Candidates for Queens borough president diverge on Flushing Creek rezoning

Flushing Creek. Photo via the Department of City Planning

By David Brand 

Queens Community Board 7 voted Monday in favor of a plan to rezone a piece of northern Flushing for residential use, an advisory recommendation that could facilitate a large-scale development project along the Flushing Creek waterfront. 

The marathon meeting featured significant demonstrations from opponents of the luxury housing and retail development proposal. The protestors, many of whom have long assailed the plan, raised some of the same issues about affordable housing and displacement that dog other major Queens development proposals — including the failed Amazon corporate campus deal, the Sunnyside Yards proposal and the Willets Point Plan

This is the land use terrain — kind of feels like a battlefield — that Queens’ next borough president will encounter when he or she takes office following a March 24 special election. 

To be clear, the next borough president will take at Borough Hall too late to have a role in the current land use plan (the two councilmembers running for borough president will get to vote on the final plan if they don’t win the special election first). Queens’ Acting Borough President Sharon Lee has 30 days to submit an advisory recommendation under the city’s land use procedure. A Borough Hall spokesperson said Lee will host a public hearing on either Feb. 20 or March 12.

Nevertheless, three candidates — Costa Constantinides, Anthony Miranda and James Quinn — shared their divergent perspectives on the plan and their broader vision for borough development with the Eagle.

Councilmember Donovan Richards did not take a position. Businessman Dao Yin did not provide a response and former Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley declined to comment on the controversial plan.

Quinn, a former top Queens prosecutor running a conservative campaign, called the Flushing Creek plan “a huge economic development opportunity that will create jobs, public open space, housing and more.”

He said developers must address community concerns and ensure current residents benefit from the project. But, Quinn added, “we saw what happened with Amazon and we cannot let a political agenda hold our borough hostage or prevent our ability to create a vibrant Queens community.” 

Former NYPD Sergeant Anthony Miranda — the other ex-law enforcement official in the race — staked out an opposite position. Miranda condemned the plan for its relative dearth of affordable housing units and for the likelihood that it would raise rental prices for long-term Flushing residents.

“This project is consistent with all the luxury development that has been going on,” Miranda said. “I want to put a moratorium on luxury development.” 

Borough presidents do not have that power, but they do have a bully pulpit and they weigh in on land use plans, including rezonings, in an advisory capacity.

“We’re in a housing crisis and again we’re giving away land,” Miranda added. “This is a pattern consistent all over Queens. We’re in an affordable housing crisis and our solution is to build luxury apartments?”

Constantinides, a city councilmember representing Astoria, also rejected the current plan. 

“Luxury housing with a tiny share set aside as below-market-rate should not be business as usual when we're in the middle of an affordable housing crisis,” he said.

Constantinides, chair of the Committee on the Environmental Protection, questioned the project’s impact on the dangerously polluted Flushing Creek.

"Flushing Creek has been polluted and neglected for generations, which the Guardians of Flushing Bay notes will only worsen under this project,” Constantinides said. “The developer has not guaranteed good jobs on this project while also promising just a sliver of affordable housing.”

“Combined with the devastation this will cause to the creek, I cannot see how I would support this project at this point,” he added.

UPDATE [Feb. 11, 2020, 2:45 p.m. ] — Councilmember Donovan Richards provided a response shortly after this article was published.

“Any new redevelopment comes with important factors that must be considered like ensuring good jobs and real affordability,” Richards said. “When the application arrives at the City Council I look forward to reviewing it with stakeholders, community board members and Councilmember Koo to hear feedback from the community and maximize the opportunity’s benefits.”

Additional reporting by Victoria Merlino.