New York Voices; 510; Waterfront

Time will tell if that's a turning point. It's a very big step forward toward reclaiming the abandoned waterfront that we've sat on for far too many years. We're at three to five story neighborhood 40 stories too tall. We're not Manhattan or Brooklyn. I think often the median vision of the rivers that surround the island is Obstacles a sort of negative space of our mind that's the other way around. I mean it's the water that's the positive stuff it's the water that is what you get from one place to another. Do your one voice at a time. Million you like places New York Voices is made possible by the members of 13 additional funding provided by Michael t MARTIN And Elise JAFFE And Jeffrey Brown. Welcome to YOUR VOICES. I'm Rafael you know for decades much of New York's waterfront has been known for its deserted warehouses collapsed Piers and empty lots. But recently the

Bloomberg administration has successfully pushed through several plans that will transform the city's edge in a few years. They'll be apartment towers stretching along Brooklyn shoreline. The office buildings here on Manhattan's West Side already will have a new landing site for ocean liners. Currently only seen in Manhattan but are these new developments the best use of this precious asset. Later in the program we'll take a boat tour of the city's historic harbor and we'll get a preview of the events being offered this month as part of the Cuban arts festival. But we begin with a look at the new plan to transform the north. The water from the Green Point Williamsburg waterfront is nearly half the size of Central Park stretching along two miles of the East River waterfront. The area was a world premier shipbuilding center in the 19th century. It later became home to breweries lumber companies Metal Works and sugar refineries. The six buildings of the Green Point Terminal Market once housed the American manufacturing

company which made rope and bagging it was the fifth largest employer in the city. But New York's economy started shifting away from industry more than 50 years ago. Today this area is mostly deserted. The popular residential areas of Williamsburg and Greenpoint are only a few blocks away. And yet strict zoning regulations dating from 1061 have kept it illegal to do anything but run factories here. But that's all about to change. Two days ago the city council approved a plan that will rezone most of this area for housing. There will also be 54 acres of new Parkland with a continuous public Esplanade along the river. It's being hailed as a major victory in the Bloomberg administration's push to transform the city's abandoned waterfront. But some community activists say the rezoning will destroy the character of their neighborhood. They're outraged particularly about the 40 story towers that the new zoning permits directly along the waterfront were three to five story neighborhood 40 stories to Tom.

That's tighten the lines bring up grades. We're not Manhattan or Brooklyn. Stephen Spinella is president of the Real Estate Board of New York which represents developers the city planning came in with a program here that doesn't just talk about 35 storey buildings. It talks about a waterfront promenade it talks about open space and it talks about a scaled down buildings. As you approach the existing buildings in Brooklyn away from the waterfront and the high buildings the answer is yes. Is it very dense. The answer is No. The rezoning also uses building size as a way to push developers to build affordable housing through a controversial set of rules called inclusionary zoning. Developers who include affordable housing in their plans are allowed to build about one third larger than what market rate developers can build. Brad lander is an affordable housing advocate based at the Pratt center. You'll make a lot more money we think you'll about double your return if you choose to build affordable housing.

Developers will also be eligible for a 25 year tax abatement and they can mix in other subsidies that are part of the Bloomberg administration's three billion dollar initiative to promote affordable housing. Are you permitted to build my great housing your permitted can you make money you can make money. Would you be foolish not to take the affordable housing is what you want to do is get the best deal. Yes Stephen Spinella agrees. He works with three of the five developers who have already purchased about 70 percent of the land in the Williamsburg Greenpoint waterfront. They include Jeff Levine and run Melissa corps among the most active low income housing builders in New York. The city expects that about one third of the 10000 apartments build on the site will be available at below market rates. The city's disagreements over affordable housing between the city and the council almost killed the entire rezoning plan. But the Bloomberg administration agreed to strengthen incentives for affordable housing while providing 24 million dollars in subsidies for manufacturing companies. The Green Point Williamsburg rezoning is similar to what was approved earlier this year for the Hudson Yards neighborhood on Manhattan's West Side

waterfront. Many of us who did not expect the Bloomberg administration to be strong on issues of affordable housing who saw when they came in all of these development plans tied to the Olympics and kind of glitzy new things but didn't hear about affordable housing in them have been surprised and pleased. They have become folks who have a strong plan to create affordable housing as they move to redevelop New York City. Schaffer landing is a residential development that's going up a few blocks from the area that's being rezoned. It's on the side of the old Schaefer brewery which in the 1980s was among the largest biar makers in the country. At 25 stories the building hints at what the area just north of here will look like in just a few years. I met with Julia Vitullo-Martin of the Manhattan Institute's Center for rethinking development on top of the construction site to talk about the rezoning plan. Julie is the rezoning plan for Green Point Williamsburg that was just passed by the city council. A good plan is an excellent plan. This is really a triumph for the Bloomberg administration. No previous mayor and administration had done what little

