By ohtadmin | on October 19, 2021
On Wednesday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams tweeted his opposition to planned affordable housing development in Flatbush said to sit atop a centuries-old African burial ground.
He said, “Our borough absolutely needs to build more affordable housing, especially in Flatbush, but I cannot support building it on an area shown to have human remains of enslaved people below. I stand in solidarity with the vision for a memorial and open space.”
In 2020, the City announced plans to convert the site into affordable housing with around 100 affordable apartments and a youth community facility.
The Flatbush African Burial Ground Remembrance and Redevelopment Task Force is leading an effort to build community-based recommendations on how to honor the African burial ground and serve the neighborhood with 100% affordable housing, youth-programming, and other neighborhood amenities.
Adams, who co-chairs the task force on the issue, says the city-owned site of the demolished PS 90, which is currently vacant, should be a culturally appropriate memorial, accompanied by open space.
A few days before, the Flatbush African Burial Ground Coalition gathered in front of Brooklyn Borough Hall & the NYC Department of Housing and Preservation to send a message to the city to stop plans to hand Flatbush African Burial Ground sacred land over to a developer.
In October 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Member Mathieu Eugene announced plans to transform a site on the corner of Bedford and Church Avenues into affordable homes and youth-focused programming.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and City Council Member Mathieu Eugene convened and co-chaired the Task Force in late 2020 as a collaborative…