Chinese Are Afterthought In Industry City Rezone, Immigrants Say

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — With likely only a few weeks to go before Industry City resubmits rezoning plans for its massive 35-acre complex, alarm bells are ringing among advocates who say most of the neighborhood's 40,000 Asian-American residents haven't even heard of the plan.

Leaders from local advocacy group Protect Sunset Park contend that recent Community Board 7 meetings about the industrial complex's upcoming rezoning prove that the Asian-American, and largely Chinese, community has become an "afterthought" in efforts to inform the public.

Asian-American residents make up 32 percent of Sunset Park's 126,000-person population, according to the 2010 Census, but at a meeting specifically for Asian-Americans about the Industry City rezoning last week, only 17 people showed up.

"It makes it look like Chinese people don't care, which is not true at all," organizer Jei Fong said."(We've talked to) hundreds of Chinese speakers and almost nobody knows what's going on."

Fong contends that the low turnout isn't a one-off, but a result of Community Board 7, who hosted the meeting, not sufficiently involving the Chinese community in the process from the start.

Industry City has been considering the rezoning, which will add more than 1 million square feet of space to its complex, for years. But last week was the first time a meeting was held about it specifically for the Asian community, and in their native language.

"Why in five years has it never been important to reach the Chinese community about these zoning issues?" Fong said. "Sunset Park's Chinese residents should be considered equally, not as an afterthought."

Community Board 7 hosted five town halls about the Industry City rezoning last year and, earlier this summer, started a new round of public meetings about the proposal. Industry City officially submitted the rezoning proposal, which will bring two hotels, food, retail and education space, in March, but quickly decided to postpone it after local officials said they needed more time.

Cesar Zuniga, Community Board 7's chair, said that every meeting about the rezoning is meant to be set up with simultaneous translation in both Spanish and Chinese. But, there have been some where translators have cancelled or shown up late, he said.

Zuniga said the board has made it a priority to reach every part of the community, but that its possible there have been some gaps.

"I feel bad that maybe we're not doing the best that we can do if people are feeling left out," he said. "We are trying really hard to get this right."

The Aug. 5 meeting for the Asian community, the first presented in Chinese instead of in English with a translator, came out of a suggestion at the most recent Immigration Committee meeting about the rezoning. A similar meeting for the Latino community is scheduled for this weekend, Zuniga said.

Community Board 7 and Council Member Carlos Menchaca's office both advertised the Asian community meeting through Facebook, texts and on several chat rooms like WeChat, a Chinese messaging and social media app, he said.

"I get that perhaps some people were left out, but not because we were trying to do that or because we didn’t do any kind of outreach," he said. "Whether our outreach was effective enough that’s debatable and I’m happy to debate that."

Zuniga said part of the problem is that, like the immigrant community as a whole, the Asian-American community is so large and diverse that it is difficult to reach everyone. The community board is open to suggestions about how to draw in more people and community leaders who have suggestions can reach out to him to set something up, he said.

Fong contends, though, that if the meetings are to be successful they should also change what information is presented.

The Aug. 5 meeting was largely a review of last year's town halls and Protect Sunset Park members said it seemed to be focused on the potential benefits of the Industry City rezoning.

But, Fong said, the Chinese community is more likely to show up to meetings if there is more of a focus on potential harm to housing, transportation, jobs or small businesses.

Protect Sunset Park has contended that the rezoning will displace low-income immigrants in favor of wealthier, white residents that will flock to Sunset Park for the new Industry City jobs. A petition they started against the rezoning has 400 signatures from English and Spanish speakers online and another 300 from Chinese speakers on print copies.

"Very few people are able to go (to the meetings)," said one group member, Sharon Tang, adding that weeknights are hard for immigrants who work long hours. "And even fewer will go if you don't talk about things they care about, like the rent going up, prices going up, how this will affect stores closing, how it will make life even more inconvenient for them.

"Those things people care about," she continued. "If you don't tell them, of course they won't care."