The week before Thanksgiving, I attended. the “Your LIC listening session” at The Jacob Riis Settlement House in Queensbridge Houses. The listening session was about the development of the Long Island City waterfront, specifically the land by the Anable Basin, Discussion was led by real estate developers including TF Cornerstone who has built several luxury apartment buildings on the LIC waterfront.

I appreciate that the listening session provided a badly needed forum for community discourse including residents of public housing who are often ignored and overlooked. However, it is deeply concerning that our elected leaders have abdicated their authority to lead this discussion to real estate developers.

Developers do not work for the people, but for their own profit. They have no real impetus to listen to the community.

I am equally concerned about the development planned for Sunnyside Yards. The EDC is leading this process but with their record on projects such as Hudson Yards, that diverted money from communities in need, and their conflicting public private status, I question their motivation and commitment to listen to and do what is right for the surrounding communities.

For all development projects, communities with the help of elected leaders should be having discussions about what they need to thrive and what they do not want — neither developers nor the EDC should be leading this discourse. Developers should be brought in only when needed as contractors to execute a community’s agreed to vision. And those developers should be held to high regulation to hire from the community and unions, deliver what they promise, not instigate or meddle in communities for their own benefit; and not exploit the electoral process via campaign donations.

To make this happen we need to shift our approach:

• Consistently scheduled community or elected leader driven community discourse and connection
• Focus on people and communities first and above all else. We should be looking out for and taking care of each other not looking to developers or big corporations to do it for us
• Shift away from the failed trickle down idea that if the wealthy and wealthy corporations make money it will stimulate our economy for everyone. And shift to providing a strong and equitable economic foundation for everyone.
• Change the approach, structure, and objectives of the EDC and similar organizations. If the EDC will not make communities and economic justice their priority the should be abolished.
• Stop selling public land to developers and use approaches like Community Land Trusts that keep public land in the control of the people and the community.
• Raise and spend revenue responsibly. Make sure that ultra wealthy people and corporations pay their fair share of taxes on both their income and their wealth. And that this tax revenue subsidizes what is actually needed in communities like capital repairs in NYCHA housing; solving the homelessness and affordability crisis; supporting small businesses; fixing and expanding infrastructure including transit, sewers, and schools; etc
• Recognizing that the governor’s austerity measure of a 2% annual budget cap is really a measure to protect the ultra wealthy from taxation. The cap disincentives lawmakers from raising taxes on the ultra wealthy because why raise it if they cannot spend it. The cap needs to be eliminated and transparency and openness brought to the state budget process.
• Equally important, we must reform our democracy so big monied donors do not control it via campaign contributions.

We need to reimagine economic and real estate development to be focused on people, communities, equity and justice for all and not on corporations, developers, and revenue and profit for a few.