Brooklyn Star: HPD Hears Statements on Urban Renewal Plan

The Downtown Brooklyn Star reports on the recent NYC Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) hearing. In "Once Again, HPD Hears Statements on Brooklyn Urban Renewal Plan" the paper reports the many complaints against the plan, including:

Opponents of the development have also called into question the fundamental intent of the urban renewal, saying that the neighborhood does not need government interference. "This is not a ‘down area’ in need of renewal," said Greenstein. "We’ve got a lot of brand new growth."

Referring to a new hotel that is being built in the neighborhood, he asked "Do they build new hotels in blighted areas?"

"Think about yourself," pleaded Dave Wallace, another property owner. "If you owned a house and renovated it and made it your own, and then the city says they will take it away, how would you feel. They haven’t offered anybody a fair market price for their homes. This isn’t a rich or poor problem. Anybody can be affected by this."

Round-up of today's Duffield press coverage

Here's an update of all the articles published in the last few hours on the Downtown Brooklyn eminent domain hearing:

• Brownstoner: The Duffield Eminent Domain Battle Continues
  
  
• Curbed: Downtown Brooklyn Eminent Domain Hearing Held Again
  
  
• mcbrooklyn: Second Hearing on Underground Railroad Properties in Downtown Brooklyn
  
  
• NY1: Brooklyn Residents Continue To Fight For Preservation Of Homes

Brownstoner repeated a question raised on this blog yesterday:

“Acquisition of property is critical and necessary for Willoughby Square to move forward — and without Willoughby Square, much of this new investment, and therefore businesses, jobs and housing, will not happen,” said Joe Chan, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. You buying it?

Mcbrooklyn did double duty by reporting on the new hotels going up on Duffield in Boutique Hotel on Duffield Street, and More Brooklyn in Brief Tuesday. Duffield also came up in New Holiday Inn Coming to Schermerhorn Street in Downtown Brooklyn (Brooklyn Eagle).

Hotel rooms in Brooklyn may nearly triple by 2010

The NY Daily News reports "Hotel rooms in Brooklyn may nearly triple by 2010":

You might call it the borough of bedrooms.

With the number of hotel rooms in Brooklyn expected to nearly triple by 2010, experts predict the Borough of Churches could gain a new nickname.

Chains like Sheraton and Hyatt, and boutiques like the Hotel Le Jolie in Williamsburg and the W Hotel offshoot Aloft in downtown Brooklyn are expected to pump the number of hotel rooms from 1,200 to approximately 3,000.

Abolitionist Place (a.k.a. Duffield Street) is the home to much of this economic activity:

On Duffield St., a 325-room Sheraton is opening across from a 176-room Aloft, a more affordable spin-off of W Hotel that will feature a glitzy, hip bar.

BCAT interviews Duffield advocates

While looking for television coverage of today's press conference and hearing, this television broadcast popped up. Here is BCAT's blurb:

The city’s moving forward with plans to use eminent domain to take and demolish a handful of homes on Duffield Street and homes advocates say played an important part in the underground railroad. A city-commissioned study couldn’t confirm the buildings' role in the anti slavery movement and now officials want the area for Downtown Brooklyn development. Advocates say the homes are a key piece of the borough's black history. As Sherry Karabin tells us, they're taking their battle to the courts.

You can watch it here, and if you want the broadband version, click here.

UPN9 Broadcasts pro-Duffield rally

UPN9 ran a quick piece very sympathetic to the Duffield Abolitionist homes. It was a little light on facts, f'rinstance it didn't mention that the eminent domain hearing was the reason we had a press conference today. But it shows that anger against eminent domain is commonplace.

Brownstoner: Duffield St. Hotel Site Sells for $9.5 Mil

Brownstoner reports on more dramatic developments in "Duffield Street Hotel Site Sells for $9.5 Mil":

Plans for a boutique hotel on Duffield Street appear to be moving forward independently of the contentious eminent domain proceedings that may hit the Underground Railroad houses just a few doors down. A group of investors recently closed on the purchase of 237 Duffield Street for $9.5 million, according to public records.... The forthcoming “seamless blend of ergonomics and urbanity” still has a ways to go before it graces Downtown Brooklyn, though: The DOB doesn’t show any applications filed for the demolition of the VIM building at 237 Duffield.

