NYCommons Case Studies

In the summer of 2016, the NYCommons team collaborated with the Let’s Rebuild Cromwell Coalition in Staten Island. At the time, the Draft Scope of Work for the Environmental Impact Study of the proposed Bay Street Corridor Rezoning had just come out and the City had announced the mandatory public hearing. The group’s main goal was to get the City to rebuild are public recreation center that had fallen into the sea. The City wanted to build a center in an entirely different neighborhood. By February 2017, the group had extracted promises from the City Administration to do just what they had been asking them to do! Feel free to borrow from the presentations we created for the group. In Staten Island Pilot #1 you will learn about:

The community group Let’s Rebuild Cromwell and their advocacy work
What’s happening along Bay Street with the City’s proposed rezoning
What agencies make land use decisions
How you can influence them

In Staten Island Pilot #2 you will learn about:

The City’s plan to study Bay St for a rezoning
Ways the community could respond
How to brainstorm what the community wants to see and what groups are already advocating for
How to prepare for a Scoping Hearing on the Bay St rezoning

Sample Scoping Hearing Template

Our community partner in Red Hook in summer 2016 was the Carroll Gardens Association, is a longstanding staffed organization in the early stages of forming a neighborhood coalition to advocate for affordable housing and other priorities of low-income residents. Ultimately, the workshops left the newly formed Red Hook Community Coalition feeling energized and excited to continue working together going ahead. Feel free to borrow from the presentations we created for the group. In Red Hook Pilot #1, you will learn about:

The rules that affect what’s built on private land
How the community can have a voice in the process

In Red Hook Pilot #2, you will learn about:

The rules that apply to public property in Red Hook that’s owned by the Port Authority, NYCHA property, and parkland.
How the community can influence what happens on public property
Steps to develop a Community Coalition

Sample Neighborhood Map | Sample Guide to Neighborhood Elected Advocates

Our community partner on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Sara D. Roosevelt Park Coalition, was founded in the 1980’s, and has a successful record of cleaning up the park, and creating and maintaining three GreenThumb Gardens and a bird sanctuary as well as helping install a non-profit low-income senior center in one of the park’s four buildings. Their project is to recapture for community use a New York City Parks building that was built as a community center and closed down in the 1970s. The workshops led to meetings with Department of Parks personnel and elected officials. The building is steps closer to re-opening as a community center as a result of the Coalition’s efforts. Feel free to borrow from the presentations we created for the group. In Lower East Side Pilot #1, you will learn

About the history of the community fight for the Stanton Building
Community visions for the building
Who owns and and controls the Stanton Building
How to influence what happens at the Stanton Building

In Lower East Side Pilot #2, you will learn about:

Where NYC Parks land comes from and what has happened to Parks buildings
How money gets allocated to parks
Strategies to build community power