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....August 21, 11:19 AM |
| Queens On The Rise: Slated Hunters Point Project Draws Protest
By Noah C. Zuss Massive redevelopment on the Long Island City waterfront has begun to transform the Queens skyline from a rabble of old factories to a wall of shiny high-rise apartment buildings.
Now the City is going at it again. The next piece of land to be built on will be Hunter’s Point South, which is slated for a large residential tower adjacent to the already near-complete Queens West development. The proposed project has inspired protest and criticism, mainly surrounding what the definition of affordable housing will be. Concerned groups, including the Queens Affordable Housing Coalition, want people with lower incomes not to be shut out, and fault the City for using tax dollars to develop a project that most county residents cannot actually afford to live in. On Sunday, members of the Coalition and other housing advocates toured the site and are readying a protest Sept. 14. In a press release a coalition of concerned groups wrote: “The City has a plan to develop 5,000 new apartments on a large piece of public land on the waterfront in Long Island City. However, the City’s plan excludes the majority of local and Queens residents from this publicly funded project. Under the current plan, 40 percent of the units would be market rate or luxury and 60 percent would be affordable to families earning $60,000 to $160,000. The median family income in Long Island City is $44,000, and $48,000 for Queens, showing that the majority of Queens and Long Island City families would not be eligible to live in the new City-owned development. Queens for Affordable Housing, along with Community Board 2, are calling for an inclusive development, with a substantial allocation of units for low, moderate and middle income residents.” The event was organized by Community leaders and members from Queens for Affordable Housing, Queens Community House, Catholic Charities, Queens Congregations United for Action, Asian Americans for Equality, Centro Hispano Cuzcatlan and members of the Pratt Center for Community Development. Per capita income in the city is just $19,222 and about 12 percent of families and 15 percent of the population are below the poverty line, including 18.8 percent of those under age 18 and 13 percent of residents age 65 or older. |
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