To read more, including user comments, click here.

The reality of these new hotels flies in the face of the justification for eminent domain in the area. Joe Chan of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership was quoted today regarding the small park that he wants to build after destroying the Duffield Abolitionist homes:

Willoughby Square has always been the centerpiece of the plan, and is an important incentive to attract private investment....

Acquisition of property is critical and necessary for Willoughby Square to move forward — and without Willoughby Square, much of this new investment, and therefore businesses, jobs and housing, will not happen.

Willoughby Square will be 1.15 acres. That's a pretty small "centerpiece" next to all these new hotels.

Well, it certainly is good to be lucky.

The Brooklyn Eagle reports that many of the new hotels shooting up in Downtown Brooklyn don't want to build new parking spaces. And why should they spend money on parking, when the City is building it for free (well, free in that the taxpayers are paying for it and private homes have to be confiscated along the way, which some people would consider "free")? A New Trend in Downtown Brooklyn: ‘Big Co-Op Parking’ — Would You Pay $25k to Own Your Spot? reports:

However, the developer has said that they will not build the parking lots under the hotels, because they are “too expensive,” and instead rely on a proposed city-built underground lot across the street. Kaufman is quoted as saying: “We are lucky that the city is building an 800-car underground garage across the street [at Washington Square Park]. We see that as an ideal situation.”

Well, it certainly is good to be lucky.

Brooklyn Eagle: City Gives Downtown Brooklyn Eminent Domain Hearing Another Try

The Brooklyn Daily published an article on the public hearing this morning, "City Gives Downtown Brooklyn Eminent Domain Hearing Another Try":

Track Data Corporation and Amber Art & Music Space — scheduled to open this month before the three Brooklyn entrepreneurs were allegedly first notified that the property they’re leasing was up for eminent domain — are among the occupants on block within the BAM Cultural District. The property on the third block, also within BAM, is a surface parking lot. The city plans to recruit private developers to build high-rise mixed-income housing with ground floor performance and arts space there.

City Councilwoman Letitia James said after the hearing, which she called “just procedural in nature,” that she suspected the blight study was created recently as the result of a legal challenge to first ruling in favor of eminent domain. “I did not see a blighted study in 2003,” she said, referring to when City Council was given the opportunity to consider the Downtown Brooklyn plan, including the use of eminent domain to realize that vision.

The advocates for the destruction of the Duffield Abolitionist homes were brave enough to offer a quote to the Eagle. Joe Chan of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership had this to say:

“Acquisition of property is critical and necessary for Willoughby Square to move forward — and without Willoughby Square, much of this new investment, and therefore businesses, jobs and housing, will not happen,” said Chan.

Mr. Chan, you're such a fatalist! In case you didn't notice, there are skyscrapers going up all around Downtown Brooklyn. Several hotels are even shooting up on the same block as the Duffield Abolitionist homes. Apparently, the real estate developers don't agree with you.

Please, please, if someone is convinced by our friends at the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, let us know.

amNewYork: Brooklyn redevelopment faces Underground Railroad conflict

AM New York is the first to publish a story about today's eminent domain hearing. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) heard public testimony, as reported in "Brooklyn redevelopment faces Underground Railroad conflict":

The city's vision for a massive, multibillion-dollar redevelopment of Downtown Brooklyn ran into more impassioned objections Monday at a public hearing debating whether the city can destroy homes that may have been stops on the Underground Railroad.

The article touches on the fumbles that forced the City to hold a second hearing after Downtown Brooklyn advocates found fatal flaws in the first eminent domain findings:

After the report was issued, the city pressed on with eminent domain action to take ownership of the Duffield homes and 40 rent-stabilized apartments nearby, as well as a few other businesses. But earlier this month, after a number of lawsuits had been filed, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development withdrew that eminent domain application. An agency spokesman said it did so because of a paperwork oversight and has since been refiled.

