With legal help from TakeRoot Justice, Cooper Park residents stopped a plan for luxury development on their parking lot by showing that NYCHA failed to follow environmental-review procedures and did not adequately engage residents.
"We’re trying to show the judge that there’s been a pattern,” said Jason Torres, who is currently represented by the nonprofit legal group TakeRoot Justice. “I just don’t know what to do anymore.”
Stephanie Storke of TakeRoot Justice, Catalán’s attorney, said that participating in court via an interpreter is often cumbersome even for in-person settings, but that virtual hearings can make it worse.
If the owner still could not pay back the lien, Segal said, they could “decide that they want to transfer the value of their land to the community land trust as a way of resolving the debt.”
Lawsuit filed by TakeRoot on behalf of Chhaya CDC, Minkwon Center for Community Action and the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce argues that a full environmental review, with community input, was omitted and is necessary before City Council vote.
TakeRoot Justice has sued the authority, alleging the elevators and other persistent problems violate residents’ rights to live in safe, healthy conditions. A judge has ordered NYCHA to improve conditions, but the coronavirus has given renewed urgency to making fixes.
Tenants who helped derail development at two aging Yorkville public housing complexes are suing to demand decent living conditions.
To attorney Paula Segal of TakeRoot Justice, who is also working with the rezoning group, the judge’s comments “really opened the door to a collaborative approach” with the city. “We’re really happy about that,” she said.
TakeRoot’s Equitable Neighborhoods team represents Chhaya CDC, Minkwon Center for Community Action and the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce in litigation against the City for its unlawful curtailment of environmental review of the proposed Flushing Waterfront Rezoning and Special District.
