{ "type": "rich", "version": "1.0", "provider_name": "Action Network", "provider_url": "https://actionnetwork.org", "html": "
", "author_name": "Queens Housing Justice", "author_url": "https://actionnetwork.org/groups/queens-housing-justice", "title": "Astoria is Not For Sale!", "thumbnail_url": "https://actionnetwork.org//images/generic_facebook.jpg", "description": "Vote NO on rezoning south Steinway/Northern Blvd for Innovation QNS We are Astoria and Western Queens residents who strongly oppose the proposed development of Innovation QNS. We do not want mega-developers to irreversibly alter our neighborhood from lower- to medium-density apartment buildings and smaller, multi-family homes to luxury, out-of-scale high-rises. We are a community of mainly middle- and low-income families and residents, many immigrants, and concerned neighbors, and this development would greatly exacerbate gentrification and displace so many of our neighbors. We object for many reasons, among them the following: · The effect high-rise, “market-rate,” luxury apartment complexes will have on our neighbors, raising area rents and eventually property taxes, pushing out local residents. We already have an affordability crisis, with about half of Astoria residents already considered rent-burdened. · The capacity burden on local, public resources. As one example, the Steinway train station is already very busy and crowded during rush hour. Adding 6700 more commuters would be outrageous. The development plans to add 1500 parking spaces, inevitably attracting more cars to an area that already has poor air quality and substantial traffic. · The majority of jobs promised are temporary and the permanent ones are in the lower-paying service sector. They offer little to no long-term economic security and empowerment for local residents. · The commercial space promised is an empty and unnecessary offer; Steinway Street has vacant storefront after vacant storefront. (Forty vacancies on a five-block stretch.) Many of our small business owners are already threatened by rising local rents, and a shiny, new mega-development aimed at higher-rent-paying tenants will not fix that. This project will push more local mom-and-pops out while landlords speculate. · The massive shadows cast by the complex – four buildings are 20+ stories, seven are 15+ - are unwanted by existing neighbors, and the high-rise towers are in complete dissonance with the neighborhood at large. The lowest residential tower is still taller than almost every structure in Astoria at 8 stories. Clearly, the developers care not an ounce about our neighborhood’s existing aesthetic, history and personality. · This project is the continuation of harmful practices by developers that have threatened and displaced residents across the city. We resent the actions and rhetoric these developers have taken and used, calling the area dormant and not renewing the leases for businesses that were recently and are currently there, many of which employed blue collar, immigrant workers. We demand more respect for our community and neighbors. We don’t want to hand our neighborhood over to billionaire developer Larry Silverstein or real estate investment firms, whose actions and political contributions bolster over-development of NYC’s neighborhoods at any cost, while middle- and low-income New Yorkers ultimately pay the price. What do we want? Real affordable housing (not MIH bare minimums in price and quantity!) that meets local residents’ needs and incomes, not “market-rate” rent inflation; well-paying, long-term union jobs, aimed at employing and empowering our local community; publicly-owned green spaces that are truly designed to be enjoyed by all; investment in our existing businesses and spaces on Steinway; and new construction that complements the neighborhood, not defies and erases it.", "url": "https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/astoria-is-not-for-sale" }