they did which is look across the river and say this is where development since below the firmament. I think 80 percent of what the city is doing here is right. I'm not in favor of this system by woods. Market rate tenants and developer pay for affordable housing units. I have substantially more faith in market forces and housing advocates and I believe that if New York put the energy into bringing down housing in a limb and needing costly regulations and doing something about our onerous labor contracts that overall construction costs would come down. But there's a building of a market rate units. Does anything for a poor person somebody who can't afford it. If we can reduce the regulation and permit market forces toward We have a chance of bringing down the prices of housing by increasing the supply

including for low and moderate income families. Is there a direct link between the size of the towers the fact that we're getting four storey towers and the fact that affordable housing is a key component of the development plan. Yes this is density. The pay for the affordable housing units. So. Because a developer is allowed to build a bigger denser building and get more market rate tenants he is required in exchange for that to build these affordable units. The link is but one of the idea of building size as a negotiating tool to Ty's affordable housing come into play I thought that the buildings were supposed to be determined by the appropriateness of the environment of the community and and this for study purposes. This is part of a phenomenon that was called derogatorily in the 1960s zoning for sale. The precedent for inclusionary

zoning in the affordable housing Plaza requirement in zoning developers were allowed to build far bigger buildings in exchange for providing a public plaza. The result is we have all of New York these dreadful the new derelict off and public in exchange for which developers got to build bigger buildings. So no we don't require the public anymore. The city asks for affordable housing units instead. This is a temporary requirement that these affordable units be provided 30 years from now. These units will be market rate but will still have and the community will still have the big buildings. But this is development where inclusionary zoning was still key to this it said. Now a precedent for other rezoning developments are going to be put on the table. Yes it sets a precedent. I hope the Bloomberg administration

will negotiate ferociously on this to maximize the number of market rate units that get built. But there's no question that this kind of arrangement is an entry to new market rate construction and that's bad. We want market reconstruction not less in New York. And taxes are going to interfere with additional supply. Now that being said nonetheless this area's going to become the gold coast of Brooklyn. So think of the alternative not getting the rezoning that would be disastrous. So do you think we finally turn the corner that this is the beginning of the transformation of the New York City waterfront. Yes I think it definitely is. For one thing you can get to the waterfront now you know it's funny how often in one of these debates you'll hear people say return the waterfront to the people. Well the fact is the people never had the water because the waterfront was an excessive eluded and dangerous

and accessible you know with a lot of that. So now what's happening is the city is actually giving us a water front that we never had and people are seeing how fabulous it is I mean how many people have been to the area where we are right now this it was inaccessible. You couldn't get to it. Brooklyn City Councilman David Yeah Skee oppose the Bloomberg administration's original rezoning plan and fought for stronger affordable housing incentives. I sat down with him to discuss the plan that was all timidly approved where I should say we're on a barge so if I was a little rocking and weaving that's because we're on the East River. Councilman you were among the most visible and vocal opponents of the mayor's original plan to rezone Greenpoint Williamsburg. What made you change your heart. Well the mayor's proposal had three major flaws. It had far too little open space not enough Parkland particularly on the waterfront. It didn't have a real realistic way of dealing with the loss of manufacturing

jobs that this rezoning will cause. But most important. It didn't have any guarantee of affordability and my goal was to make sure that a significant percentage of what's being developed here will be affordable to middle income and lower income families. We did get the plan changed so that that will happen. I say right now I support the plan wholeheartedly as it's finally solved because 33 percent of fully a third of the apartments to be built here will be affordable to low income and middle income families. You know a lot of your constituents who are opposed to the mayor's plan are opposed to it because they didn't want real tall buildings to be built on the waterfront. How do you respond to those constituents who say that you know you turn your back on their concerns. Well look if you're going to have affordable housing and you're going to use a big chunk of the waterfront for Parkland then the only way to finance the development is by allowing the buildings that will be built to be tall. And I think that's a compromise

worth making. When did a building size become a negotiating tool. For affordable housing isn't the idea actually that the size of a building should be determined by how appropriate they are for the environment for the neighborhood for the culture. Well the city planning department worked very hard to make sure that this development the waterfront development will not overwhelm the existing neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Williamsburg but with the zoning does is it puts the tallest buildings on the waterfront. And then as you get closer to the existing residential neighborhood the buildings have to come down in size dramatically so that when when we're right adjacent to the existing neighborhood they'll just be six stories. It was not a dramatic departure from what you have now. Councilman as I'm sure you know there was a study conducted in the mid 60s that showed that when homes are built at the top of the market more homes become available particularly at the bottom end of the market because through a series of chain reactions

