Tony Avella Fights Overdevelopment in New York City

Councilmember Tony Avella has been instrumental in fighting over-development in his Queens constituency; but he says that he can bring the subject up in any neighborhood, and people will say "Yeah, you're right." Winess the latest over-development project Two Trees' Dock Street DUMBO project, so much in the news of late. The lament of overdevelopment is also heard loudly and clearly in north Brooklyn, where many long-time residents still express sadness over the 2005 rezoning which resulted in the very residents who worked so hard to bring the neighborhood back being pushed out of the community. Williamsburg is on many New Yorkers' lips as development gone wrong, thanks to Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn. As mayor, Tony Avella has said that he would add a paid urban planner to the community boards and revise the city charter to give the boards more power to accomplish their own plans for their own neighborhoods. In Williamsburg and Greenpoint, local residents and civic groups worked for months on a community-based plan that they feel was essentially ignored by City Hall. "Unscrupulous developers are getting away with anything and the real estate industry is making money hand over fist," says Avella. "And that shouldn't be the case. They shouldn't be doing theplanning. Neighborhoods should be doing the planning."