De Blasio's Rezoning Proposal Is Making Those It's Meant to Help Jittery

May 15, 2015 — Mayor Bill de Blasio is passionate about affordable housing, and — considering that even financially well-off folks are getting priced out of the likes of Brooklyn and "settling" for Manhattan — that's a good thing. But it goes to show that sometimes even those who have the best of intentions either don't think their plans all the way through. The New York Times reported that "when New York City planners unveiled maps charting a 73-block area in the Bronx to be developed with housing, they called it 'Cromwell-Jerome.' But no one in that area seemed to know where that was." Whoops. So is the mayor a little out of touch? Well, let's take a look: "The plan, which calls for 80,000 new apartments, mostly for households with annual income of less than $69,000, requires an extraordinary amount of diplomacy, even with the mayor's allies. Neighborhood groups and their City Council representatives, who must sign off on any rezoning, are anxious about taller buildings, more people and gentrification. Labor unions want assurances that they will have a bigger role in construction, even though it drives up costs." But some affordable-housing advocates are concerned that "new homes that are designated as affordable" will go to a mix of income levels, rather than to the poorest residents, which puts current residents at risk for being displaced "as people with higher incomes move into the neighborhood and make it more upscale."