Public Zoom Meeting Tonight On Vital Brooklyn Kingsboro, Attorney General Letisha James Must Keep Her Word
Zoom Public Meeting – Vital Brooklyn Kingsboro (Albany & Clarkson)
(Includes 1090 units plus 364 homeless shelter rebuild plus 427 supportive units)
Kingsboro Psychiatric Center Mixed-Use Project | Empire State Development (ny.gov) – General Link
. “The public hearing is for the purpose of informing the public about the proposed Kingsboro Psychiatric Center (“KPC”) Mixed-Use Project (the “Project”) and to consider and receive public comment on the General Project Plan (“GPP”) and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (“DEIS”) for the Project”
Microsoft Word – KPC – DEIS GPP Public Hearing Notice FINAL.docx (ny.gov)
Webinar Registration – Zoom – Registration Link
Project Description
The 1090 new units at 681 Clarkson Ave will have zero parking spaces. The 15 parking spaces will be for the new supermarket, not for any residences. Since all of Brooklyn CB 9 is a transit zone, there is no requirement for parking spots for affordable housing rentals at less than 80% AMI ( Area Median Income). The answer of NYS to your future parking problems is tell you to walk a little more for parking, or try putting your kids on a Citi Bike, or try using the subway or bus. See below for the official response of NYS to the future parking problems.
“Given that the parking demand would exceed the available on-street parking supply, the Proposed Project would result in a significant parking shortfall; however a significant parking shortfall would not be considered a significant adverse environmental impact….Alternative travel modes via bus and subway are available to encourage non-auto travel to and from Project Site and reduce parking demand. Additionally, residents and workers may choose to use available on street parking beyond a quarter mile radius of the Proposed Project. Alternatively, some residents and employees may choose to park in the Kings County Hospital parking garage…” Kingsboro-14-Transportation.pdf (ny.gov) See page 87, Par 4.
There will be 326 supportive housing units, plus a rebuild of the 364 residential homeless bed shelters, plus 101 units for homeless seniors ( 30% of the 337 senior units). There will be 427 supportive housing units ( 326 plus 101). Supportive housing and homeless beds will constitute at least 791/1454 beds or 54%. The target population for supportive housing is homeless individuals. Having 791 homeless beds on one site, is like having seven homeless shelters, based upon an average of 110 beds for one shelter.
Kingsboro-Vital-Brooklyn-CB9-Housing-Committee-Presentation.pdf (nyc.gov) – see page 7 for 30% homeless senior requirement. (Although the total unit numbers are less for the Brooklyn CB 9 Jan’23 meeting, NYS Empire State Development is asking to be approved for more, just in case they need it).
Nearby Supportive Housing & Shelters
CAMBA has approximately 328 supportive housing beds across the street on Albany.
36b35b_1ef8d290f51348d9a93de6adf2d64606.pdf (eastflatbush.info)
36b35b_2e36eaad7e0945218edbb2c16918e614.pdf (eastflatbush.info)
“Breaking Ground”, the co-developer of Kingsboro West is operating a 110 bed homeless shelter a few doors down on Clarkson by East 49th Street, with no curfews. East Flatbush Safe Haven | Breaking Ground
The recently passed NYS Homeless Bill of Rights allows the homeless and unstable individuals to loiter at all hours of the night since the homeless can now sleep outside as long as they are not blocking the sidewalk.
NYC enacts ‘Homeless Bill of Rights,’ but doubts arise over key provisions | PBS NewsHour
VA-Kingsboro-Psychiatric-Center-Exhibit-1-GPP.pdf (ny.gov) – see page 4 for Chart.
Although the General Plan has been adopted October 19, 2023, it has not yet been Affirmed which comes only after tonite’s Zoom Environmental SEQRA Meeting and General Plan Meeting and after the Public Written Comment Period Closes.
ESD-KPC-Combined-NOI.pdf (ny.gov) Public Written Comment Deadline: Jan 8, 2024, 5 pm by emailing: kpceis@esd.ny.gov or by mail to ESD, 633 Third Avenue, 37th Floor, New York, NY 10017 ( Attention: Vanessa Calizaire).
