reaction would be that’s not fair.
My second reaction would be to try to get skyscrapers in my neighborhood.
