Message

The SoHo/NoHo plan has been rejected by the community board, housing, tenant, and environmental groups. You should too.

Dear [Decision Maker],

I stand with Community Board 2, housing and tenant leaders, environmental groups, preservationists, and studies produced by Village Preservation, and thousands of neighbors in SoHo, NoHo, and Chinatown, to say that this plan is wrong, the City is lying about its impacts, and I oppose it.

If implemented, the upzoning would actually make these neighborhoods richer, less diverse, and more expensive, and likely destroy much affordable housing and push out longtime tenants and businesses, all while allowing grossly out-of-scale new construction and big-box chain stores. It provides multiple incentives and loopholes for developers to avoid building any affordable housing at all, but would enable and encourage huge commercial structures, luxury condo construction, and hotels.

More than a dozen local groups have offered an Alternative Rezoning Plan, which would not employ any upzoning, destroy no affordable housing, require deeper and broader new affordable housing in new residential construction at a scale that matches the neighborhood, and allow reasonable-sized retail but not big-box chain stores. It would maintain the character of this neighborhood while making it more equitable, diverse, and affordable: the exact opposite of the Mayor's plan. The Mayor's plan would also have an enormous impact on adjacent neighborhoods like Chinatown and the Lower East Side, pushing out longtime residents and businesses and making those neighborhoods less diverse and more wealthy and expensive, too.

The Mayor's plan would allow new development of an egregious scale, up to two-and-a-half times what current rules allow. It would push out longtime tenants in rent-stabilized units and legally protected lofts, and encourage the demolition of historic buildings.

The Mayor's plan would line the pockets of developers who have given generously to his campaign and lobbied for these changes for years. It's a dangerous sham and I urge you to join leading housing and tenant organizations, environmental groups, preservationists, local leaders, and the local community board and oppose it.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]
[Your Email]

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