The city's plan to put below-market-rate apartments in Brooklyn Bridge Park will face off in court today with a group of neighborhood residents who want to limit housing in the park along the waterfront, The Wall Street Journal reports. The move to build affordable housing is in keeping with Mayor Bill de Blasio's plan to greatly expand affordable housing options in the city.
Belinda Cape, a spokeswoman for the development company that runs the park said the city's approach will ensure that all Brooklynites, regardless of their means, continue to have access to the public space. Lori Schomp, a plaintiff in the suit, said she is in favor of more affordable housing, but would prefer to have no new park housing at all: "If we build it here in this precious green spot we are going to regret it," she said. Lawyers for the city and the plaintiffs, the People for Green Space Foundation, are due to appear in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn today to ask a judge to block the city from selecting a developer for the site.
