After news of permits being filed, long time working-class residents are reclaiming their neighborhoods by mobilizing the streets of Two Bridges
By: Aina Izham, Nov '21
Caption: About 350 people took the streets of the Two Bridges neighborhood, rallying to stop developers from gentrifying their neighborhoods and to protect the working class communities of color that have lived there for decades. Credit: Aina Izham
The Lower East Side is yet again facing rapid signs of gentrification when developers have recently filed permits in early October to start the construction of the four megatowers that are planned to be built at the Two Bridges Waterfront. The community’s response to that? They took it to the streets.
Residents of Two Bridges and Chinatown came out to rally to stop developers that are planning to build megatowers around their neighborhood on a hot Saturday afternoon at Pier 35, especially many coming from low-income, working-class communities of color. Residents fear the planned megatowers will cause rents to soar and reshape the neighborhood landscape. However, this process has been underway since 2012.
For Trever Holland, president of the Tenants United Fighting For Lower East Side (TUFF-LES), Pathmark’s closure in 2012 marked a turning point.
“We were a little too late to find out about Pathmark being closed down,” said Trever. “If we knew sooner, we would have done something to prevent it.”
Pathmark, one of the few grocery stories in the area catering to low-income residents, closed down to make way for the One Manhattan Square building, a residential skyscraper building. “If we knew sooner, we would have done something to prevent it,” he said. “I was telling people that ‘the sky is falling!’ and no one believed me.”
Pathmark was just the start, and even a sign to many that their neighborhood is starting to change. Community organizers knew that something needed to be done to fight back against these developers and the ongoing gentrification that could lead to the residents getting displaced. That’s where the Two Bridges Community Plan comes in.
The Two Bridges Community Plan is a community-led zoning plan that stipulates that developers must devote 50% of its units to affordable housing, limit the height of the building to 350 feet, create more open spaces, limit commercial spaces, and prioritize community-supporting businesses. The need to put together a community plan is in response to the fear of more luxurious buildings that could be built around their homes that could do more damage than good.
Grace Mak, a long-time resident at Rutgers Street in Two Bridges and secretary of TUFF-LES is afraid that with the permits rolling in, it would be steps closer to displacing her community members. She said that Two Bridges are “the last few pieces of the Lower East Side we want to protect,” especially those who have lived there for decades are communities of color.
According to the NYU Furman Center, they reported that as of 2019, 33% of the population identifies as Asian, 8% identify as Black and 25% identify as Hispanic. In terms of race and ethnicity, not much has changed throughout the years except for the age groups. About 22% are over 65 years old, which has increased nearly 8% more in almost 10 years showing that the aging population is growing in this neighborhood.
In fear of many possible outcomes of the waterfront plans, TUFF-LES, CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, GOLES (Good Old Lower East Side), and many other community organizations had filed lawsuits against the developers which are JDS Development, CIM Group, L&M Development, and Starrett Corporation, and the City Planning Commission (CPC).
“The lawsuits were made to just slow them down,” said Trever. During those times as the Two Bridges proposal was paused, community organizers made it a priority to get their community plan to pass. “It’s just a tactic to delay them because if we didn’t, the towers would’ve been built years ago.” One of the lawsuits managed to pass at the lower courts, until the developers intervened, and that win overturned in early 2021.
Fast forward to October 16, they’re still waiting for the plan to be approved and are demanding support on the streets of the Two Bridges neighborhood. You could spot three speakers each speaking English, Chinese Mandarin, and Spanish respectively to approximately 350 residents of the Lower East Side, marching at the streets of Cherry and Rutgers Street to let their voices be heard. Speeches were given by long-time residents to local politicians showing up to stand in solidarity with the community with performances from local lion dancers doing short skits with effigies of the developers as 6 feet vampires, hungry to suck culture, health, money, and wealth from the community.
Chris Marte, Democratic City Council nominee of District 1 was even invited to speak and Julie Xu, a Membership Organizer for CAAAV’s Chinatown Tenants Union asked if he’ll support the Two Bridges Community plan on stage, and he refused three times right in front of the residents present at the rally. “A non-answer means you aren’t willing to do everything it takes to stop all of these towers,” said Julie. “We are here, his future constituents are here- how are you going to look people in the face and say you won’t fight for their future or their families?”
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