cheaper apartments become available. Now some people say that this the natural filtering of the housing market is really the way to create affordable housing rather than through creating more red tape more restrictions more regulations how do you respond to that. That was the mayor's vision was basically let the market operate. All I can say is it's my experience I think really most New Yorkers know that the market left to its own devices just does not produce housing for middle income and low income families. But yeah I mean it it it seems to follow that if you create. More housing even if it's at the top end people will move in there and all the housing will be made available for people to move into those right now. If somebody has the opportunity to renovate do it turn what has been middle income smaller maybe apartments into big apartments that they can sell for eight hundred thousand nine thousand dollars which is what apartments go for

throughout now North Brooklyn. They're going to take that opportunity. The market left to its own devices just will not create the thousand dollar a month two bedroom that a family needs. Do you think that this deal will affect or mold every deal for rezoning that comes up in the future. I do. I think that now that communities throughout New York City understand that rather than just give away development rights which the city has been doing we can ask for something for the public to get out of the development rights like affordable housing. I think communities are going to want that. This is a rezoning deal a turning point for the city. Has the city finally begun the transformation of the waterfront. You know time will tell if it's a turning point. It's a very big step forward toward reclaiming the abandoned waterfront that we've sat on for far too many years. I certainly hope it's a turning point in that I hope it's not the last of this kind we do. We've got a lot more waterfront that we can revitalize here

more here in Brooklyn. Certainly in Queens in the Bronx. I hope it's only the first big step toward that. You know four of the five boroughs in New York are islands a fact that most New Yorkers only consider when there's a tie up on a bridge or tunnel. But for thousands of others the rivers bays and estuaries of the city are their passion and their livelihood. They see the city as an intricate maze of waterways with some land in between. And once a year they share the history and hidden sights of the New York Harbor with the rest of us. We call our tours hidden Harbor tours because we go places that we go to the bases in the backwaters and the creeks you know the tugboat ships loaded that you wouldn't see if you got out right now. Port side going past us Jipson which is a plant that went out of business in the last century shores around this island are great because you learn about the

history of the city and we focus on things totally different. We focus on the working water from the container ports gradually moved away from Manhattan to Brooklyn to Staten Island and a large number of them to the jersey. We will go by at least one container port this morning I want to play her part. It really wouldn't now. So we decided it was a secret that needed to be shared. The hidden Harbor tour is scheduled each year to celebrate National Maritime Day. This year it will occur on May 21st. The price of a tour is $5. It's a mystery to me why this only happens one day or I hope that we can arrange it so it's much more frequent. We wanted it from the very inception to be inexpensive we didn't want a mother of three or four kids to think twice about being able to come down and go on this trip. You know there are lots of things for tourists to do. I mean the Circle Line Tours and that sort of thing to

take the Staten Island Ferry. But this trip this tour is really for New Yorkers it's for people who live here for people who need to know more about their city deserve to know more about their city. Pier 57 is the last intact two sided cargo and passenger handling here on the West Side of Manhattan is very significant for that reason. It will be developed they leased the interior and the rough in some manner their various proposals for it. This city was really a third rate city until 18 25 in the Erie Canal. And when the port really started to be I mean everything that is here everything that we stem from everything comes from the port that's what New York has always been about. And she continues a very important port city. A lot of that activity is now containerized So it's a lot less romantic. They don't understand how active the harbor still is and that living activity the stuff that's still going on the actual working harbor is really important for our heritage is really important remember that it's a fraction of what it was but it's

one that I think I'm absolutely vital tied to our past where we're from what we're all about. The tours will be guided by people who have spent their lives studying or working on the water people who work on the harbor who know all the stories that nobody knows about and they laughed at what the hidden Harbor tour is actually three tours each exploring a different area. But rain or shine this is a behind the scenes look at what makes a city work on the water. Depending on which tour you are on obviously you'll get to see the North River as the proper name for the lower Hudson and have a lot explain about what's going on both with Hudson your park the sorc vessels that are in at the history of that waterfront again killed on call. Just too cool for words. Erie Basin named Erie Basin because it was a major trans shipment point for things coming from the earth you know. Also the place we go to swim. Cleanest water in the harbor is an Erie Basin. Nobody knows why but it's true. On the Brooklyn tour one of places we visit is a graving dock which is a dry dock for ships.

