We, the undersigned, are concerned community members who urge our elected officials and the NYC City Planning Commission to oppose the Long Island City Neighborhood Plan (OneLIC Plan). We have waited a long time for investment in our community, and this plan does not include nor benefit us–it pushes us out. We OPPOSE this plan because:

• This plan excludes Queensbridge (QB) Houses in the study area and did not authentically include QB residents in the process
• This plan excludes Ravenswood (RW) Houses in the context area and did not authentically include RW residents in the process
• This plan will lead to extremely tall luxury buildings all around QB that will obstruct residents’ rights to air and sunlight as a 6-story development
• By excluding QB and RW, this plan does not include true racial and economic demographics of the neighborhood
• Community engagement was not sufficient, authentic, or meaningful, especially for NYCHA residents

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We, members of the community, oppose this plan and DO NOT WANT REZONING. Rather, we ask for rehabilitation projects of current buildings, investment & capital repairs of Queensbridge Houses & Ravenswood Houses, building public community space, and constructing environmental resilience projects along the waterfront instead. Moreover, we ask to start the process all over again and implement authentic and meaningful engagement that genuinely incorporates our ideas and does not include rezoning.

We have watched the area of Queens Plaza and Hunter’s Point change from an area of neglect and disinvestment into an area of extreme wealth and commercialization. These areas are examples of inequitable development when the City prioritizes the desires of real estate developers and investors over the needs and dreams of Long Island City residents. 

As participants of numerous town halls from the very beginning, we witnessed “facilitation” tables that were often alienating, intimidating, and/or condescending, with no deep explanation of land use changes and discussion of implications by the Department of City Planning (DCP). This is particularly alarming, as the proposed development projects would literally leave Queensbridge Houses in the shadows, and expose thousands of families to years of hazardous construction conditions despite already existing poor air quality. It will also exacerbate racial and economic inequality, destroy the neighborhood character, and make Queensbridge more insular as price points for local business will increase and be inaccessible.

Furthermore, the ideas we, community members, frequently discussed–like public indoor recreational spaces, community industrial kitchens, urban farms to feed the community, a public pool, private 1-family homes to promote home ownership, more public green space and so much more–were not incorporated.

We made clear time and time again, we do not want or need any more high-rise market-rate rentals with sprinkles of “affordable” units that the majority of residents– and especially NYCHA residents–cannot access. We said utilize the public land for public good, rather than giving it to private developers. We said invest in public housing. We were ignored and told there is still time. However, ULURP has started and the clock is ticking.

We want to uplift plans that have been years-in-the-making from community groups were–specifically, the Western Queens Community Land Trust’s proposal for the DOE building at 44th Drive and Vernon Blvd and the Hunters Point North Vision Plan for Resiliency. Building large residential towers in an area located directly in a flood zone is dangerous and a waste of resources. Rather, this plan should reflect broad community support for alternative uses on the four publicly-owned sites on Anable Basin that center racial/economic and environmental justice.

As the OneLIC Neighborhood Plan currently stands, this proposal would exacerbate the effects of gentrification and make Queensbridge and Ravenswood even more insular and disconnected from the surrounding neighborhood. We oppose inequitable development. We oppose OneLIC.

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Organized by the Justice for All Coalition (JFAC)