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Living Libraries

Past Project last updated March 31, 2009

An Affordable Housing Opportunity Takes Root

New York City's branch libraries play a vital role in the life of the city, acculturating new generations of immigrants, supplementing children's education beyond school walls, and offering new media to those who would not otherwise have access to technology.

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Coney Island Rezoning

Testimony last updated March 30, 2009

Testimony to Brooklyn Borough President on Coney Island Rezoning
March 30, 2009

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Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA)

Past Project last updated April 6, 2009

A New Destiny for an Old Urban Renewal Site

Four decades ago, an urban renewal project near the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge on Manhattan's Lower East Side displaced thousands of low-income tenants. While the city built affordable housing on some of the cleared parcels in the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA), several large blocks went undeveloped. Today, parking lots occupy the undeveloped zone of SPURA along Delancey Street, even while the Lower East Side, where the typical household earns $37,000 a year, urgently needs more affordable housing.

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Willets Point

Past Project last updated April 16, 2009

Community Planning for Economic Development

As the City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) moves to redevelop Willets Point, an industrial area nestled between Corona and Flushing north of Flushing Meadows Park, the Pratt Center for Community Development facilitated a series of workshops to identify and prioritize the concerns of area residents, business owners and workers.

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Downtown Brooklyn's Detour: The Unanticipated Impacts of Rezoning and Development on Residents and Businesses

Report last updated July 16, 2008

This report highlights the differences between the foreseen impacts declared by the city during its review of the Downtown Brooklyn Plan and the impacts now being felt by many people who have been living and doing business in Downtown Brooklyn. It compares the impacts of the rezoning as they were outlined in the plan's Final Environmental Impact Statement with how the area is now being developed.

Downtown Brooklyn Detour.pdf

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Support of Resolution 141

Testimony last updated September 19, 2006

Testimony to the New York City Council Land Use Committee In Support of Resolution 141, to Create "Industrial Employment Districts"

Brad Lander
Director, Pratt Center for Community Development
September 19, 2006

Chair Katz, members of the committee, thank you very much for this opportunity to present our testimony in favoring of maintaining a diverse economy and good jobs in manufacturing. My name is Brad Lander and I am the director of the Pratt Center for Community Development, a university- based organization that works for a more just, equitable, and sustainable city for all New Yorkers by helping communities to plan for and realize their futures.

We believe that if the City is serious about maintaining and strengthening in its manufacturing sector -- both for the diversity it brings to our overall economy, and for the good jobs it provides to New Yorkers, especially those with more limited education or English proficiency -- then it is essential for the City to adopt the proposed industrial employment district legislation. Morevoer, if we are truly serious about the goals and efforts of the Industrial Business Zones developed by the Bloomberg Administration, which we support, then we must make these zones a true feature of the City's land use system, that will last beyond one particular administration.

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Jamaica Rezoning

Testimony last updated May 23, 2007

Testimony to the City Planning Commission on the Jamaica Plan

Pratt Center for Community Development
Brad Lander
May 23, 2007

Chair Burden, members of the City Planning Commission, thank you for this opportunity to provide testimony today. My name is Brad Lander and I am the director of the Pratt Center for Community Development, a university-based center that works for a more just, equitable, and sustainable city for all New Yorkers by helping communities to plan for and realize their future.

The Pratt Center was honored to work with Community Board 12's Ad Hoc Committee on the Jamaica Plan. We have deep respect for their work, and all of the time, research, and passion they have put into this effort. We encourage you to give serious consideration to their position, which we believe reflects strong sentiments within the community. Our testimony today, however, is our own.

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Bedford Stuyvesant Rezoning

Testimony last updated August 8, 2007

Testimony to the NYC Department of City Planning on Proposed Rezoning of the Southern Area of Bedford-Stuyvesant

Rudy Bryant
Pratt Center for Community Development
August 8, 2007

Good Morning Madam Chair, Fellow Commissioners.

I am Rudy Bryant, former Associate Director for the Pratt Center for Community Development and its continuing representative to the Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford Stuyvesant on whose behalves I address you this morning.

As you may know, the Pratt Center, located in Brooklyn, is an advocacy planning and architectural technical assistance provider to many of New York City's community organizations engaged in community improvement. The Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford-Stuyvesant, first formed in 2002 as the 36th Council District Housing & Economic Development Task Force, represents more than 30 community development, planning and social service providers located in and or serving Bedford-Stuyvesant.

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Hunts Point Rezoning

Testimony last updated June 17, 2008

Testimony to the City Council Committee on Zoning and Franchises Special Hunts Point District, Bronx (C080248ZMX)

Joan Byron
Director, Sustainability and Environmental Justice Initiative
Pratt Center for Community Development
June 17, 2008

My name is Joan Byron; I am the Director of the Sustainability and Environmental Justice Initiative of the Pratt Center for Community and Environmental Development. The Pratt Center works for a more just, equitable, and sustainable city for all New Yorkers, by empowering communities to plan for and realize their futures. We are especially proud to have supported the work of Hunts Point and other South Bronx organizations since the early 1990s in the many battles they have fought for environmental justice; Hunts Point bears more than its share of the burdens of the infrastructure and land uses that make New York City's density and vitality possible, to the daily cost of the people who live, work, and breathe in the shadow of highways, electric power plants, sewage treatment and sludge pelletization facilities, and dozens of waste transfer stations and waste handling facilities.

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Pratt Center eNews - Summer 2008

News last updated September 4, 2008

In this Issue:

  • A Message from Pratt Center Sustainability and Environmental Justice Director Joan Byron
  • Mapping New York's Dwindling Manufacturing Land
  • Promoting Public Plazas
  • Downtown Brooklyn Report Supports Affordable Housing Advocacy
  • Energy Matters Launches
  • Seeking Policies to Support Independent Businesses
  • Meet Pratt Center's Summer Interns
  • Contribute

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