Bushwick is unique among New York City neighborhoods for many reasons, but one thing in particular about our home has generated lots of interest recently: our community plan.
The Bushwick Community Plan (BCP) is an effort by a coalition of city policy makers, urban planners and Bushwick community members to involve the public in deciding what changes will come to our neighborhood as the area continues to rapidly evolve.
Locals have contributed valuable insight at many BCP meetings over the past several years, and have helped establish that the plan should preserve the scale of residential housing on the neighborhood’s side streets while creating opportunities for developers to bring higher density buildings to the neighborhood’s major corridors.
The plan has principles in common with community land trusts, a type of nonprofit citizen stewardship organization that New York City lawmakers have recently embraced, and the community members who help steer the BCP include many locals with strong track records of affordable housing and tenant’s rights advocacy.
The plan is also subject to the same vulnerabilities that can affect any project requiring collaboration between many groups. This past fall, a scheduled Bushwick Community Plan Summit was abruptly called off after a group of activists that included Bushwick City Council member Antonio Reynoso shut down a Department of City Planning meeting regarding historically controversial development at the intersection called the Broadway Triangle.
Whether the cancellation of the meeting was political or not, it seems that it is now back on the table: the Bushwick Community Plan Summit has been rescheduled and will take place on Saturday, Feb. 11 from 11 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at the Ridgewood Bushwick Youth Center.
Significant efforts have been made to make the meeting inclusive and convenient: a light breakfast and lunch will be served, Spanish translation will be available in real time and childcare will be available. Youth are especially encouraged to attend.
To R.S.V.P. or request additional information about the event, the public can email Bushwickplanning[@]gmail.com or call the offices of either of Bushwick’s City Council representatives.
The office of Council Member Reynoso, whose district is pictured here and includes parts of Williamsburg, Bushwick and Ridgewood, can be reached at (718) 963-3141, and the office of Council Member Espinal, whose district is pictured here and includes parts of Cypress Hills, Bushwick, City Line, Ocean Hill, Brownsville and East New York, can be reached at (718) 642-8664.
We’ll see you there, Bushwick!
Featured image: Bushwick residents rally to protest unfair housing practices in April 2015. Photo by Alonzo Maciel for Bushwick Daily.