Rezoning Victory!

Dear supporters,  

It is with great excitement that the Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition for Justice (GNCJ) announces a historic win for equity, inclusion, and resilience in Gowanus.  

GNCJ was founded as a racially and socioeconomically diverse coalition to elevate the voices of the Gowanus community in New York City’s planning process for Gowanus, Brooklyn.  

Over the past 5 years, GNCJ actively organized to ensure that the NYC DCP rezoning of Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood would further fair housing, as well as environmental, racial, and economic justice. 

In November 2021, with the support from our allies, now former Council Members Brad Lander and Stephen Levin, GNCJ successfully won commitments from the de Blasio Mayoral administration and successor administrations to ensure equitable results for Gowanus. Of our top three dealbreaker demands, the city committed to: 

• Funding for comprehensive renovations of all units at NYCHA developments Gowanus Houses and Wyckoff Houses, at an estimated cost of $200 million. 

• Increased on-site requirements for stormwater management to prevent Combined Sewer Overflow and a $174 million upgrade to sewer infrastructure. 

• A commitment from all city agencies to regular reporting and senior agency staff participation in a Community Oversight Task Force. 

There are many more commitments that were made possible by the continual advocacy by GNCJ, member organizations, Public Housing residents, and the support from the Council Members and their staff. You can read the full Points of Agreement document here. We would like to thank everyone involved in GNCJ over the years, from the initial stages of determining our principles, demands and building a coalition, to members that joined in recent years, to all of you who signed onto to our petitions. 

It is through this vibrant and determined community effort for equity that we stand victorious in all our dealbreakers and many of our other demands. GNCJ has created a model of engagement and advocacy that we’re proud of and we aspire for our work to inspire other communities.  

Of course, we’re not done yet, but we’re declaring victory as we turn our focus to ensuring the commitments we won will be met.   

Thanks to you, the future is more fair and just in Gowanus.