And here evasion that's being developed except for one thing is that their plan is to fill in the graving dock and put a parking lot on top so that's not a a use of the waterfront that we think is at all appropriate. That's a big concern and that's a concern across the harbor. Not just there but everywhere. I envision and a lot of us who are on the water a lot in vision New York in a totally different way than people do who are stuck on the beach. I mean I think often we envision the rivers that surround the island as obstacles a sort of negative space but in our mind that's the other way around. I mean it's the water that's the positive stuff it's the water that is the way you get from one place to another the way the island looks the Manhattan the way the city's waterfront all the boroughs looks is totally different from the water and it's Couldn't be a more instructive thing for New Yorkers more than tourists but for New Yorkers to get out of the water see their city from the water and you know this is the way it was originally seen by the very first people who came here. This is the way it was seen for most of our history the way you got around and it's vital I think that we

all get a chance to see. Gregory called Bahr has spent the past 13 years shooting people embracing elephants and children snuggling with cheetahs when no one would pose with a sperm whale Kober dove in and his assistant took the pictures. Those are the world's largest carnivores. So since their tongue weighs the same as an elephant and I have a couple hundred pounds of cheese. There was a certain reluctance of some of my colleagues to go and there is a method to cull Bear's madness. He wants people to revere animals so if you have a pet the trust of a human being an elephant a whale of you can get extraordinary things. So Bear wanted to show his wild kingdom in an environmentally friendly place. So he built his own museum by recycling containers normally used for shipping the

shipping containers it's an example of restorative architecture taking things that people would discard and then try to make something beautiful out there just hope the exhibit inspires people to turn over a new leaf and feel a greater kinship with nature. He knows it's an uphill battle if we choose not to change the way we see nature than this will be a requiem rather than the celebration of living nature. When people think of Cuban Americans they're likely to think of Miami or maybe New Jersey. But you know Cubans have had a long relationship with New York City as well. In fact for the entire month of May Cuban artist from New York and from around the world will have the opportunity to showcase their paintings photographs films poetry music in countless venues around the city. It's all part of the Cuban art festival which will be mostly free and open to everyone. The Cuban Artists Fund is one of the two principal organizations sponsoring the Cuban arts festival.

Its chair Ben Rodriguez companions and other second generation Cuban Americans decided to organize this very ambitious project in order to reconnect with their roots and to share their culture with Cubans and non-Cubans alike. I spoke with Bennett exit art one of the venues of the festival for the arts festival features Cuban-American artist whose work constitutes some of the sharpest criticism of the Cuban government. You feature artists who recently defected from Cuba in search of artistic freedom artists in Cuba who are considered subversive to the Cuban government an artist from Cuba who are not considered subversive to the Cuban government. What is the thread that ties all these diverse artists together into one common culture. It's the the talent that the artists possess. But I think that every one of them is. Famous in their own right. Both emerging and even established. Oh

let's talk about some of the events that have already taken place. For example the Cuban jazz concert that kicked off the arts festival. How does that become part of the festival. Well we have about 18 partnering organizations in the festival and our main partner we do the sort of really has been a tremendous help. But organizations that run everything from are in general Cuban cultural center Art America opera projects. They really run the gamut. And the committee really decides on really putting the festival together. Talk to me a little bit about before night falls a little bit about the origins of this. The book is based on three now do it in us which was a he was a very famous Cuban writer won many prizes came to New York lived in New York for about 10 years before he died of AIDS.

Thank you but he was a Cuban he was a dissident he was actually jailed. It's almost like the right as well as of this isn't correct. Correct. Talk about some of the things that are coming up tomorrow. A film by I want to close a rather well-known road to Super 8 What are the last of us. He's got a documentary on the on the hills on fire What's a gun in the hands of fires a documentary of a very famous Cuban musician I came to United States and really influenced a lot of jazz genres here in the United States and I think he's now and it's maybe 90 years old or certainly still play still play still playing strong. Right now we're makes it art.

Yes this is a venue for some Talk to us about what's here. Art we have three Cuban photographers husband and wife team Nelson and another photographer named Picard of the alias Nelson photographs depict the May Day rally. Q But on the plus side of it with the monument in the background but really a lot of attention being paid to the work detail so workers rallied and they really kind of document the cleanup detail around the rally which is very interesting because the owner says also his work is just it's beautiful the blue colors are somewhat architectural images that come out in photographs. It's based on a book which is a Braille version of one of Castro's speeches on the history will absolve me. Now there's an exhibit down at art in general it is there just like the service of the fact that there's an exhibit are in general of artists who lives in Cuba. CASADO does this wonderful work on glass very

detail actual actually also has received excellent reviews. So we're very happy what unfortunately we have not been able to bring artists from Cuba at this time around. But we have their work on them so what's the best that we can do to make this as comprehensive as possible. You know what are our festival like this. It's a similar thing anywhere else in the world. I don't think that there is I really don't. I think that you know New York is unique in its ability to be able to put something like this together. Number one because we have the Cuban community in New York does have very deep roots all the way back door so much into festival that probably couldn't take place in Miami and it probably didn't take place in Havana right now given the situation. So not only is there not another art festival like this probably in the world it could only happen in New York I think so. And that's it for this edition of YOUR VOICES. I'm Rafael Romo. For more on this or any other New York Voices program go on to our website at 13 dot org. Thanks for watching.

We'll see you next week. New York Voices is made possible by the members of 13 additional funding provided by Michel Martin and Elise JAFFE And Jeffrey Brown.