Marina Ortiz was among of dozens of community residents who testified against ANY rezoning at Community Board 11’s full-board meeting on June 20th. Video courtesy of Toya Mileno, Justice Center of El Barrio.
El Barrio No Se Vende: East Harlem Residents Say NO to Racist Rezoning! Excerpt of Testimony Presented at Community board 11's Public Hearing on June 27, 2017
Rezoning low-income communities of color is about much more than “just the facts.” It transcends statistics, analysis, and policy – however “participatory” the planning process may appear.
Indeed, encouraging massive increases in the number of high-priced properties in low-income communities like East Harlem/El Barrio is the antithesis of “inclusionary.” Real estate is all about the money. Developers are primarily concerned with what tomorrow’s market will bear, not the people who live here today.
Decent and permanently affordable housing is an international human right. It is that fundamental truth that is moving African Americans, Latinos, and Asians throughout New York City to fight Mayor Bill de Blasio’s racist rezoning policies and challenge any elected official complicit in the destruction of our beloved neighborhoods.
NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito recently took a huge political risk in defending a Puerto Rican freedom-loving patriot, as did many of us in East Harlem.
We must now channel that same passion and energy to stop gentrification, as former political prisoner Oscar López Rivera personally advocated when he spoke at the United Nations on June 19th.
Mark-Viverito, who represents El Barrio, has also been very generous in funding many cool arts projects. No doubt.
However strong the enthusiasm for our history and culture – concerts and murals and museums do not pay the rent. While thousands of our relatives and friends visit East Harlem to enjoy our festivals and attend honorary street renamings, very few can actually afford to live here.
In every speech and interview, Oscar López Rivera describes the intentional depopulation of Puerto Rico and gentrification in Chicago as a human rights issue.
The Puerto Rican Diaspora now follows his example and says NO to the planned displacement of people of color in East Harlem and throughout New York City.
The media labels anyone fighting for human rights an extremist. Nelson Mandela was labeled a terrorist for challenging apartheid, even after he was freed. Here in New York City, you are called “crazy” if you fight for your community.
Jane Jacobs and Yolanda Garcia were both considered “kooks” in their time because they fought to preserve their Greenwich Village and South Bronx neighborhoods. Today, their work has been appropriated by the very same planners seeking to destroy East Harlem and 14 other communities of color that have been targeted for gentrification.
A private developer recently had the audacity to invoke the Lenapi community in their presentation for the Sendero Verde mega-development in East Harlem. Ironically, Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Mark-Viverito would have us “trade” one of the last few relatively affordable communities in Manhattan for the promise of a few “trinkets.” This city (and country) was founded on the violent displacement of people of color. We cannot, and will not, let it happen again.
Communities are rising up and saying NO to Mayor de Blasio’s racist rezoning. Activists from East Harlem; Inwood and Washington Heights; Southern Boulevard and other parts of the South Bronx; East New York and Flatbush, Brooklyn; Ridgewood, Queens; Chinatown; the Lower East Side; and the Bay Street corridor on Staten Island are coming together and standing strong.
Let me make it perfectly clear: I am not here to play left field for any politician or nonprofit organization looking to use public outrage to negotiate better terms—or as a cover to ease their conscience. I do not support ANY rezoning. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.
Politicians are henceforth forewarned: If you proceed with ANY rezoning plan for East Harlem and other low-income, communities of color in New York City, we will cash out everyone responsible at the ballot box in November!
If we go, you go!
For more information on the rezoning, visit: http://eastharlempreservation.org.
el barrio fino More Testimony From the June 20, 2017 Rezoning Hearing in East Harlem | |
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