Judge Grants Coalition’s Application to Halt Implementation
BROOKLYN — The New York State Supreme Court has granted a stay of the city’s controversial plan to rezone the 30-acre site known as the Broadway Triangle on the borders of Williamsburg, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick.
Justice Emily Jane Goodman granted the Broadway Triangle Community Coalition’s application to halt the plan’s implementation, according to Marty Needelman, the group’s attorney along with Shekar Krishnan.
At press time Wednesday, the coalition and its lawyers were planning a press conference to discuss the case on the steps of the Manhattan Supreme Court, Needelman said.
The coalition’s lawsuit asserts that the rezoning action and associated transfer of what they say is the largest city-owned site in the area to two politically connected groups — United Jewish Organization of Williamsburg (UJO) and Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council — and the exclusionary process that led to those actions, violate the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution, federal and state civil rights laws, the federal Fair Housing Act, the city charter’s Uniform Land Use Review Process, and state and city Environmental Quality Review Laws.
The stay was granted almost 24 hours after the City Council approved the rezoning and the land transfer, despite appeals from Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Council Member David Yassky, Needelman noted.
The Broadway Triangle Community Coalition is made up of 40 community organizations, including major housing and community organizations. Coalition Chair Juan Ramos condemned the rezoning proposal “as nothing more than a cheap political deal having been made at the expense of the bulk of the Latino, Hasidic and African-American communities of the affected neighborhoods.”
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Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net