Nobody spoke in favor the City's plans to destroy the private properties. For more, click here.

Mon. 10/29: Eminent Domain public hearing and press conference

City Holds Second Hearing on Eminent Domain Demolition of Historic Homes and other properites in Downtown Brooklyn


Housing Agency re-does botched hearing
after legal challenges force agency to withdraw initial eminent domain findings

What: Press Conference and Public Hearing

When: Monday, October 29, 2007
9:30 am — Press conference with elected officials and community members
10:00 am — Public hearing

Where: City Tech Auditorium – Jay Street at Tillary in Downtown Brooklyn

Congresswoman Yvette Clark, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, and City Council Members Charles Barron & Letitia James will join over 50 community members, preservationists and Black historians at a press conference and City hearing regarding the City’s use of eminent domain to take seven residences on Duffield Street, widely believed to be the sites of Underground Railroad tunnels. The City is also seeking to take other homes and businesses, including three rent stabilized apartment buildings on Albee Square that house over 40 low-income families.

As a result of legal challenges by Downtown Brooklyn advocates, the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development withdrew its eminent domain findings for Downtown Brooklyn earlier this month. The City’s withdrawal was an acknowledgment that it had no basis in the record for its use of eminent domain. This abuse of the powers of eminent domain would have proceeded if the City hadn’t been sued. They are now trying to move ahead by adding a blight study that has never before been made public, though it was apparently produced more than three years ago. That means that the City Council approved the use of eminent domain in Downtown Brooklyn without ever seeing the document that justified it. This is just more evidence that in New York City the justifications for using eminent domain don’t matter; it is all a pretext.

HPD announced the new hearing in a small ad in the NY Post on October 17, 2007, yet they scheduled this new hearing without notifying all the owners of the condemned properties. Isn’t it their responsibility to make sure that this is an appropriate use of ED, and not to use this process to rubber-stamp a decision that HPD has already made?

Duffield TV: What about UNDERGROUND do you not understand?

Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse has complete video coverage of the recent press conference. A new elected official— Hakeem Jeffries, the Assembly representative for the area, joined the long-time Duffield advocates. The video catches some great quotes by Jeffries, including:

The City will say the evidence connecting the properties to the underground railroad are inconclusive. It was called the Underground Railroad and not the above-ground railroad for a reason. It was illegal in the 1800s to assist runaway slaves. So it's outrageous for us to expect that there are going to be documents that say we are breaking the law with the Underground Railroad.

To see the complete coverage, click here. To see all of the Freddy Brooklyn Roundhouse videos, click here.

Hotelier feels lucky about destruction of Abolitionist homes

The Brooklyn Eagle published an article about a panel on hotels in Brooklyn, and its description differs significantly from an article on the same event in Brownstoner. The Eagle's article, "Hotel Development in Brooklyn: Why Hasn’t It Happened Sooner?" starts out with brightly optimistic quotes:

“Brooklyn is ripe for a luxury hotel,” said one panelist.

“Travelers are ready to see a different part of the city,” said another.

Brownstoner's article, by contrast, was titled "Brooklyn Hotel Buzz: Boom and Doom."

The Eagle did report on the destruction of parking associated with the City's plan for Downtown Brooklyn. As the article states:

The Parking IssueDuring a Q&A session, concerns about parking and the loss of some major parking lots were expressed....

With the Sheraton/Aloft, “we are lucky that the city is building an 800-car underground garage across the street [at Washington Square Park]. We see that as an ideal situation,” he said.

Very lucky indeed! Too bad the City's plans have led to decreasing parking– you might think that if the City hadn't encouraged the elimination of other parking lots that it wouldn't need eminent domain to build new parking... but I guess nobody raised that question.

(The Sheraton/Aloft hotels are rising across the street from the Abolitionist homes on Duffield, and "Washington Square Park" looks like an incorrect referrence to Willoughby Sqaure Park, the 1.15 acre grassy knoll that would sit on top of the site of the Abolitionist homes.)

