OPINION: Progressives Should Support the Gowanus Rezoning Streetsblog New York City – Streetsblog New York
Just before the pandemic, I moved to the part of Brooklyn where Carroll Gardens meets Gowanus. Although Smith Street closer to Atlantic Avenue is a restaurant haven, near where I live the street is dead, housing big empty lots. Past those lies the Gowanus Canal. Unlike the canals of Venice or Amsterdam, the Gowanus is mostly a hostile environment, with little building frontage, several bridges that bikers and pedestrians must share with large trucks, walled-off lots with heavy machinery, and a big Whole Foods parking lot.
An ongoing rezoning promises to create a better neighborhood around the canal, providing housing, much of it affordable, to thousands of new neighbors. Ground-level retail, new streets some of them pedestrian only, new parks and plazas, and direct access to the canal will make it walkable and enjoyable. The neighborhoods proximity to several subway stops (Carroll Street, Smith-Ninth, Fourth-Ninth) and bus routes would make it a true transit-oriented community.
With climate change breathing down our necks and housing prices soaring, wrapping up the rezoning quickly and getting to building should be a priority. But many of my neighbors disagree and the oppositions true concerns are not entirely clear.
The strong, increasingly organized, opposition to the Gowanus rezoning, Voice of Gowanus, has thrown everything at the wall to see what sticks. According to its literature, the sewage system will collapse; the transit lines are already at capacity; jobs will be lost; luxury housing will displace residents in a distressed, low-income neighborhood; the community engagement happened over Zoom and therefore was unlawful.
Most of this isnt true and, quite frankly, those probably are not the real reasons why people are putting so much time and effort into opposing the rezoning.
As is often the case with development in Gowanus and elsewhere different folks dislike it for different reasons: Some may feel that too much affordable housing will bring low-income people to the community, lowering homeowners property values (there are offensive whispers that crime will spike as a result). Others may worry that new luxury housing might make amenities and surrounding housing too costly, causing displacement. Others fear that development might simply change the status quo which can seem scary.
One argument, however, tends to reflect genuine fears and recurs during every rezoning: New development will mean less parking. Many New Yorkers especially those in a higher income bracket own cars and are accustomed to parking them on the street for free. Many view free on-street car storage as an inalienable right, so every new neighbor means potentially one less opportunity to park for free.
This is the so-called tragedy of the commons: Everyone wants access to the curb. Each new car means more competition for finite curb space. As is typical of this economics phenomenon, people act selfishly when they think their access is threatened.
Even if parking loss is not the oppositions main concern, it certainly serves them well to stoke these parking fears in order to gain support. I recently tweeted a photo of a hyperbolic flyer being handed out by Voice of Gowanus, warning neighbors that if they support the rezoning, they will permanently lose free car storage.
If you dont pay attention to the rezoning and whats going on in the neighborhood, it sounds scary! It can be hard to think about the overall benefits of the rezoning on the housing supply, climate change, and neighborhood liveliness when faced with a threat to the way you have chosen to live your life. Privilege is very hard to give up. Very few people do it willingly.
In fact, the rezoning does come with some new if minimal off-street parking for the new residents because of minimum-parking requirements in the citys zoning code. These requirements exist precisely because communities worry about losing their on-street parking. Yet new off-street parking lots make it easier for people to own cars and drive, triggering more traffic congestion. Minneapolis, Buffalo, and San Francisco, among others,recently successfully dropped such requirements.
A recent article in The Atlantic described how developers pass the cost of minimum-parking requirements onto tenants. Parking may or may not be the true reason that Voice of Gowanus is trying to stop the rezoning. If, as the group says on its website, it is concerned that the majority of the apartments will be super expensive, well, members should be agitating for less off-street parking, and accept a slightly longer search for on-street parking.
The NIMBYism manifested by Voice of Gowanus, and which is seen in basically all rezonings, is contradictory and baffling especially when it comes from self-identified progressives. The District 39 City Council candidates mostly opposed the rezoning, and the more progressive they are, the more opposed. Yet, they missed some fundamental points. Citywide, high housing prices stem from lack of supply. Raise the supply to meet demand across the city, and housing price hikes will slow and eventually stop. Upzoning neighborhoods is an important start.
Meanwhile, progressive housing advocates often support upzoning in wealthy neighborhoods in order to provide low- and middle-income housing that will enable more people from a mix of incomes to live there even if prices rise locally in the short term. The Gowanus Rezoning does precisely that. More city housing also tends to lessen demand for suburban housing which is important when it comes to climate change.
