By Rachel Holliday Smith, dnainfo.com
Some neighborhood residents are angry that the borough president set a community meeting about rezoning part of Empire Boulevard for Friday evening, which would exclude observant Jews and people leaving for the weekend.
Neighborhood residents asked Borough President Eric Adams to convene a forum about rezoning part of the boulevard between Flatbush and Rogers avenues so his office set it for 6 p.m. at Full Gospel Assembly, 131 Sullivan Place.
But the time Adams’ office set for the forum upset residents eager to weigh in, especially Jews who observe Shabbat at that time and others who will be out of town.
“Why are you making a forum on a weekend — on a Friday at 6 o’clock — if you want participation from the community?” said Alicia Boyd, founder of Movement to Protect the People, an organization fighting zoning efforts in the neighborhood that could bring tall residential towers.
Several of the organization’s members who cannot attend the forum because they have weekend plans, Boyd said.
Jewish residents and store owners on Empire have a more immovable conflict: observance of Shabbat, which begins at sundown on Friday.
Community Board 9 alerted the borough president’s office about this conflict in an email.
“Just a gentle reminder that we have Jewish property owners on Empire Blvd., who will not be able to participate in this forum,” district manager Pearl Miles wrote to a borough hall staffer last week.
In answer, the staff member wrote back that the community had specifically requested the meeting and “if there is a need for an additional forum, we will host it.”
But that’s not a sufficient solution to Rabbi Jacob Goldstein, a longtime Crown Heights resident who chaired CB9 for three decades.
“If Borough Hall was smart, they’d say, ‘No, we have to do it Monday through Thursday,'” the rabbi said. “The government should not be sponsoring, co-sponsoring or hosting meetings that fall on religious days.”
Adams’ office did not respond to inquiries about the rezoning forum from DNAinfo New York.
The idea to rezone Empire Boulevard is part of a larger effort to study rezoning throughout Community Board 9, which covers southern Crown Heights and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens.
CB9 requested that the City Planning Commission begin the rezoning study in a letter written to the agency in April.
The Empire Boulevard rezoning forum will take place Friday, August 15 at 6 p.m. at the Full Gospel Assembly church located at 131 Sullivan Pl. in Brooklyn.
Asked HoRav Schweitzer: Heter Gomur completely permissible to attend and it might be a good idea for those concerned.
Has anyone asked a Rov. I checked out the space. You go through an anteroom devoid of any hint of religious symbols into a likewise bare utility room which is used for (your tax dollars @ work) day care. I have heard of heterim for other purposes to be in such a room. Particularly since this is a question of Jewish money (matzil miyodom) and not bending over to pressure. A motion to reschedule might be in order.
First of all, ANY house of worship should not be a venue for government-connected activities, period. Second of all, what makes anyone think that the timing for this meeting wasn’t deliberate? The average working person is first arriving home from work at that hour, tired and hungry. Often there’s also a family waiting for him/her . Maybe this meeting wasn’t for the simple working folk. Maybe, just maybe, there’s a (not so) hidden agenda here…
A religious center that represents one religion as a meeting place for a municipal decision representing all residents of all religions is a clear mixing of church and state and probably violates constitutional laws.
To all the above commenters who are surprised at recent events. It’s really naïve to put your trust in any of the council people/politicians in this neighborhood. The answer, some think, is to be more diplomatic, more ‘nice’ and then they will ‘like’ us. The truth is that the modest, refined behavior that we should use at home and amongst other modest and refined people does not work amongst those who do not have such values. There is nowhere in the Torah that forbids using the hard line with those who are not our friends. In fact using timid, flattering… Read more »
Full Gospel Assembly
836 Franklin Avenue This is the location of the Zoning Meeting
They also scheduled a community event on the 9th of AV.
Eric Adams has in the past displayed some sensitivity to CH, why would he allow his office to do this now? Can the askanism who usually talk to him call him up?
Has anyone asked our Rabbonim? What if large numbers of Jews showed up and demanded the meeting be rescheduled? Mefakchin … BeShabbos.
Rezoning means buidings for hipsters not fr us!!! I see many other chasidim buying properties and buikding studios etc in the heart of our community. This just destroys the neighberhood.
The hipsters and yuppies bring a ton of money with them.
Folks it’s simple: ‘If you cannot make it in pvt. business, go into government.’
Why not re-zone everything for residential use & when you need a gas station, auto repair, hardware store, shoemaker, dry cleaner, supermarket where do you go? Remsen, :Utica?
We must register to vote and we must actually come out anf vote even in the most boring elections. There’s only 3 ways to influence politicians 1) strong voting. 2) Money. 3) being willing to take to the streets. Option#1 I would hope is the easiest for us to work on.
CH residents should remember this @ next election time. It’s a reminder that when we don’t have close to 100% Anash registration & voter participation, politicians will take advantage of us.
The meeting doesn’t END at 6. It’s SCHEDULED to START at 6. When’s the last time you started a meeting an hour and half before Shabbos?
Would Eric Adams’ office have scheduled it for less than 2 hours before Xmas Eve or less than 2 hours before church time on Easter Sunday?
I hope this answers your question.
And also there are families who bring in Shabbos a bit early in the summer (6:00 or 6:30), for the children’s sake.
So now I hope you have the answers you need.
What do you expect? Jews are a minority in Crown Heights & are treated as nothings. We can all cite plenty of discrimination we have experienced. Why would scheduling this meeting be different?
No one wants to go to a church right before Shabbos for a long zoning meeting.
I goto the mikvah at 7:30 so i think i can squeeze in 6pm …lol
residential towers with the crazy one lane on empire blvd will be a traffic disaster…the city is getting crazier….with one lane traffic in one of the most congested cities. the highest tax rate (higher then CA) extra taxes like frivolous parking tickets…make this city undesirable…when yuppies leave Brooklyn and Manhattan separates from the boroughs, Brooklyn is doomed.
um….who is observing Shabbos at 6pm exactly?
Request a follow up meeting for 2am motzei Shabbos Selichos and see if they schedule it then. It’s a disgrace to schedule a meeting when a meaningful portion of the constituency can not attend. Especially if it’s during the regular work week.
Is it ok to go to the meeting even during the week??
I would like to go