We thought we'd try a little something different here on the blog today. Introducing our first ever photo narrative story. We'll show you photos and go through what happened last night as Community Board 7 voted to conditionally approve of the Related Companies' plan to turn the Kingsbridge Armory into a mall. Let us know what you think.
All photos by Adi Talwar.
Held at the Bronx Library Center on Kingsbridge Road, the meeting was nearly packed by the time things got started at 6:30 p.m. The people in the green shirts were employess from the Morton Williams supermarket chain. There were a little more than 50 of them. They were there to tell the board members to vote against the project because Related plans to put a 60,000-square-foot supermarket into the Armory basement. Morton Williams reps say a giant supermarket will force them to close their two Bronx stores, fire at least 125 employees and move their headquarters out of the borough.
Members of the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance told board members to vote down the project because there was no Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) in place and the developer had not shown a commitment to giving back to the community. Instead of voting yes with conditions, KARA told them to vote no with conditions. 
Toward the end of the night, Cynthia O'Neal-Riley (left) said she empathized with the supermarket workers who might lose their jobs and ultimatelty voted against the project. Long-time board member John Franco (right) voted in favor of the project. 
Vernon Jones of Man Up, a Brooklyn nonprofit organization, told board members to vote against the project, saying that Related doesn't care about the community whatsoever. "They don't care if people are being murdered in the street." Jones said his organization regretted signing into a Community Benefits Agreement with Related for its plans to expand the Gateway Mall project in East New York, Brooklyn. (Related is also opening a mall at the Bronx Terminal Market called Gateway.) Related lawyer Jesse Masyr called Jones' comments "regrettable" and "ridiculous" and said Man Up was supposed to do job training programs as part of the Brooklyn Gateway expansion.
Another woman, named Susan Mendoza, who said she was involved with the CBA negotiations at Related's Bronx Gateway project, said she dropped out of the process because it lacked any real community involvement.
Just before the board voted, Council member Oliver Koppell (pictured with an aide) told board members to vote yes, with conditions, because it would give them the best chance to have input in the process going forward. If you vote no, he said, "that's all Council members like myself will remember." 
Following Koppell, local Assemblman Jose Rivera told board members to do the exact opposite. He told them to vote no and by doing so, they would send a message to City Hall and let big developers know that the community "wanted development, but that they have to develop with us."
After a vigorous discussion, board members voted to adopt an amendment to their list of conditions that stated the board would encourage Related to bring in a supermarket with a vast array of organic food options. After the vote, Morton Williams reps angrily stormed out of the meeting, but not before yelling at board members and telling them they just caused the loss of hundreds of quality Bronx jobs. Later board members said they simply wanted more options and that a new supermarket in the Armory could co-exist with the Morton Williams. 
Dozens of youth activists, most of them supporters of KARA, were escorted out of the hearing by police when community board officials said they were being disorderly.
The expulsions and the departure of the supermarket workers meant only a few community members as well as representatives from Related (back row) and the city (back, standing) were left to witness the final vote.
Helene Hartman (center) voted against the project, saying she didn't have much confidence that the developer would deliver on some of its vague promises to offer more community benefits.
Enrique Vega (right) voted for project, saying he and other board members had weighed the issue from all sides and determined going forward with conditions was the best course of action. He added that the audience and speakers were not persuasive and that they didn't represent the opinion of the greater "community."
In the end, board member Andrew Laiosa voted against the project, saying "It's a matter of details. There's no requirement for [Related] to do anything. They can turn it anything they want." Earlier, Laiosa tried to bring up an amendment that would require Related to produce living wage jobs ($10 an hour, plus benefits) at the Armory, but was shot down by Chairman Greg Faulkner, other board members and a representative of the borough president's office who said they would take up the living wage issue during Community Benefits Agreement talks later in the land review process.
Faulkner (right, with board member John Harris in the background) said he was confident the board had done the right thing. "Saying no would have been popular and it probably would have felt good. But we felt voting yes with conditions gave us the best shot to have a say in the process going forward."
It is obvious that this community board has been corrupted.
