Why listen
A Brooklyn neighborhood spent 10 years fighting developers and actually won — here is how they did it.
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In this episode
- How Sunset Park residents organized against a major industrial rezoning
- What 200 days of public meetings looked like from inside the fight
- Why renters in a 70% renter neighborhood had so much at stake
- What a decade-long community victory can teach other neighborhoods
About this episode
What happens when a Brooklyn neighborhood takes on deep-pocketed developers? In this episode, we talk to the directors of "Emergent City" and the organizers who fought to preserve Sunset Park’s future.“Emergent City” (emergentcitydoc.com) documents the 10-year saga of how Brooklyn's Sunset Park community came together to fight a rezoning wanted by deep-pocketed developers. Against all odds, residents won. Filmmakers were there from the very beginning, when developers proposed transforming Industry City, a sprawling industrial site on the Brooklyn waterfront, into a high-end retail and office complex – or, as some residents put it, a “mall.” They were there when Sunset Park residents protested that the Industry City complex, if it won rezoning, would accelerate gentrification and displacement in a neighborhood where about 70% of households are renters. They were there for some 200 days of public meetings.
By the way—this is our 100th episode! Thank you to everyone who has listened over the years. If you'd like to support and celebrate this work, please visit nextcity.org/donate to pitch in.
About Next City
Join Lucas Grindley, executive director at Next City, where we believe journalists have the power to amplify solutions and spread workable ideas. Each week Lucas will sit down with trailblazers to discuss urban issues that get overlooked.
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