If progressives truly cared about our dual emergencies of climate change and skyrocketing housing prices, they would usher through as many rezonings as possible in as short a time as possible not sue to stop them all.
It is even more baffling when you realize that the opposition is made up of urbanites. What is living in a city if not being close to many people? The plans and renderings Ive seen so far seem like an urbanists dream.
If the opposition took a second, it might actually find that they enjoy the vision of a rezoned Gowanus. Rather than fight to keep our walled-off fields filled with tumbleweeds and toxins, we should all be fighting to make the city realize the urban dreamscapes it is presenting. We should be fighting for less off-street parking to make the housing more affordable, more frequent transit, and many other asks of the Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition for Justice, a racially and economically diverse group seeking to influence local planning, so long as the costs dont break the budget. Maybe try to get a new bike/ped-only bridge thrown in the mix. We should be looking for common cause to make this the best project it can be.
Then we should move on to the next rezoning.
Annie Weinstock (@Annie_Weinstock) is the director of programs of People Oriented Cities and, with Walter Hook, helms itsReorientations blog.
Go here to see the original:
OPINION: Progressives Should Support the Gowanus Rezoning Streetsblog New York City - Streetsblog New York
- Progressives Must Unite Against Nigel Farage and National Populism or Reform Will Win - Byline Times - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Progressives Disdain of Genius Is a Problem for the West - Bloomberg.com - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Mamdani electrified progressives in New York. In San Francisco, the left is full of envy. - Politico - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Minnesota progressives sound alarm over Trump tax bill - Minnesota Reformer - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Can Progressives Get Behind Parental Rights for All? - First Things - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Opinion | Your shampoo is locked up in stores, thanks to progressives - The Boston Globe - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Progressives trapped in 'misinformation bubble' about transgender youth treatments, Atlantic writer admits - Fox News - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Protecting the Rights of Parents from Progressives - Mosaic Magazine - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Catholic progressives and the development of sexual doctrine - Catholic World Report - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Why Zohran Mamdanis New York win does not really hold lessons for progressives across the world - Scroll.in - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Parents, not progressives, know their kids best. They should control education. | Opinion - Yahoo - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Gavin Newsom wont save California Progressives have damaged the state - UnHerd - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- After Zohran Mamdanis upset, theres a way forward for pro-Israel progressives - The Forward - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Zohran Mamdanis victory should be a wake-up call to Canadian progressives - Ricochet Media - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Progressives tell Andrew Cuomo good riddance after Zohran Mamdanis shock victory in Democratic primary - the-independent.com - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Pennsylvania progressives turn back to former Fetterman foe as congressman spurns party line - Washington Examiner - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- After Zohran Mamdanis upset, theres a way forward for pro-Israel progressives - Jewish Telegraphic Agency - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Progressives Just Won Big in New York's Second-Largest City - Newsweek - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- Big win in New York is a message for progressives. The Big Beautiful Bull further exposed. - Daily Kos - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- How Cherry Hill progressives upset the Norcross machine - MSN - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Progressives and leftists must unite to save humanity from nuclear war - Granma - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- My conversation with a 'Third Way' Democrat: can progressives & centrists coexist in one party? - Daily Kos - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Politics | 2025 Was Supposed to Be a Big Year for RI Progressives at State House. It Is a Bust. - GoLocalProv - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Progressives Abandoned J. K. Rowling, Not the Other Way Around - National Review - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Inside the Cherry Hill political battle that pitted progressives against the Norcross machine - Inquirer.com - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Not Just Progressives: Over Half of Trump Voters Oppose US War on Iran - Common Dreams - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Ras Baraka: Dont Count Out the Progressives - New Jersey Globe - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- A new book explores why progressives made it impossible to build in America - Inquirer.com - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Opinion: Someone please send progressives the destination and ETA - Star Tribune - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- New power in Riga? New Unity and Progressives seek common ground - Baltic News Network - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Republican Antitrust Officials Shouldnt Behave Like Progressives - The Daily Economy - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Why people follow religions, and why progressives should care. - Daily Kos - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Hakeem Jeffries agrees with Elon Musk. Progressives do not, nor should any Democrat or American. - Daily Kos - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- House Progressives Block the Bombs Act Would End Transfer of Offensive Arms to Israel - Democracy Now! - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- The Billionaires Backing the Neoliberal 'Abundance Coachella' Gathering Draw Ire From Progressives - Common Dreams - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- Revolution against Israel, US, and the West binds progressives to Iran - The Jerusalem Post - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- South Korean voters weary of political crisis are poised to return progressives to power - Le Monde.fr - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- Video: Opinion | Progressives Are Driving Themselves Into Extinction - The New York Times - May 30th, 2025 [May 30th, 2025]
