Mayor Adams joined union workers Wednesday to rally support for a proposed affordable housing development in the Bronx that has attracted stiff opposition from local residents - including the area's Council member, who holds major sway over whether the project will come to fruition.
The development on Brucker Boulevard in Throggs Neck, which would involve erecting four new buildings, can only see the light of the day if the Council agrees to rezone the area to allow for taller construction.
Appearing on the City Hall steps with members of two labor unions who would help build the project, Adams said it should be a no-brainer for the Council to green-light the rezoning. Data from the New York Housing Conference shows the Council district that the project would be developed in has only produced 58 affordable apartments since 2014 - and the Bruckner plan would usher in 168 new ones, along with 181 market-rate units, Adams said.
"This is the right equation. There's no reason we're pushing back on this," the mayor said to cheers from the 32BJ SEIU and Laborers' Local 79 workers. "We want an affordable city, and it starts with housing ... We're losing our talent, we're losing our people, we're losing our city because it's too expensive here."
Mayor Eric Adams (Shawn Inglima/)
While Adams hailed the Bruckner plan, Bronx Councilmember Marjorie Velazquez, who represents Throggs Neck, was inside City Hall grilling representatives for the developer of the proposed project at a Zoning Subcommittee hearing.
"For a proposal to garner my approval, it must be centered on improving the lives and well-being of my neighbors. And it must be done by and for my community," said Velazquez, who has stated she would vote against the plan as it stands.
The Council has historically operated under the "member deference" mantra on zoning issues, meaning most of the body's lawmakers typically vote with a neighborhood's local representative on whether to advance any given proposal. That gives outsize power in the Bruckner beef to Velazquez, who has sided with local residents concerned that the project could put pressure on existing infrastructure systems and alter the character of the low-rise neighborhood.
City Councilmember Marjorie Velazquez speaks in Midtown Manhattan on Aug. 18, 2022. (Pacific Press/)
Velazquez has also voiced skepticism about the fact that the project's developers, Throggs Neck Associates LLC, did not involve the carpenters union in their plan.
Joe Geiger, executive secretary of the District Council of Carpenters, echoed Velazquez's critique Wednesday and said any Bruckner rezoning that doesn't involve his union is unacceptable.
"We urge all Council members to follow Councilwoman Velazquez's lead and vote no on the Bruckner Rezoning unless all projects are built with union labor," Geiger said.
Dozens of constituents from Velazquez's district testified at the Zoning Subcommittee hearing, both in favor and in opposition of the rezoning.
The Council became required to consider and vote on the Bruckner plan because the City Planning Commission, which is partially made up of mayoral appointees, approved it last month. It's unclear how soon a vote in the Council could take place.
In addition to new housing, the project would pave the way for a new supermarket in the area.
Tafadar Sourov, a Local 79 laborer and union organizer who lives in Velazquez's district, said his neighborhood desperately needs both more affordable apartments and a new supermarket. The Bruckner rezoning, Sourov said, would thereby be a step in the right direction.
"It can only do good for the community," he said.