Astoria, Queens has a storied history with real estate developers. In fact the neighborhood got its name after trying to woo mogul John Jacob Astor to invest in it.
This is a 𧔠about the recently approved Innovation Qnsâone of the largest housing projects Queens has seen
Conversation
Innovation Qns is a mega development spanning five blocks of mostly housing.
At the time it came before the City Planning Commission, the proposed idea was 2800 residential units with 25% of them being permanently affordable (the rest market rate).
Things changed.
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The local community is what changed it. There was pushback on affordability. Hereâs testimony from a local resident:
âIâve been living here in Astoria 26 years. I have 2 children. Everything going up: groceries, rent. If they make this building, itâs going to be worse for us.â
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Local organizing changed things. and organized on the ground pushing for the project to be more affordable.
The result?
3,400+ people signed a petition against it
565 people submitted testimony
Thousands of emails sent to the city council
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From the beginning, there were competing narratives.
One was that: âAstoria has already been gentrified. So how exactly would a new luxury development hurt?â
Hereâs a local resident who testified in favor of the project:
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And the other was that the project area is comprised of working class people of colorâwho cannot afford the luxury development prices this project initially offered.
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So what happened? The local council member, Julie Won, started negotiating with the city + developers.
The developers said: weâre only offering 25% of these units at affordable ratesđ€·
So the council member made clear she wouldnât approve it unless it had more affordable units
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Things got heated.
Even at one point local organizers published an op-ed demanding that the project include more affordable units or be rejected andâŠwell, Iâve already told yâall big real estate is a beast with many caving to itâand many not. đđŸ
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Intimidating & berating a local paper for running an op-Ed is unacceptable. Thank you @queenspost for being an honest reporting outlet and allowing the voices of the community to be heard. twitter.com/evie4us/statusâŠ
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In the end, after much pushing from the local organizers, residents and the council member, the project went from having only 25% of affordable units to 45%.
Thatâs a big deal.
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. interviewed Council Member Julie Won on this newly approved project and she describes how much it took to get to nearly half of the units at affordable rates.
âI have to say itâs bittersweet.â
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From where I sitâwhich is on the City Planning Commissionâthere are so many projects like this that have been approved, unchanged, despite community opposition.
The same measly affordable unitsâmany of which start at high incomes.
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What makes this one different is that the affordability nearly doubled (25 to 45%) AND it included very low incomes so that it wasnât left with a bunch of âaffordableâ apts for people making $80k and up.
That is all due to the work of the local organizers and the council member
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