East New York plan could be blueprint for preventing gentrification in Buffalo

The New York City Council recently adopted rezoning plans for the East New York neighborhood in Brooklyn. A New York Times’ editorial has characterized the legislative action as “saving a New York neighborhood from gentrification” – that is, preventing the involuntary displacement of poor and working-class residents from a community where they have social and historical roots.

But Mayor Bill de Blasio’s anti-gentrification initiatives in East New York and the adjoining Cypress Hills neighborhood are not without controversy. While de Blasio has called his plan “a new contract with our communities,” local activists insist that the newly enacted measures do not go far enough to protect current low-income residents from displacement. According to the Coalition for Community Advancement:

“There is a risk of mass gentrification and displacement. The new units are not targeted at current East New York households. These changes will be of no benefit to many of the current neighborhood residents, for whom newly built housing remains out of reach.”

Whether or not praise for the anti-gentrification program for the Brooklyn neighborhood is overstated or premature, the existence of the plan, and the controversy surrounding it, can play a constructive role in Buffalo, New York’s second-largest city. The East New York plan provides a meaningful framework for a long-delayed discussion regarding involuntary residential and business displacement in the so-called Queen City, considered the third-poorest major city in the United States.

Despite having spent the past 6 or 7 years drafting a new zoning and development ordinance for the city of Buffalo – the “Buffalo Green Code” - the administration of Mayor Byron Brown has shamefully shied away from assessment of the potential gentrification impacts the proposed land use regulations. The draft environmental impact statement prepared for the Green Code by the mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning – accepted without any change by Buffalo’s Common Council in February– fails to address or acknowledge the issue of gentrification and involuntary displacement of low-income residents when new development brings more affluent individuals to an existing neighborhood.

A different approach was taken by the de Blasio administration. Although New York City’s Planning department ultimately concluded that the proposed rezoning was not expected to result in significant adverse impacts as a result of gentrification, the final environmental impact statement for the East New York rezoning plan includes a detailed analysis of the potential for both direct and indirect displacement of residents and businesses.

Buffalo’s proposed Green Code, now under consideration by its Common Council, does not contain any measures meant to ameliorate the undesirable impacts associated with gentrification.

In contrast, Mayor de Blasio’s recently adopted “East New York Community Plan” – which includes a zoning proposal, strategies for housing and affordable housing, opportunities for business and growth, and plans for new and improved community services – contains many tools intended to save the Brooklyn neighborhood from gentrification. These include a mandatory inclusionary housing policy requiring developers to set aside up to 30 percent of units in new buildings for low-rent tenants; a preservation fund to protect the neighborhood’s dwindling stock of one- and two-family homes; and a commitment to set aside some of the new commercial spaces for discounted rates for local entrepreneurs – among other measures.

These policies may not all be workable in Buffalo, or appropriate for inclusion in the proposed Buffalo Green Code. But they provide an excellent starting point for discussion and analysis by Buffalo’s Common Council, residents and business leaders as the Queen City moves closer toward preparation of a “final” environmental impact statement, and a decision on whether to adopt, modify, or reject the proposed zoning and development ordinance.

There is no logical reason for Buffalo’s belated anti-gentrification discussion to only consider the measures adopted for East New York. Fairness dictates that effective steps be developed to ensure that the number of new housing units characterized as “affordable” are actually affordable – a key concern for many New York City housing advocates – and accessible to Buffalo’s low-income families. And consideration should be given to other potential anti-displacement measures, such as these new tax policies and programs promoted by Brooklyn’s Coalition for Community Advancement, which include lower water and sewer fees for low-income homes and a tax abatement to owners of two- and four-person homes that rent to low-income tenants.

The timing of New York City’s approval of the East New York community plan – in the midst of the final stages of Buffalo’s assessment of the proposed Green Code – may be a coincidence. But it provides an excellent opportunity for Queen City politicians to do the right thing for its low-income residents and struggling neighborhoods.

Arthur Giacalone is a Buffalo-based land use lawyer who comments about development issues on his blog, WithAllDueRespectBlog.com.