Ironies abound in the Eagle article. For instance its says:

Gene Kaufman of Gene Kaufman Architects, who designed the combined Sheraton (with 325 rooms) and Aloft (175 rooms) on Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn. He believes travelers, especially foreign travelers are ready to see a different part of the city, are looking for a variation on their New York experience.
(emphasis added)

One might think the Duffield residents' plan for an Abolitionist museum would be a more attractive "variation" than the City's proposal of an underground parking lot.

City "announces" Duffield eminent domain hearing for 10/29

The City is moving forward with the next Eminent Domain public hearing for Duffield Street and Albee Square, and has scheduled it at the for time of Monday, October 29 at 10 am at City Tech (Jay Street and Tillary).

The short notice of this hearing and the failure to notify tenants and owners flies in the face of the spirit of transparent government. Please contact your NYC Council Representative to request time for the public to prepare for the hearing.

The City made some sort of huge mistake leading it to rescind its eminent domain decision, and it appears that it doesn't want anyone to examine this mistake carefully or to see if it was part of a larger problem. Please stay posted for updates.

Gothamist: Eminent Domain Lives...In Williamsburg

Gothamist writes on eminent domain all around town in "Eminent Domain Lives...In Williamsburg":

It's no secret that there's been an increase in use of the eminent domain power. High-profile projects that have resorted to it include Atlantic Yards, Willets Point in Queens, the Second Ave. subway project, the New York Times Building and Columbia's Manhattanville campus. All these takings have spawned a new term: eminent domain abuse.

This month, the city actually abandoned a plan to use eminent domain to secure properties for a parking garage and public plaza on a Duffield St. block in downtown Brooklyn - due to a technical oversight. Some of the homes were abolitionist homes involved in the Underground Railroad. While preservationists declared a victory, we're not really sure that the city is going to run away from this one just yet. In other words, another "blight" determination could be just around the corner.

Of course, the city did not "abandon" its plan to use eminent domain to destroy the Abolitionist homes on Duffield. They rescinded their eminent domain findings, and they have expressed their intention to continue pursuing their vision of a new underground parking lot on Duffield Street. We have reported on it here and here.

UPDATE: Gothamist has appended its post with a statement that I emailed regarding the term "abandoned." The City has scheduled a new eminent domain hearing on Monday Oct. 29 to continue with its plan to confiscate the properties.

Brooklyn Eagle: Withdrawal of Eminent Domain Findings Gives Hope

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle has published more details regarding the City's retraction of its eminent domain findings for Downtown Brooklyn. The eminent domain findings are required for the city to legally confiscate and demolish the Duffield Abolitionist homes and other properties threatened by the Downtown Brooklyn rezoning. In Withdrawal of Eminent Domain Findings Gives Hope to Duffield St. Preservationists, the paper reports:

Seth Donlin, spokesman for the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, said a blight determination that included the 21 lots on three blocks in Downtown Brooklyn in question was prepared for the department by environmental consulting firm AKRF in November 2003. But it was mistakenly not entered into public record at last May’s eminent domain hearing, requiring the reversal of the findings and a new public hearing scheduled for Oct. 29.

He said the blight determination would have to be obtained by making a formal Freedom of Information Law Request before it’s entered into public record.

“It is something that was produced specifically for the proceedings for eminent domain, and there is a specific time for which it is supposed to be made public,” he said. “Unfortunately, because of some oversight, it was not entered as it should have been [at the first hearing in May].”

Track Data, a financial firm with 150 employees; a rent-stabilized apartment building that houses 40 families; a handful of parking lots; and Amber Art and Music Space are also at risk of being displaced. Attorney Jennifer Levy, who represents one rent-stabilized tenant, and Joy Chatel, the partial owner of a home allegedly involved in the Underground Railroad, said she doesn’t believe there were any specific blight findings. Levy said the original urban renewal plan for Downtown Brooklyn found blight in very specific properties, but was later expanded to include a general area deemed blighted. This may not be substantive enough, in the eyes of the court, to justify the seizure of personal property. “I guess we’ll have to see what they have that they haven’t produced.”

“I was never briefed or given a copy of any blight study,” said Councilwoman Letitia James, a supporter of the Duffield Street homeowners.