NYS Attorney General’s Office has to approve Vital Brooklyn as per the original Request for Proposal (“RFP”). When an agency has to approve an action, it is considered to be an “involved party” and must issue written findings. NYS Empire State Development, as lead agency did not notice AG James office, and the public has been prejudiced by not noticing and involving the only elected official who should have accountability for this project. I made this argument back in Jan’23. The response of NYS ESD was that AG James office has only a ministerial role, not discretionary. Microsoft Word – A_Responses to Comments (ny.gov) ( See comment # 68)
Let me ask you the reader something, if Donald Trump was buying 681 Clarkson for only $100 with the aim of turning it into a golf course, would NYS Attorney General Letisha James have the discretion to disapprove or would she limited to acting as a county clerk who can only stamp and file documents without examining them and judging them. There is also a deed reverter issue that requires the NYS AG’s independent discretionary judgment on whether the NY City Council has to vote to sell the property. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ozwvo1dq1kcxjmlt1ycxb/Deed-for-Kingsboro-West-with-Reversion-to-NYC.pdf?rlkey=i6jjgpvclxpfkaa54ne6rw3jn&dl=0 See also UDC Act , Section 14 NYS Open Legislation | NYSenate.gov
As per the Attorney General’s website, she is the guardian of the legal right of the people of New York. There are serious segregations issues since the disproportionate amount of homeless housing ( 50 % in several projects) results in segregating the special needs in minority areas. See SayNOtoLESS.com – Homeless Shelters, Supportive Housing Units, Parking, Vital Brooklyn, Say NO to LESS (eastflatbush.info) and go to Nov 5 – “NYS Assemb objections” tab for more info on legal objections, proof that AG Letisha James has to approve Kingsboro from the Original “RFP” and what NYS Assemblyman Cunningham could be doing when he decides to ultimately take a position on this project.
* * * I find it strange that NYS AG James was left off the list of agencies to receive relevant information on the Environmental Assessment Form (“EAF”) and Draft Scope of Work (“DSOW”). ESD-KPC-Combined-NOI.pdf (ny.gov) – see page 2 bottom
* * * I find it strange that even though the NYS AG’s office was listed as an agency that needed to approve Vital Brooklyn Kingsboro in the original RFP (Aug 7, 2020)
36b35b_88caaf395d2341c289b307bee2d5387c.pdf (eastflatbush.info) – (see page 5_ , however
in the more recent Environmental Impact Statement (October’2023), the NYS AG Office is removed?. Kingsboro-01-Project-Description.pdf (ny.gov) – (See Section 1.4, page 17, bottom bullet point)
I will end by leaving you with the words of then Public Advocate Letisha James.
In 2017, before she was the AG, former NYC Public Advocate Letisha James came to Crown Heights for a Town Hall Meeting on the proposed Rogers Ave Homeless Shelter, and said the following:
“The reality is, is that this community has been dumped on… The reality is that we have taken in our fair share… Don’t be mistaken…, this Public Advocate, came from this neighborhood, stands with this neighborhood and will be with this neighborhood for 10 years, she poured her heart and soul into this neighborhood and will not go in the opposite direction, not while I am alive, and not while I am your public servant.”
Town hall meeting Crown Heights – YouTube – go to 1 hr 1 min mark for AG James
Being a public servant is more than noshing on $600/plate kosher sushi and pasta on Eastern Parkway.
The next step for the community is to get a lawyer to file an Article 78 proceeding in NYS Court if the community does not want to see NYS repeat this process again and again, east towards Utica Ave, until Clarkson Ave becomes Brooklyn’s Skid Row. Skid Row Slated for Massive and Rapid Expansion of Housing and Services – COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES (lacounty.gov)
Please consider registering for tonite’s 6pm NYS Public Meeting on Kingsboro West, so the elected officials will see that the developers are the only ones cheerleading this project.
Written by,
Jay Sorid
Disclaimer ( Eastflatbush.info is separate from the SayNotoLess whatsapp group which is run by third parties, even though the weblink still says otherwise)
Yossi B
Thank you Jay for all the work you do for our community.