Trying for a reality check, Vicki Been, the commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, told a conference last week: “This is about trade-offs,” referring to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s housing plan.
Residents have been demanding increased improvements as of late in conjunction with the mayor’s plan for 240,000 new housing units, while at the same time demanding protection from displacement and rent increases, according to Crain’s.
Been told attendees at an Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development conference in Midtown that while community outreach continues to be important, it cannot impede the forward motion of the city’s plan. “We have to move,” she said, “and we have to move quickly.”
Local leaders have said that major plans to rezone East New York and other areas should be slowed because of the lack of information available to area residents. “The planning process has been really light on details,” said Michelle Neugebauer, executive director of the Cypress Hills Local Development Corp. in Brooklyn. “There’s all of these questions and no answers.”
However, Been continued to try and manage expectations, saying that neighborhood planning and community involvement is messy even in the best of worlds. [Crain’s] — Tess Hofmann