Innovation QNS = Gentrification BS

Matt, an Astoria tenant asks, “can you give me an example of when a development like this has lowered the cost of living?” They had NOTHING pic.twitter.com/n3mMk9Wk4z

— CAAAV #StopTheTowers #SaveOurHomes (@caaav) April 20, 2022

 

QNS 

Astoria residents and activists made their opposition to Innovation QNS loud and clear Wednesday night outside the Museum of the Moving Image where developers held a town hall presenting the project, which would add a set of 12 luxury high-rise buildings centered on five blocks around the intersection of Steinway Street and 35th Avenue.

The $2 billion project, which is led by Kaufman Astoria Studios, Silverstein Properties and BedRock Real Estate Partners, is touted by developers as a benefit to the community, adding 711 affordable apartments and “much-needed” open space. However, residents are convinced Innovation QNS will raise the cost of living, completely changing the economic and cultural make-up of their neighborhood. 

Innovation QNS will reserve about 25 percent of its residential spaces for affordable housing, which would leave 2,120 units priced at the market rate: ranging from $2,000-$3,000 a month for a studio to $4,000 for a two-bedroom. 

Innovation QNS consists of 12 buildings, with eight standing at over 15 floors and the two largest at 27 floors.

About 60 residents passionately chanted “Innovation QNS is gentrification QNS,” outside of the town hall where developers presented the project inside. The protesters, many of whom were immigrants, said that these luxury buildings will inevitably drive up rents in the surrounding area, forcing long-time residents to move — as seen previously in gentrified neighborhoods like Long Island City and Williamsburg in Brooklyn.

Hazra Rahman, a two-decades-long resident of Queensbridge Houses, said that this project would displace her and her husband. 

“Astoria has been a landing place for working-class Bengali people and we have a right to stay,” Rahman said. “Our family should be able to live and thrive in Astoria, but they are being pushed farther and farther away. There are no deeply affordable apartments for us. Our beloved small businesses are going to get priced out too.” 

Bishop Mitchell Taylor, a partner with Innovation QNS and CEO of Urban Upbound, stated that instead of these luxury buildings driving up the cost of living in the area, it will lower rents in Astoria — which angry protesters called out as a lie.

“To create 700 affordable units, then to create an additional supply that will drive prices of existing [housing] stock down, I think creates a tremendous opportunity for us, especially Black and brown communities that have historically been left out of this part of Astoria,” Taylor said. 

As protesters made their way inside the Museum of the Moving Image to join the town hall, they had a chance to directly confront developers during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani stood alongside disgruntled residents and directly responded to Taylor’s comments.

“Bishop Taylor, you had been talking about the impact of what those 25 percent of affordable units would do — that they would drive down the rents in the surrounding area — I have a different analysis about the 75 percent of market-rate units where they drive up rents,” Mamdani said. 

Other residents echoed these concerns during the town hall.

Mamdani said that Astoria is in the midst of a massive displacement problem and Innovation QNS’ plan to add 711 affordable apartments masquerades the detriment to the community.

“What we’re looking at is only going to accelerate the displacement faced by so many of my constituents,” Mamdani said. “If you have more than 2,000 market-rate apartments coming up here, we will see more and more landlords looking at those units as the new going rate for living in Astoria.”

Fuel Grannie

Oof, I knew exactly what we were in for the minute I saw Mitchie Taylor seated on the stage.

The presence of Urban Upbound’s notorious CEO at yesterday’s barely-advertised InnovationsQNS town hall could only mean one thing: this project is a scam and Big Sleazy is likely being compensated to promote said scam, as he had been with both Amazon HQ2LIC and YourLIC.

Mitchell Taylor, who owns a $2million home on Long Island, brings that sell out energy as he claims to represent the entire Queensbridge population while his history reflects an exploitation of that community for his own profit.

There’s also his repeated history of sexually harassing women.

And during the summer of 2020, as covid raged and people sought outdoor refuge, Taylor’s nonprofit security company infamously and conveniently profited when Gantry Plaza State Park, a public park, was used by the, ah, public while the wealthy inhabitants of the waterfront luxury towers whined and railed about too many unwelcomed humans visible from their lofty, shiny, windowed perches.

At yesterday’s town hall, as Taylor detailed a planned “community center” to “house neighborhood nonprofits” within the 27-story towers of InnovationQNS, I could not help but wonder that the only nonprofits which might end up using that space will be those umbrellaed under Taylor’s highly profitable Urban Upbound.

Bishop opposed to safety bill

From the Times Ledger:

A community leader in Astoria is strongly opposing construction safety legislation that is currently enjoying wide support in the City Council.

Intro 1447 is making its way through the legislative process and is already co-sponsored by 47 of the 51 Council members. Bishop Mitchell Taylor, the co-founder and CEO of Urban Upbound, is warning the measure could have an averse effect on minority hiring, however, particularly at the Hallets Point construction site at 26-01 1st St., right next door to the Astoria Houses.

The bill is part of a larger package of legislation called the Construction Safety Act, which critics say would result in the exclusion of non-union workers from employment opportunities.

Urban Upbound is a non-profit organization that serves public housing residents and other low-income New Yorkers in order to break the cycle of poverty by providing residents with the tools and resources they need to achieve economic mobility and self-sufficiency.

“One way we achieve that is by helping residents gain employment on new construction projects,” Taylor wrote in a letter to City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside). “These jobs are a lifeline that can enable the people we serve to better provide for their families or even avoid becoming homeless.”

Taylor fears Intro 1447, originally called the apprenticeship mandate, would require that all workers on a construction site must complete at least 59 hours of safety training.

Workers currently need just 10 hours of safety training from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Pickaxe waved at protest

From the Queens Tribune:

Weeks of dispute over hiring at a new Long Island City hotel have culminated in a tense back and forth between hotel managers and the community.

Queensbridge residents and members of nonprofit Urban Upbound gathered outside the soon to open Mayflower International Hotel last Friday morning to protest alleged unfair hiring practices there. The press conference followed an episode in which Urban Upbound CEO and senior pastor at Center of Hope International Bishop Mitchell Taylor was recorded on hotel cameras shoving an employee who confronted him at the door.

Taylor and a handful of employees then exited the hotel pushing and shoving, with Taylor briefly grabbing a pickaxe and waving it upside down at the workers.

Taylor issued an apology for the violence at Friday’s rally.

“I apologize for that kind of aggression and [that] incident, but I don’t apologize for standing up for my community,” Taylor said.

A number of other speakers issued their support for Taylor regarding the altercation, including Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan (D-Sunnyside), who said, “I have no issues with what happened yesterday.”