
New York City Council Member Rafael Espinal. Image credit: NYCC/William Alatriste
The modified East New York Rezoning includes such deep levels of affordability that Council Members referred to the rezoning plan as a “unicorn,” though all hope to use it as an example for future rezonings. On April 14, 2016, the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and Committee on Land Use held back-to-back meetings on the Department of City Planning’s East New York Rezoning Plan, which would affect the greater East New York area of Brooklyn. The proposed rezoning would make East New York the first of 15 neighborhoods to be rezoned under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Housing New York plan.