The Riverdale Press
Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter
As a 25-year Bronx resident and active community leader with the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance who participated in all phases of the development process, I would like to respond to the letter from David Lombino of the New York City Economic Development Corporation in the Jan. 7 edition of this paper.
Mr. Lombino’s claim that there is no living wage policy that would have covered the jobs at the armory is simply false. The redevelopment agency of Los Angeles has a policy stating that on property leased by the agency to a developer, living wages have to be paid, wall-to-wall. In fact, at a California project called Grand Avenue, a development of the Related Companies, retailers will be required to pay a living wage. There are 22 other cities that have living wage laws.
We take issue with the NYCEDC’s idea of so-called economic development that gives wealthy corporations giant tax breaks to build shopping malls. A shopping mall guarantees only one thing; the developer and the retailers within the armory would make the money.
Related’s plan was dangerous because it did not include an enforceable Community Benefits Agreement to ensure that the surrounding community benefits significantly as well as the corporation. The residents in the immediate area faced displacement of local businesses and jobs and increased environmental pollution due to a huge increase in traffic from trucks delivering merchandise and shoppers driving to the mall. Then there’s the increase in congestion and vehicular accidents and deaths that result from 10,000 more car trips a day. Can anyone say Yankee Stadium and the Gateway mall? Furthermore, the community’s top priority for the use of the enormous space inside the armory, namely programs for youth, was poorly served by Related’s plan. There was to be a pitiful amount of “community space” and no recreation program to speak of.
Mr. Lombino’s most disturbing assertion that we “Killed the opportunity to bring $300 million in private investment and thousands of jobs to the Bronx…” is, at best, insulting to the hard-working poor members of our community. Upon examination of the jobs to be created we learned they would be part-time equivalent, no benefit, and low–wage jobs.
Is the Bloomberg administration really telling those who work hard every day in our community that they don’t have the right to expect that jobs created from development in our area should pay a living wage? Are they really suggesting that it’s okay to sentence the next generation of Bronx residents to permanent poverty?
The entire Bronx stood up and demanded the respect they deserved and were slapped in the face by Related Companies.
To say the City Council acted irresponsibly and “ignored the community-based task force, the local Community Board, area civic groups, and mostly, the people of the Bronx” is simply and boldly untrue. I was a part of all the community-based task forces created by EDC and a part of the KARA, the leading area civic group involved in this issue. All the groups Mr. Lombino mentioned called for responsible development with living-wage jobs for local residents, as well as community and recreation space. The city seems to have forgotten that Community Board 7 only approved the redevelopment on the condition that a CBA be signed. The Bronx borough president and the City Council were the only leaders who actually did listen to us.
Mr. Lombino and his colleagues at the NYCEDC can best serve the Bronx and the other boroughs by changing the way they think about the communities they want to develop. They would do best to remember that they should be partnering with all members of the community to bring in the most mutually beneficial projects.
All people are entitled to the dignity of a good job, and a clean, safe place to live. We have the right to a good life, just like the well-paid bureaucrats at EDC.
The current administration and the EDC have made it abundantly clear whom they serve, and it’s not “We the People,” but only some people, and that’s unfortunate. All of the five boroughs will be working together to ensure that future developments and developers respect, partner with and provide the benefits that are needed by each community they seek to work in. It is not the City Council who ignored the community, it was the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the Bloomberg administration and Related Companies. They were, and continue to be, condescending to all of the people in the communities where they build. But no more!
Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter is a community activist and founding member of the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance.