City Settles Dispute Over Broadway Triangle Housing

BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN — There will be 375 affordable housing units built at the Broadway Triangle after the City settled a racial discrimination suit with local activists, the New York Civil Liberties Union announced Monday.

A plot of city-owned land bordered by Bushwick, Bed-Stuy and Williamsburg has been slated for affordable housing after a settlement to an eight-year lawsuit was filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, activists said.

“Today’s settlement means the city will properly respond to the real needs of our diverse communities in North Brooklyn,” said Juan Ramos of Broadway Triangle Community Coalition, the nonprofit that filed suit.

The Broadway Triangle Community Coalition also lead an unsuccessful charge against the Pfizer site rezoning plan. Despite the coalition’s campaign of walkouts and sit-ins, City Council approved developer’s request to rezone the Pfizer site, also located at the Broadway Triangle, in November.

Ramos said in a statement Monday, “There is a long history of housing discrimination in this area, and affordable housing in the Broadway Triangle is more important than ever given the rapid gentrification and displacement of families who have lived here for generations.”

Coalition leaders first filed suit in 2009 when developers revealed plans they felt catered to the Hasidic community over black and Hispanic residents of Brooklyn, the organization said in a statement.

As evidence, the lawsuit noted the Broadway Triangle development designs called for large apartments — which are typically favored in the Hasidic community — and the city’s choice in developer, the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg.

The new settlement calls for an array of apartments types — more studios, one- and two-bedrooms — as well as a new developer and a preference given to current residents from community boards in Bed-Stuy as well as Williamsburg.

The city will also sign a $2.4 million contract with Brooklyn Legal Services to provide information about fair housing and legal representation to those with housing discrimination complaints near the Broadway Triangle.

“This settlement promotes racial fairness in the provision of affordable housing,” said Arthur Eisenberg, legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

“It does so by ensuring that communities of color enjoy equal access to affordable housing, and by promoting racial diversity and integration in the housing that will be provided.”

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