To the editor:
Those of us in Van Cortlandt Village/Kingsbridge Heights are fortunate to live here - the rents (in most cases) are reasonable, services are available for families and senior citizens and where possible, environmental imperatives, like trees and parks, have been preserved. Over generations, this has fostered a true sense of community. Many long-time residents have worked hard to preserve and develop our nurturing, friendly, multigenerational and diverse neighborhood.
But in some cases, things are changing for the worse. New housing (and even classic older housing like Amalgamated) is becoming unaffordable. Services that we have come to rely on, like senior centers and day care centers, are under threat.
As a result, many are concerned with new developments because the work being done is not in line with the needs of what has been a historically stable community. In many cases, new developments are out of context with their surroundings, trees and other green infrastructure have been carelessly destroyed and organizations and services that make our neighborhood a little easier to navigate are losing their spaces. This is a serious problem for all who live here.
We need affordable housing. We need parks, schools, places of worship, senior centers, day cares and pre-schools, accessible health centers, grocery stores, delis/bodegas, libraries and so much more.
Over time, our communities of faith have been anchors for many who have lived here for generations. However, with aging populations, some congregations are having difficulty maintaining their physical sites and they’ve put their properties up for sale.
At this critical juncture, they need to align their plans with the communities they have counted on to maintain their congregations. When developers, with no care or connection to our communities come calling and flash overflowing wallets with grandiose promises, congregational leaders, like those at the Van Cortlandt Jewish Center (VCJC), need to adhere to the guidance of their faiths and their moral obligations to the communities.
There is a divisive and unnecessary struggle between the VCJC and surrounding community on the future of the synagogue’s properties and how the process is being managed. Three fundamental concepts in Judaism speak to a sacred obligation that VCJC leaders are ignoring: kehillah (community), tzedakah (charity and social justice), and tikkun olam (repair of the world). The words convey the sacred obligations inherent in each. Jewish history demands a sense of community and responsibility to the world at large.
Community members have been advocating for housing that is affordable to the people in the neighborhood, including seniors (rather than market-rate housing), and for community services like the senior center and childcare center housed in the VCJC building. Synagogue leadership has refused to engage in dialogue with community members who have significant experience and expertise in development that builds, not tears down, vital neighborhood infrastructure. They have gone to great lengths to keep their plans secret and asked for a non-disclosure agreement from those of us seeking to help. What are they hiding? One must ask, how does that behavior support the values and principles of communities of faith?
The VCJC’s tactics are but one example of a hurtful development process in our community and it is a conflict that is very much alive right now. Still, it is not too late for the leaders of the VCJC and their neighbors to work together. Let’s work in collaboration with not only developers, but community organizations and leaders, elected representatives, the community board and other supportive entities, so that those with real expertise on how to build and at the same time improve, not hurt, the nature and stability of our precious community and its resources can have input.
Together we can support communities of faith, affordable neighborhoods, seniors, children and all of us who live here in one of the best neighborhoods in New York City.
Laura Chenven and Michael Stollar