Throggs Neck Upzone Vote Blasted

‘BETRAYAL’ - Home Owners Blast Councilmember Velazquez for her support for hi-rise buildings in neighborhood

Homeowners are outraged that their Councilmember, Marjorie Velazquez, voted in support of changing the zoning to allow contruction of apartment buildings in a community filled with one and two-family homes. -Photos by David Greene

By David Greene

Bronx Voice

October 12, 2022

BRONX - Nearly 200 angry residents of Throggs Neck and surrounding communities protested outside Councilwoman Marjorie Velazquez' office just two days after she voted "yes" on the rezone proposal for Bruckner Boulevard on The City Council Land Use Committee.

Throggs Neck and Pelham Bay residents protested outside the office of City Councilmember Marjorie Velazquez. The elected official supports a plan to change the zoning in the community of one and two-family homes to allow high-rise apartment buildings. Protestors claim that Velazquez is ignoring her constituents to the point where she does not even promote her district office. A sign at the office still bears the name of James Vacca who has not held office since 2017.

After voting for the project, Velazquez said in a statement, "We are in the middle of a citywide housing crisis that is similarly felt by the residents of my district, with seniors and working people facing strains to remain in our neighborhoods. The updated project voted out of the Council's committees today delivers significantly deeper affordable housing for our community, more good jobs for residents, and additional benefits for the neighborhood.”

“Marjorie Valazquez is a liar. She deceived her constituents to get their votes and then betrayed them,” said GOP Congressional candidate Tina Forte, who is running against AOC. “Over 10,000 people signed petitions against the upzoning. She is the reason people do not trust politicians. Marjorie needs to keep her word by reversing course and stopping this upzoning because it will harm our community.” 

Forte’s comments appeared to echo the crowd who held up signs calling Valezquez “gutless” and “throw her out.”

The legislation, which has the support of Mayor Eric Adams, is expected to be voted on this coming week by the entire City Council. If passed, it would clear the way for a 349-unit apartment complex at the site of the Super Foodtown on Bruckner Boulevard, with other projects in surrounding communities likely to follow.

 

Residents have been protesting for months against the proposal which they say will transform the Northeast Bronx communities from one and two-family houses to high-rise buildings of affordable housing. 

Home owners said such a move would not only change these home owner communities but would also be a huge stress on city resources such as sewage and electricity. Not to mention no new schools have been built in TN, Pelham Bay, Country Club and  Schuyllerville. 

Some other angry homeowners talking to the Bronx Voice off the record wonder how city officials are going to get their tax money. 

Pelham Bay, Throggs Neck, Country Club and Schuyllerville are the few remaining home owner communities in which families pay property taxes. Residents say if high-rise affordable housing goes up the number of tax payers goes down.  

“These guys who own these properties don’t pay taxes,” one angry homeowner said off the record. “They get tax breaks to give them an incentive to build these buildings. 

“You got Wall Street and the upper East Side crowd leaving for Florida. You got tourism down because of crime and now you want to get rid of tax paying homeowners?” The homeowner whose family has lived in Pelham Bay for generations said, “You don’t honestly think homeowners are going to stay and pay high taxes while they put an eight-story building on their block do you?”

Locust Point resident and protest organizer George Hav, of the Spencer Estates Civic Association, told the crowd, "We are here for a reason, we are here to protect the oasis. The oasis that is always termed as a desert, a desert. A transit desert, a food desert, a housing desert, every kind of desert you name, they call us meanwhile, we are an oasis in the desert of New York City.”

One guest speaker included Samantha Zherka, the Republican candidate for New York State Senate in NY-14, who is challenging current Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez for the seat that is about to be vacated at the end of the year by Senator Alessandra Biaggi.

Zherka told the cheering crowd, "When we complain about the infrastructure decline or our way of life being plummeted, news media and the lying politicians twist it and make it as if we are racists. But what I see here is the crowd in the most diverse neighborhood.”