The Eminent Domain

VOTE People, a Harlem-based group that has been vocal in its opposition to the proposed 125th Street rezoning, is scheduled to hold a press conference on the steps of City Hall at 9 a.m. today. The organization will be announcing that it has filed a official protest — co-signed by Harlem business- and land-owners — against the proposal.Apparently those business and property owners have power to make more than a symbolic gesture. With the help of attorney Norman Siegel, VOTE People unearthed an obscure clause in the New York City Charter, which requires the Council to pass a rezoning by a three-fourths majority if a certain number of property-holders in an area to be zoned insists on it.

Section 200 of the City Charter, Item #3:

“In case a protest against such a resolution approved by the city planning commission shall have been presented to the city clerk within thirty days from the date of the filing of such resolution with the council, duly signed and acknowledged by the owners of twenty per cent or more of the area of:(1) the land included in changes proposed in such proposed resolution, or (2) the land immediately adjacent extending one hundred feet therefrom, or (3) the land, if any, directly opposite thereto extending one hundred feet from the street frontage of such opposite land, such resolution shall not be effective after the filing of such protest unless approved by the council by a three-fourths vote within one hundred eighty days after the filing of said resolution with the city clerk.”

Who knew? Even Queens Councilmember Avella — chair of the Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee, which will be holding a hearing on the 125th Street rezoning today starting at 9:30 a.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall — had no idea that this obscure rule existed.

Avella and Councilmember Charles Barron of Brooklyn are speaking in support of VOTE People at the press conference. Contacted by phone yesterday, Avella said the group’s action is unprecedented. “It’s interesting that no one ever noticed [the loophole] before,” he said.

He seemed unsure, however, as to whether the creative legal strategy would successfully prevent the rezoning from going through. “I think it will make it harder, obviously,” for the council to approve the proposal. “It gives the community another opportunity to ensure that their voices are heard.”

According to VOTE People’s position paper, the group “opposes the attempt by New York City agencies, in collaboration with private developers, to exile the community that has lived and worked in Harlem for generations and to replace it with a new culture and class wielding a higher income, thereby forever changing the demographic, through allegedly benign rezoning proposals.”

More to come as the hearing proceeds…