Christina Chase has lived in NYCHA’s Ravenswood Houses for more than 20 years. The Ravenswood Residents Association vice president says she’s witnessed western Queens go through a massive transformation.
Now, after the City Council voted to rezone Long Island City, Chase fears the surrounding neighborhoods will get more and more unaffordable.
What You Need To Know
On Wednesday, the City Council approved the OneLIC Neighborhood Plan to rezone Long Island City
The plan would effectively change the community’s waterfront, allowing for more residential development in a 54-block area that is currently mostly commercial and industrial
It’s set to create nearly 15,000 new housing units, about 4,300 of which would be affordable. It would also add commercial industrial space, creating 14,000 new jobs in the area
“The 2001 rezoning, you know, they didn’t heal the human suffering. They just pushed it further away,” Chase said. “We see investment all around us, but not within us, especially as NYCHA residents.”
“To see millions and billions of dollars literally be spent all around us while we still struggle to have heat and just the basic things to live in dignity, it’s really heartbreaking,” she added.
On Wednesday, the City Council approved the OneLIC Neighborhood Plan, which would effectively change the community’s waterfront, allowing for more residential development in a 54-block area that is currently mostly commercial and industrial.
It would also clear the way for taller buildings.
“There’s going to be increases in commercial space, as well as a residential,” Councilmember Julie Won said. “Foot traffic, in an area that is currently completely barren right now.”
The city says the rezoning would create nearly 15,000 new housing units, about 4,300 of which would be affordable. It would also add commercial industrial space, creating 14,000 new jobs in the area — something residents along the waterfront are looking forward to.
“I like to hear that we’re adding jobs, and hopefully good-paying jobs,” Long Island City resident George Debolt said. “Jobs that are beyond minimum wage, because again, it’s about the working class in this city.”
The OneLIC plan includes more than $200 million to upgrade community facilities and fix plumbing issues at NYCHA’s Queensbridge Houses.
But Chase says the investment isn’t enough, especially given the environmental and financial impact on longtime residents.
“I’m still here. I’m still here in public housing, because there’s nowhere else that’s affordable for me to raise my family,” she said. “And I want to raise my son where I grew up. I’m born and raised in Queens, but I want better conditions for him, and if the city can’t give it to me, then I gotta leave.”
The city says it will work with local stakeholders to establish a community oversight committee that will aim to ensure all of the promises in the rezoning plan are implemented.