Week of May 4th: Vacant Building Repairs, Property Tax Warnings & What’s Next

Hi All,

I wanted to share an update following our meeting with Council Member Chi Osse's office this week and to share what's happening with the Better Block Project. I plan to start sending out these updates more often, so if you like them, reply and let me know! If you want to unsubscribe, that's okay too! Just let me know and I'll take you off the list.

Right now, the Better Block Project is helping our neighbors with 2 main issues:

• Advocating for fairer and more transparent property tax reform, which could result in a significant tax increase for our area

• Seeking the rehabilitation of two vacant buildings, one on 1105 Fulton Street and another on 26 Jefferson, which have been bringing down the block for multiple years

This past Wednesday, we had a scheduled meeting with Councilmember Chi Osse's office to advocate for both issues.  While the Councilmember couldn't make the meeting, we were able to have a fruitful discussion with his constituent liaison, May Vutrapongvatana, and get some clear next steps on each. See details below:

• Property Tax Reform: The council member's office wasn't deeply familiar with the reform, so we took the opportunity to educate May on the impact it could have to North Brooklyn residents (raising taxes by 2-3 in many cases), and advocate for more transparent valuations and a better appeals process. May is going to research the issue further and we'll circle back with her in the next couple weeks. I also followed up this weekend separately with Phara Souffrant Forrest (State Assembly Member), Stefanie Zinerman (State Assembly Member) and Jabari Brisport (State Senator) to set up separate conversations with them about the issue. My goal is to have active conversations with each of these offices, so we can ensure when the reform takes place it is done in a thoughtful way that makes the system fairer, more transparent, protects residents in our neighborhood and promotes new housing development

• 1105 Fulton: 1105 Fulton is a vacant building on the corner of Claver and Fulton. After many months of advocacy (and a visit from the head of the Dep. of Buildings Jimmy Oddo), we were finally able to get them to seal the vacant windows and make some basic facade repairs 

  However, there is a new challenge as the scaffolding used to make those repairs is still up, leading to individuals congregating underneath, and there are still openings to the building which lead to rat infestation. May agreed to follow up with the Dep. of Buildings to advocate for fixing both of these issues, and I followed up with the property manager. The property manager stated the scaffolding is unlikely to come down, so it looks like the city is our best avenue to get this improved, but he will see if he can address the rat issue. As next steps, we will plan to follow up with the City and the property manager until the repairs are made.

• 26 Jefferson: 26 Jefferson is a vacant property between Claver and Franklin. This property has been under-construction for some time, and despite significant fines levied on the owner and enforcement violations from the DOB nothing has occurred. As recently as last night individuals were seen trespassing on the property, and the open windows and back have caused issues with the neighbor's pipes freezing in the winter. May from the City Council's office is also going to follow up with the Dep. of Buildings here on additional enforcement actions. We'll continue to push with the city to ensure this property is repaired as soon as possible

We'll plan to continue to work with the city, and with our own creativity and resources, to push forward on all of the above until each problem is solved! I do want to give a two special shoutouts this week:

1. Remi, one of our members, is working to help a small business owner in Williamsburg get rid of a troublesome

    wasp's nest in front of her property by advocating with the city. This wasp's nest has been lingering for some time, and is large enough that is deterring individuals from entering the business, and the city hasn't acted to remove it. Remi is working hard to help solve this, and hopefully it goes down in the next couple weeks

2. In the call with Chi Osse, May highlighted the Atlantic Avenue Mixed Us Plan, which will improve a section of Atlantic Avenue from Vanderbilt and Nostrand. I am sure many of you have driven this stretch, and I don't know about you but I am excited to see this improved and think it's a great opportunity for more housing and parks. There's a Contact Us link the page if you want to share any feedback

Upcoming events:

• May 26th, 7pm: This will be our next (virtual) Better Block meeting. We'll use this time to talk through the charter of the organization and plan for our BBQ on June 8th!

• June 8th: We're planning to have a barbecue at the Greene Garden, next to Fort Greene Park, on Sunday June 8th. We hope folks can invite more friends to this event to start spreading the word of what we're doing!

Two final items:

1. Tell your friends If there are any other neighbors you know who are looking to get involved in the community, feel free to forward this email to them. The more community members we have active, the more power we will have to make change

2. Need help? If there are any other problems you're working on that you need help with, let me know. We're happy to help.

That's all for this update. Thank you so much to this group and to those who attended Wednesday's meeting. Progress only comes through perseverance and community members taking action, and this group has plenty of that. I'll share another update as we continue to push forward on all the problems above. 

Best,

David