ReplyDeleteI was sitting in the back of the room and heard
the testimony of every single speaker. This community board
has done a great disservice to the community. They refused to
set living wages as a condition for the development. They also
guaranteed the closing of the Morton Williams Associated
supermarkets after 50 years of service to the community. I can't
believe how selfish the community board was. The overweight man
in the front spoke about how he wanted a Costco and couldn't care less
about his neighbors. This is a dark day for the Bronx. First we lose
the Stella Doro factory to Ohio and now this. I hope the elected
officials care more about the community than the so called
disgrace of a community board.
I couldn't agree with the person above anymore. Why aren't people willing to take a stand and give us something so basic as living wages? I hope the Borough President and the City Council do the humane thing.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, the picture narrative is cool and unique.
I am confused. Why would CB7 want a disgusting store like the
ReplyDeletePathmark on 125th Street? I will be so
upset if my Ctown closes and I'm forced to walk
to the armory basement to shop at a store
like Pathmark. Awful.
I do not agree with how CB 7 voted. It appears as if the jobs of the employees at Morton Williams did not matter. At the end, I will be surprised if all their input will be taken into consideration and actually included in the CBA. Sure, they can voice their concerns, but it does not guarantee that their suggestions will be included in the CBA. As usual, developers get what they want (or should we say, what they bought?).
ReplyDeleteAm I crazy to suggest that maybe community board members should be an elected position versus and appointment by the Councilperson and the BP? It is obvious that those hwo make up the CBs will vote according to how their boss (weather it was the Councilperson or BP who appointed him/her) wants them to vote.
CB 7 should have voted no. But then again, they're not the ones who work at the suppermarket and will loose their jobs. A sad day for our community!
REVISED:
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with how CB 7 voted.
It appears as if the jobs of the employees at Morton Williams did not matter. At the end, I will be surprised if all their input will be taken into consideration and actually be included in the CBA. Sure, they can voice their concerns, but it does not guarantee that their suggestions will be included in the CBA. As usual, developers get what they want (or should we say, what they bought?).
Am I crazy to suggest that maybe community board members should be an elected position versus an appointment by the Councilperson and the BP? It is obvious that those who make up the CBs will vote according to how their boss (weather it was the Councilperson or BP who appointed him/her) wants them to vote.
CB 7 should have voted no. But then again, they're not the ones who work at the supermarket and will loose their jobs. A sad day for our community!
Some members of the CB7 have so clearly been paid off....nothing else could explain the board's disregard for the greater good of our community.
ReplyDeleteThere is a BJs opening near Yankee Stadium. There is also a Costco opening on 116th Street on the FDR Drive. I am happy about that because I will not have to go to Yonkers after they open.
ReplyDeleteHowever, they are both near highways. We do not need another BJs or Costco, especially in the middle of our resdiential Kingsbridge neighborhood at the armory. Can you imagine all the tractor trailer trucks coming up the steep hill of Kingsbridge Rd. from the Deegan/87? Traffic is already so bad with cars double parked everywhere, people crossing the street, and buses trying to get by. Some members of this community board 7 seem very naive.
It is obvious that CB7 members have been paid. Otherwise they would not have voted to approve a plan that is so blatantly against the community in every sense of the word.
ReplyDeleteThe rationale that if they had vote no, we would have lost the deal and no one else would have wanted to redevelop the armory is bs. Any smart developer would want to invest in 500,000 square feet of space next to a subway station. They should be willing to invest in the workers of the Bronx.
The Community Board 7 demonsrated on Tuesday that Bronx residents don't have the right to aspire to more. Considering that Community Board members are appointed by City Council members and the Borough President, I don't have much faith that they will vote differently.
This is a sad day for the Bronx.
It's curious to me how Mr. Vega states that the audience doesn't represent the opinion of the "greater community." Yet at meetings around the armory every gathering has been packed with people. If this isn't the community; then what is? Who is this "greater community" to which also Mr. Faulkner has referred? Where are they? What is their opinion and what substantiates it through testimony? Obviously, this mysterious "greater community has figured more in their vote than the numbers of residents, clergy, union leaders, and workers who have suggested otherwise with rational arguments. Perhaps what the CB7 prefers is the opinion of the so-called "greater community" that is not knowledgable about the issues. When the community is organized, informed and prepared to speak to the issues then this is perceived as a minority opinion and therefore not worth
ReplyDeletebeing represented in their vote.