CB 9 Transportation Committee Chairman Kenny Wilson on Tuesday night brought the board up to speed on the 101st Avenue pedestrian plaza.
Photo by Michael V. Cusenza
Aspects of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s affordable housing plan, and the latest developments surrounding the 101st Avenue pedestrian plaza dominated Tuesday night’s Community Board 9 meeting in Richmond Hill.
The board voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution regarding “Mayor’s Proposals and Laws re: Use and Occupancy of Basement and Attic Apartments.” Proposed by the board’s Land Use Committee, the resolution shows that CB 9 officially opposes legalizing basement and attic apartments, which is a tenet of de Blasio’s “Housing New York: A Five-Borough, Ten-Year Plan” to build and preserve 200,000 affordable units over the coming decade.
“There’s a problem here—we want to make sure this community is not a sitting duck,” said Sherman Kane, a member both of CB 9 and the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association, a civic organization that has been vehemently opposed to rampant legalization of basement and attic apartments since de Blasio unveiled his ambitious $41 billion plan in May. “We’re taking a stand, and that’s what we hope this resolution does.”
Additionally, CB 9 unanimously voted in favor of Board Member Joan DeCamp’s amendment to the resolution designating CB 9 a “relevant stakeholder,” which calls for the city to confer with the board before any “informal housing arrangements” are solidified.
“Legalizing unsafe basement apartments is not an acceptable solution,” DeCamp said.
In his monthly report to the board, CB 9 Transportation Committee Chairman Kenny Wilson said that, as promised, the city Department of Transportation restored eight parking spots at the pedestrian plaza on 101st Avenue at Drew Street and Liberty Avenue. However, DOT has not yet removed the “No Parking” signs near those spots.
Still, Wilson said it seems to be an improvement.
“They restored all the parking on the curbside that they could possibly restore,” he noted. “There’s more parking than before—[the area] actually gained spots.”
While it’s a start, said area business owner Hasib Ali, the parking-spot rollback is not enough. He said that businesses in the vicinity of the plaza continue to suffer because that portion of 101st Avenue is still a one-way road.
“I have lost everything almost,” Ali said before distributing a petition to all board members containing nearly 50 signatures, pleading with the DOT to return free parking and 101st Avenue to two-way traffic. “We need to open 101st Avenue. Please save our life and our business.”
By Michael V. Cusenza
