Post 8: The rezoning of the East Village and Lower East Side: the background

As always, with the exception of public figures, I use altered names to protect the individuals in this history.

The background of the EV/LES rezoning was far more complex than the formation of the LESA, which was little more than a gathering of local residents worried about the transformation of their neighborhood. The roots of the rezoning lie deep in the history of Alphabet City/Loisaida and its gradual gentrification. It begins with the Puerto Rican immigration and CHARAS/El Bohio.

Following the creation of the NYC subway system, the Lower East Side, long associated with poverty and overcrowding, emptied of its residents leaving it an abandoned low-rent district and a home to recent migrants including Poles, Ukrainians and Puerto Ricans. During the city’s financial bankruptcy of the 1970’s, the city withdrew services from the area, closing schools. One of these closed schools, P.S. 64 on 9th Street east of Avenue B, was reclaimed by local Puerto Rican activists who turned it into a community center offering many community services, events, and studio spaces for artists. Among the founders was Armando Perez, who became one of the Democratic District leaders along with Margarita Lopez. District Leader is an elected office at the most local level of government. The two District Leaders worked to prevent community displacement, promoting and protecting the low-income residents of Community District 3.

Margarita was eventually elected to City Council as a housing advocate and progressive firebrand – energetic, articulate, outspoken and defiant. The city administration under Giuliani, promoted development everywhere. The city evicted CHARAS/El Bohio, selling the building to a developer, Gregg Singer, signaling that he would build a tall residential complex on the lot.

The sale of P.S. 64 occurred at a unique moment in the history of the district. There had been no development in the EV/LES for decades, and save for the NYCHA projects along the river and a private development on Houston Street, no development for nearly a century. Around 1999, two towers were built, one over the Theater for the New City, which had sold its development rights in order to fund its programs, and a building on 3rd Street constructed with a community facility zoning bonus. The community facility zoning bonus allowed a developer to build nearly twice the bulk size as the zoning otherwise allowed under the condition that the building be used for some kind of community service like a hospital, school or school dormitory. The 3rd Street building was built under the pretense that it would be a dormitory, but it was designed just as if it were a residence. The developer had no contract with any school to use it as a dormitory. This sent up a red flag to the community that the developer was intending to take advantage of the bonus with the covert intention of turning the building into a lucrative luxury complex. It was a simple scam: after completing the building, the developer goes to the City’s Board of Standards and Appeals, crying that having spent his many millions but unable to find a school tenant, begs to please, please let him open it as a residential complex. And the BSA wipes his tears and assents. It's an old dance. 

After many months of controversy and a law suit, the developer capitulated and found a school tenant. In light of this event, locals were suspicious of Singer’s intent. The restoration of CHARAS/El Bohio became the cause célèbre of the District. Margarita, who had a close political relationship with Armando, took up this cause along with pretty much every personality of note in the neighborhood. It was more than the loss of a community center. It became the symbol around which the entire community could unify and rally.

Among the opponents of any out-of-scale development plans for the former community center were the penthouse tenants of Christodora House, a building twice the height of the tallest buildings in the neighborhood. These tenants formed a community group, the East Village Community Coalition (EVCC), and working with other long-term activists devised a program to prevent Singer from constructing a tower. The two arms of the program were 1) to landmark the building through the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and 2) to rezone the entire East Village to eliminate the community facility bonus that the 3rd Street developer had used, and limit the heights of all buildings.

There had been previous efforts to rezone the EV, but all had failed. I do not know the details of those efforts, whether they failed because of internal dissensions or resistance from the city’s Department of City Planning. I have been told that the city itself tried to rezone the EV with what’s called “Quality Housing”, a program that allows a small increase in buildable volume. This too had failed.