New York: Victory rally against gentrification and displacement

New York: Victory rally against gentrification and displacement

Woodside vs Megachurch

WOODSIDE, New York–On Thursday evening, community organizations and residents gathered on 69th Street and Roosevelt Avenue underneath the 7 train in a rally to announce their victory against the Megachurch. Speakers from Anakbayan New York, Queens Anti-Gentrification Project (QAGP), the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON), and Coalition to Defend Corona expressed solidarity with the Woodside community in the larger fight against gentrification and displacement.

Last year in September 2016, the Universal Church made their first public proposal to expand their current structure into a “megachurch” that would stand at 70 feet high, taller than any of the neighboring buildings.  The construction would violate a New York City building code that limits the height of building construction.

In response to this construction, community organizations including Anakbayan New York, Filipino American Democratic Club, UniPro, Queens Anti-Gentrification Project and community members held an initial meeting and formed the Coalition to Defend Little Manila. Since then, community members and organizations have held information forums, speak outs and protests against the megachurch.

From the coalition’s outreach and organizing efforts in the buildings and small businesses around the church, they learned that community members were concerned about the height of the building and its impacts on the quality of life of residents surrounding the church – pollution, blocked sunlight, traffic, etc.  In addition, the proposed megachurch construction would be out of context to the neighborhood.

Threat to the community

The coalition recognized that any proposal like the megachurch posed a threat to the community in that it would invite big businesses to commercialize and develop Woodside.  According to a statement from Anakbayan New York, a grassroots progressive Filipino youth organization, the construction of the megachurch “would encourage gentrification and displacement of residents, especially working class immigrant communities.”

“This is not a unique story, other immigrant communities experience the same displacement. They will displace us from our homelands, and even from here in the US, because it makes them money.  It is only by coming together that we can fight off displacement,” said Felipe Asuncion of NAFCON.

“Development is generally not a bad thing, but when it fails to involve the community and keeps them in the dark, then the development is not truly for the people but for the interests of big corporations. This historically has been the case in other neighborhoods in NYC – Brooklyn, Harlem, and LIC,” said Nikki Pagulayan, Chairperson of Anakbayan NY.

Victory for Woodside Community

In January of this year, the Woodside community claimed its first victory against the megachurch when the Community Board 2 Land Use Committee unanimously voted against the construction of the megachurch.  In February, the community claimed its second victory when the whole of Community Board 2 also voted unanimously against the construction.  In June of this year, the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) confirmed that the Universal Church had not submitted any new material since being denied in March.  Members of Anakbayan New York on behalf of the Coalition to Defend Little Manila submitted a request to the BSA to dismiss the application, making it challenging for the Universal Church to ever move forward with their application.

According to the Coalition to Defend Little Manila, this victory would not have happened without the community themselves organizing to defend their neighborhood. “It was the residents and business owners, the youth and students who voiced their concerns by petitioning against the construction of the megachurch, attending Community Board meetings, and sharing with members of the Coalition on how they opposed such a development in their community,” said Michael Garrovillas, Secretary General of Anakbayan NY and a resident of Woodside.

The fight against gentrification and displacement ongoing

While Woodside can claim victory against the megachurch, speakers emphasized the need to build unity among the neighborhoods along Roosevelt Avenue.

“Our fight against the megachurch rezoning is just the start – we as grassroots organizers will continue to stand in solidarity against projects like the triple threat,” said Grace of QAGP referring to the proposed BQX trolley, Long Island City Core rezoning and Sunnyside yards development. “These plans may start in LIC but they will directly hurt low income and working class communities like Little Manila, as land values rise and people are pushed deeper and deeper into Queens in search of relatively ‘cheaper’ rents.”

“The NYC Democratic machine is well funded by corporate real estate and thrives off of divide and conquer politics, picking each neighborhood off one by one.  The only way to defend any neighborhood along the 7 train is to unite all neighborhoods along the 7 train,” said Dee Ray of QAGP.

Grassroots organizations organizing on Roosevelt Avenue call on the community to defend their neighborhoods from gentrification and displacement that is slowly inching its way from Long Island City and Flushing.
Dom Liwanag, a Woodside resident and member of Migrante NY, a grassroots organization of Filipino migrants and workers, calls on Filipinos to be a part of the fight against gentrification:

“Pag aralan natin ang mga kondisyong ito na patuloy na nagpapahirap sa ating mga manggagawa at migrante! Sama sama nating bakahin ang hindi makamasang mga “development” na ito. At organisahin pa ang iba pang mga migranteng Pilipino.

[Let us study these conditions that makes it harder for us workers and migrants. Together, let us fight against this anti-people development and organize other Filipino migrants].”

Garrovillas furthers that “this small victory is but one step in a larger struggle against gentrification and [that] only with the support of the people from the broadest sectors of society can we truly achieve real victories in this fight against displacement.” The rally commemorated a huge victory for the community but ultimately served as a reminder of all the work to be done moving forward.

(PRESS RELEASE)