INWOOD — Critics of the controversial rezoning plan for Sherman Plaza are crying foul after the NYPD rejected their request for a permit to hold a protest outside City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez's office Monday night — just days before he announced he was holding his own press conference on the issue the same night.
Opponents of the rezoning plan held a march and protest earlier this month, sparking a shouting match between some attendees and Rodriguez, and they had hoped to schedule another round at his 618 W. 177th St. office after Rodriguez postponed the City Council's vote on the project until Tuesday.
But organizers said the NYPD on Friday rejected their application for a permit to hold a protest with amplified sound, only a day after they applied.
“We were told that we were denied because the decision was made from the top,” organizer Samuel Biagetti said.
Police sources said the permit was denied due to residential restrictions and “other factors regarding the matter.”
Biagetti said that within days of finding out their application had been rejected, Rodriguez announced he would hold a last-minute press conference on Monday night at the site of the controversial project — the same time critics were planning a rally in front of the councilman’s Washington Heights office.
Rodriguez's office released a statement Sunday afternoon with details of the press conference, slated to take place at the corner of Sherman Avenue and Broadway at 6:30 p.m. Monday, a block from the planned development at 4650 Broadway.
The councilman's office said it planned to reveal a "good sense of where we are at this time."
Critics blasted it as a “clear last-minute ploy” to “distract” residents.
Under the rezoning plan, developers Washington Square Partners and Acadia have requested the right to build a taller project in exchange for adding some affordable units. If allowed to build as high as 17 stories for the 413-unit project, the developer will set aside 20 percent of the apartments for low-income families and an additional 30 percent for "moderate incomes," according to the most recent application.
The exact amount of the "moderate income" units was not made available.
Critics say the rezoning would set a bad precedent in the community.
"A spot upzoning of a single lot to allow for a huge influx of luxury housing will have a hugely disruptive impact on the affordable housing stock in the area and will lead to increased displacement of existing tenants, who are already struggling to hold on to their rent stabilized apartments," said resident David Friend in an email to DNAinfo.
"The community is united against this rezoning — anything but a 'no' vote is a betrayal of the constituents, who the Councilmember is elected to represent and particularly to the most vulnerable among us, who will be on the front lines of landlord harassment, extreme rent burdens, forced displacement, and potential homelessness.
“Councilmember Rodriguez has spent the last week trying to avoid his constituents,” Friend added. “The bottom line is that Rodriguez repeatedly promised his constituents that he would not support this rezoning, if it did not provide 50% of units guaranteed at affordability numbers.”
Two City Council committee meetings — the Zoning and Franchises and Land Use committees — will hear the Sherman Plaza proposal at a hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday at 250 Broadway.
If the application passes the committee level, the full Council will vote on the application, a spokeswoman confirmed. If it does not, however, the full Council will not vote on the application, and the developer can either “build a market-rate building as-of-right” or submit a new application to start the process all over again, the spokeswoman said.