- Progressives anything but when it comes to Israel - Daily Herald - May 30th, 2025 [May 30th, 2025]
- How Progressives Are Unwittingly Aiding the Rise of Autocracy - Foreign Policy - May 11th, 2025 [May 11th, 2025]
- Progressives should care that the global population is set to fall - vox.com - May 11th, 2025 [May 11th, 2025]
- Progressives Mark Mother's Day With Calls to 'Honor Our Moms With Action' - Common Dreams - May 11th, 2025 [May 11th, 2025]
- Trump doesn't fear smart women. It's progressives who are really afraid. | Opinion - USA Today - May 11th, 2025 [May 11th, 2025]
- With Trump in the Mix, Progressives Are Winning the Intra Party Crypto War - notus.org - May 11th, 2025 [May 11th, 2025]
- Democrats and Progressives Won Widespread Victories Across Texas in Backlash against MAGA Extremism - Progress Texas - May 11th, 2025 [May 11th, 2025]
- The Progressives, The Conservatives, The Italians: Why This Conclave Is Different - Worldcrunch - May 11th, 2025 [May 11th, 2025]
- Newsoms back to needling progressives - Politico - May 2nd, 2025 [May 2nd, 2025]
- Opinion - The Supreme Courts immigration about-face has progressives all twisted up - Yahoo - May 2nd, 2025 [May 2nd, 2025]
- Are Progressives Coming Together in the South Bay ? Check Out "We The People South Bay" - LA Progressive - May 2nd, 2025 [May 2nd, 2025]
- The Risks Progressives Wont Discuss - The Times of Israel - May 2nd, 2025 [May 2nd, 2025]
- Watch: House progressives speak on first 100 days of Trumps second term - AOL.com - April 30th, 2025 [April 30th, 2025]
- City Politics: Who Will Win Progressives' Votes?; Upwardly Mobile Jobs; Anne Applebaum on Trump - WNYC - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- National progressives back Houston attorney who fought GOP in court in Texas special election - The Hill - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- SIMS: I Agree With The Progressives Hands Off! - NH Journal - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Progressives: Can Religious and Non Religious get along? - Daily Kos - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- NYC progressives want to beat Adams and Cuomo. Can they set aside their differences? - Gothamist - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Josue Sierra: When progressives turn their backs on women - Broad + Liberty - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Why progressives failed the test of Oct 7 with Joshua Leifer - The Times of Israel - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Maybe progressives shouldn't have supported a larger, more extensive federal government for 100 years - The Daily Review - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Rich Lowry: Maybe progressives shouldnt have supported a larger, more extensive federal government for 100 years - Lewiston Sun Journal - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Rich Lowry: Maybe progressives shouldn't have supported a larger, more extensive federal government for 100 years - The Joplin Globe - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Kellyanne Conway rips progressives over Tesla protests: 'Trump derangement syndrome has reached stage five' - Fox Business - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- A Cohesive Message from Progressives - The New Yorker - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- The Left Has Turned White Progressives Into Hood Rats - AM 870 The ANSWER - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Progressives Are Pissed. This Group Wants Them to Run for Office - Rolling Stone - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- AOC and other NY progressives call for Mahmoud Khalils release in letter to DHS - City & State New York - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- Progressives are not demanding any special rights for anyone | Letters - Yahoo - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- Californias Gavin Newsom opposes trans athletes in womens sports, splitting with progressives - MyMotherLode.com - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- Progressives Gather In Concord to Protest, Well, Just About Everything - NH Journal - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- Newsom deviates from progressives on womens sports issue - WORLD News Group - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- California's Gavin Newsom opposes trans athletes in women's sports, splitting with progressives - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- GV progressives organize against Trump - Green Valley News - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- OPINION: Labor, progressives, and the politics of the West Side - 48 Hills - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Adriana E. Ramrez: Progressives should admit that Donald Trump might do something right - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Decades of pandering to progressives have left both BP and Unilever at a loss - The Telegraph - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Progressives tap a rising star to deliver their response to Trump - POLITICO - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Two Santa Ana progressives make bids for the 68th Assembly District - Los Angeles Times - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- The great rethink and the opportunity for progressives - Nation.Cymru - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Progressives Say They Want Clean Energy. They Held Up This Hydro Project for Years. - POLITICO - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Meet the 'old-school Democrat' defying warped progressives to make his Southern city boom now Trump's back - Daily Mail - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]