City Planning Department

Charles Barron, a City Council representative from what he called “the People's Republic of Brooklyn,” stood on the steps of City Hall this morning before a scheduled hearing on 125th Street rezoning and denounced it as an “abusive use of eminent domain.”

“Harlem is not for sale,” he said, prompting cheers from the Harlem residents, community groups, and handful of local politicians in the audience. “We are tired of this city using development as a new wave of Jim Crowism. This place is supposed to protect people, not developers and the real estate industry.”

Craig Schley, the director of the Harlem group VOTE People, said residents “are not going to let this happen.” With the help of civil rights lawyers, VOTE People will invoke a 110-year-old, obscure provision in the City Charter to challenge the rezoning of 125th Street. Subsection 3 of section 200 of the Charter basically says that if 20 percent of property owners in the “affected area” sign a petition opposing the rezoning, the plan needs to be approved by three-fourths of the City Council, rather than by the usual simple majority.  read more »