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Sept. 9, 2024 By Shane O’Brien
A coalition of community organizations dedicated to bringing affordable housing to Long Island City will hold a community sleepout on Saturday to propose an alternative to the city’s One LIC neighborhood plan.
Western Queens Community Land Trust, LIC Coalition and the Hunters Point Community Coalition will hold the sleepout at 44th Drive and Vernon Boulevard on Saturday, Sept. 14, starting at 5:30 p.m. and continuing through sunrise on Sept. 15.
The sleepout is also a potluck event, with attendees encouraged to bring a dish to share or an instrument to jam with. Anyone planning on sleeping overnight is advised to bring a tent and bedding to sleep in.
The coalition is demanding 100% affordable housing that is not located in a flood zone as part of any plans for Long Island City. It also argues that any city-owned sites along the LIC waterfront should be used for sustainable parkland and a school. The coalition is further demanding that the Department of Education Building at 44-36 Vernon Blvd. be converted into the Queensboro People’s Space.
The sleepout is part of the coalition’s plans to “fight for a more equitable and sustainable waterfront.”
Lisa Goren of the LIC Coalition said the One LIC neighborhood plan does not address affordability or sustainability in the neighborhood enough.
The plan has put forward a number of proposed zoning changes and aims to introduce 16,000 new housing units, at least 4,000 of which will be affordable, and 16,000 new jobs across different sectors.
The Department of City Planning (DCP) says the plan will also create 7-9 acres of public space on the LIC waterfront, several new schools, safer streets, support for existing businesses and protection for existing tenants.
Goren, however, contended that the DCP plan is based primarily on upzoning, which involves changing zoning laws to allow for increased development in a certain area, and added that many of the proposed sites for new developments were located on a flood plain.
“It doesn’t do what it needs to do,” Goren said. “It’s talking about resiliency. It’s talking about open space. It’s talking about parkland along the waterfront. It’s talking about access and job creation and it’s talking about affordability and equity, but it’s not really doing those things.”
She said Hurricane Sandy had showcased how vulnerable the LIC waterfront is to flooding and said any new development has to be built behind the floodplains. She also said any resiliency plans for the neighborhood must use parks and open space to build resiliency along the waterfront.
Goren also believes that LIC does not have the infrastructure or resources to cope with the number of new housing units being proposed in the One LIC plan and added that the plan does not propose adequate measures to deal with such a significant increase in developments.
“The neighborhood doesn’t have the services to support those units,” Goren said. “Long Island City is third-lowest among neighborhoods in the city for per capita open space. And with every new high rise, that percentage comes down.”
She said the sleepout will take place at the low point of flooding and near the Department of Education building that the coalition demands is converted into a community space.
“The protest aims to push the Department of City Planning to be more open about what they’re trying to do, which we think is really just about zoning and upzoning,” Goren said. “We want to stress that upzoning is a gift to developers. It gives them more heightened density, millions of dollars in added value and there are almost no givebacks to the community.”
She said the coalition is not against upzoning, but that any changes to zoning laws must come with a number of requirements, including that all new developments be built behind the floodplain and that developers should give back to the community in terms of services, infrastructure and open space.
“We don’t want new buildings to further reduce the per capita open space in the neighborhood.”
Goren said it is imperative that any efforts to improve resiliency along the LIC waterfront are carried out correctly, adding that true resiliency requires setbacks, elevation and natural habitats that help to absorb water during floods.
She said high sea walls will be required if resiliency is not improved correctly, completely blocking access to the waterfront.
“That’s not what we want. We want beautiful open space that actually serves to protect the neighborhood and gives the neighborhood the access that it needs, the open space that it needs.”
Goren said she hopes the sleepout will help raise awareness about the coalition’s proposals for the neighborhood and put pressure on the DCP to incorporate some of them into the One LIC plan.
“They’ve adopted much of our language,” she said. “We want them to adopt our proposals, not just the language around the proposals.”
Anyone interested in attending Saturday’s sleepout or anyone who needs help securing a tent or bedding is asked to email info@wqclt.com.
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