City Councilman Calls Bed-Stuy Mega-Development Opponents Anti-Semitic

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — Demands that the City Council’s land use committee chair recuse himself from ruling on a proposed Brooklyn mega-development near Broadway Triangle were met with accusations of anti-Semitism.

The Broadway Triangle Community Coalition has been fighting for years to stop a 1,146-unit apartment complex from going up on the Pfizer site between Walton Street, Union Avenue, Gerry Street and Harrison Avenue.

Opponents argue the Rabsky Group's development will violate the Fair Housing Act by targeting Hasidic tenants, citing past investigations that found Broadway Triangle developers turned away potential tenants who were black or Latino because of their race.

After a failed attempt to convince the City Planning Commission to reject the Rabsky Group’s development proposal in July, the organization is now asking City Councilman David Greenfield to recuse himself from ruling on the issue in the land use committee that he chairs.

The group argues Greenfield has a conflict of interest because he will leave office in January to head the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, a nonprofit with ties to the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg, which originally worked with the city to develop the Broadway Triangle project.

BTCC first raised their concerns during a subcommittee hearing on Oct. 10, after which a Kings County Politics reporter asked Greenfield if he would recuse himself. The councilman refused to comment, telling the reporter it was anti-Semitic to even ask the question.

BTCC responded to Greenfield’s refusal to recuse himself — and to his comment to he Kings County Politics reporter — with an official letter from its chair, which was dated Oct. 20 and released to the media Tuesday.

"You responded to our good faith testimony on this matter of public interest with ridicule, race-baiting and derision,” wrote Juan Ramos.

“You ignored our evidence-based concerns that the proposed rezoning would exacerbate the documented racial segregation in the Broadway Triangle.”

Greenfield responded to Ramos’ letter in an interview with the Daily News, in which he said it was, “part of a clear and calculated campaign of intimidation and continued misinformation by the opponents of this private application.”

Greenfield also noted he had been cleared to rule on the Broadway Triangle development by the Conflicts of Interest Board.

If the Rabsky group's proposal is approved by the land use committee, it will be considered next by City Council.

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