PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Barry Weinberg, 1st Vice Chair of Manhattan Community Board 9, on 135th Street Rezoning Proposal
0:09:52
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136 sec
Barry Weinberg, representing Manhattan Community Board 9, testifies against the 135th Street rezoning proposal, citing concerns about the property owner's history of tenant harassment and environmental issues. He urges the council not to support the applications for this project.
- Reveals that the property owner, Crosstown Holdings, is a subsidiary of Castellon Real Estate Partners, known for tenant harassment
- Expresses doubts about the landlord's commitment to mitigating environmental problems if rezoning is granted
- Suggests alternative sites for upzoning that the community board considers more suitable
Barry Weinberg
0:09:52
Okay.
0:09:53
I will just proceed then.
0:09:54
And if you enable my video, let me know.
0:09:58
Good morning, and thank you to the council members present, including Avelis Hanks, Schulman, Carr, Menin, and thank you to sub community chair, Riley, and our own council member of Rahel.
0:10:08
In my previous testimony last week in this zoning items, I told you the owner of the property had never met with the community board, which of which I am first vice chair.
0:10:16
Only their architects and attorney have been present.
0:10:19
It has been brought to our attention since the last attempt, Albert Keuring, that the owner of the building of Crosstown Holdings is in fact a subsidiary of Castillon Real Estate Partners.
0:10:30
Castleon has a long history of tenant harassment and exploitation in our district and government hadn't at large.
0:10:35
They were subject to a state TPU appointed monitor for 51 properties after being found to have harassment tenants by calling in Spanish speaking tenants and threatening them with eviction within 30 days if they did not provide passports or proof of citizenship and pay stubs for proof of income even if they have been tenants in the apartments for years.
0:10:53
They were one of the most litigious landlords and evicting their tenants in removing apartments from rent stabilization so they could flip the buildings sometimes double the price they pay.
0:11:01
They continue to harass tenants in our community at 515 West 11th Street, filing baseless lawsuits every month against tenants who pay on time and cause new problems.
0:11:09
This is not NASA Freight development.
0:11:12
The council, if it grants these recent earnings and special permits, are substantially increasing the value of this piece of land through discretionary action, given all of the environmental problems that the landlord is promising to mitigate from noise, vibration, exhaust, flooding, and soil contamination Why does the council have faith that a landlord that repeatedly has acted in bad faith over many decades would suddenly care about the comfort and safety of tenants if it gets a rezoning?
0:11:37
We continue to urge the council to not support these applications for this project.
0:11:41
If this building is built and a trained derailment occurs, or there are serious environmental issues that make it uninhabitable, we do not want the residents subjected to that to ask who allowed this building to be built.
0:11:51
Our community board has numerous more suitable sites for up zoning, including our proposed morning site, Heights rezoning, ended 1727 Amsterdam Avenue.
0:12:00
We urge the council to partner with us to make these sites
Kevin C. Riley
0:12:02
I have
Barry Weinberg
0:12:02
as a required housing resource.
0:12:04
New affordable housing in our neighborhood but through rezoning.
0:12:07
Thank you for your time.
