TakeRoot’s Equitable Neighborhoods team represents Tenants United Fighting for the Lower East Side (TUFF-LES), CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities and Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), Land’s End One Tenants Association (LEOTA), and LaGuardia Houses Tenants’ Association in litigation against the City and three luxury developers to enforce zoning for the Two Bridges Large Scale Residential Development area.
Selected Press
AMNY: Judge overturns development plans to bring luxury skyscrapers to Two Bridges | Feb. 26, 2020
Gothamist: Judge Sides With LES Groups In Fight Against High-Rise Towers In Two Bridges | Feb. 26, 2020
New York Times: The People vs. Big Development | Feb. 10, 2020
Curbed: A judge blocked three towers planned for Two Bridges. Now what? | Aug. 2, 2019
Gothamist: Judge Rules That Two Bridges Cannot Proceed Without Full Public Review Process | Aug. 2, 2019
Patch: Two Bridges Towers Threatened In ‘David And Goliath Moment’ | Aug. 1, 2019
Curbed: Inside the legal fight for Two Bridges towers | June 7, 2019
City Limits: Two Bridges Foes Win a Round in Suit Over Mayoral Power | June 6, 2019
City Limits: All Hands On Deck to Stop Two Bridges Towers in Lower East Side | Sept. 7. 2019
The Low-Down: Two Bridges Tenants Edge Closer to Lawsuit Over Three Mega-Towers | Aug. 15, 2017
Selected Court Documents
New York Supreme Court
First Department Appellate Division
Brief Responding to City and Developers’ Appeal
Decision
Court of Appeals
Motion for Leave to Appeal, March 16, 2021 – including catalogue of Large Scale Residential Development areas across the City that will be impacted by the decision in this case (motion denied)
Affidavits Addressing Environmental Review
Chris Walters, planner, Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development
Melanie Wang, housing organizer, CAAAV
Liang Ming Xue, CAAAV member
Ren Ping Chen, CAAAV member
Affidavits Describing The Neighborhood
Sasha Wijeyeratne, executive director of CAAAV
Felicia Cruickshank, president of the LaGuardia Houses Tenants Association
Damaris Reyes, Executive Director of GOLES
Aaron Gonzalez, President of LEOTA
Grace Mak, director, Tenants United Fighting for the Lower East Side (TUFF-LES)
Trever Holland, director, TUFF-LES
Administrative Advocacy
Comments To The City Planning Commission On Proposal To Add Four Megatowers To The Site Plan Of The Two Bridges Large Scale Residential Development (LSRD) As Modification Of Prior Approved Site Plans, submitted as counsel to Good Old Lower East Side – GOLES, CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, Tenants United Fighting for the Lower East Side (TUFF-LES) and the Lands End One Tenants Association (LEOTA) with exhibits (10/17/2018). “We urge you to use the power at your disposal to turn down the out of scale proposals in order to simultaneously protect the existing low income neighborhood and to shield the City from litigation that will surely result if the Commission approves these towers via a process that has never been properly promulgated. I will use my time here today to comment on the obfuscated and illegal process through which these applications reach you today.”
Letter to the Department of City Planning Regarding Unlawful Process to Approve Development in the Two Bridges LSRD (8/11/2017): CDP drafted a letter on behalf of GOLES (Good Old Lower East Side), CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, and Tenants United Fighting for the Lower East Side (TUFF-LES), and the Lands End One Tenant Association to call attention to deficiencies in the Department of City Planning’s treatment of applications for new construction in the Two Bridges Large-Scale Redevelopment area. CDP argued that the City’s decision to classify requested approvals to build 4 new residential towers as “minor” modifications was improper and in violation of the law.
