Citing a court order, a group of activists on Thursday mounted a protest in front of a controversial Crown Heights high-rise development that led to a tense standoff with police officers and resulted in construction workers shutting down the site for the day.
"The police are allowing them to violate this temporary restraining order and demanding that we leave and that they stay. We’re not going anywhere!" cried Alicia Boyd, one of the main activists who was subsequently arrested along with several other protesters who had blocked a truck from leaving the site for about an hour. Roughly 15 police officers had descended on the scene, ordering demonstrators to disperse.
Last April, community members scored a rare legal victory, after a Brooklyn state Supreme Court judge issued a temporary restraining order on the project that specifically prohibited the pouring of concrete at the project site located at 931 Carroll Street, not far from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Opponents had sued the city and developer, arguing that the development, consisting of two 16-story residential towers, would cast harmful shadows over the garden and set a bad precedent in one of the fast-developing sections of Brooklyn. The court case, which is among several recent lawsuits that have galvanized anti-development activists, will likely have an impact on the ongoing zoning approval for another contested but more massive development near the Botanic Garden, known as 960 Franklin, which would create 1,578 units of housing in two roughly 39-story towers.
City officials have touted the two projects as answering New York City's critical need for affordable housing. In the case of 931 Carroll Street, 140 of the proposed 518 apartments are set to be below-market-rate. With 960 Franklin, half of the units would be deemed affordable.
Despite last year's court order, developer Carroll Plaza Development was still able to receive a permit this month to construct a new building from the Department of Buildings, who was also named as a defendant in the lawsuits. According to the community group Movement to Protect the People, workers at the site began excavating almost 10 feet of soil despite phone calls by their members to DOB complaining of the court order violation.
On Thursday morning, a handful of the project's opponents showed up at the site to protest. After the NYPD arrived, they pleaded with officers to halt construction, holding copies of the court decision.
"The court is the highest authority in New York City and yet the police department is ignoring the temporary restraining order and refusing to recognize it," Boyd said.
As with other recent rezoning battles, the issue has stoked fears in the community about the ongoing gentrification and displacement of low-income residents.
During the protest, one individual who would only identify himself as Robert began complaining about rising rents and landlords looking to push tenants out. At one point, he said, "You have the Jews riding around here offering people money to move out of their apartments so they can empty them out."
Asked about his comments, Boyd said he was not a member of the group organizing the protest. "He does not represent us," she said. "Those are his views."
She said that during the demonstration, several bystanders in the community saw what was happening and decided to join in. Robert, he said, is someone who lives near the development site. She said those who have been actively fighting the project have been a diverse group of Brooklyn residents representing many races and religions.
Andrew Rudansky, a DOB spokesperson, issued the following statement about project and the court order: “We properly issued permits to 931 Carroll Street, Brooklyn. The new building permits issued on January 7th, 2020, were renewals to permits that were initially issued in 2015. These permits were issued after a DOB review of the plans found them to be in compliance with the NYC Construction Codes and NYC Zoning Resolution. The Temporary Restraining Order did not prohibit permits being issued.”
A spokesperson for the city's Law Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Phone messages left for Carroll Plaza Development were not returned.
As of Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for the NYPD said there was no record of the arrests yet.
According to city property records, the firm purchased the lot in April 2019 for an undisclosed price. The Real Deal reported that it was sold for $10 million.
Similar to a closely-watched case in Inwood in which residents successfully sued over a controversial rezoning, residents in Crown Heights have alleged that the city failed in its obligations by opting not to perform an environmental review, which would have required the city to evaluate a host of possible effects the project would have on the surrounding community, such as air quality, neighborhood character, and socioeconomic conditions.
In the Inwood lawsuit, a state Supreme Court judge ruled that the city must go back and respond to the residents' environmental concerns. Mayor Bill de Blasio has vowed to appeal the decision.
This story has been updated to include comments from Alicia Boyd regarding one of the protesters seen in the video.
