The Patch Interview: A Chat With Community Board 7 District Manager Jeremy Laufer

SUNSET PARK and WINDSOR TERRACE, BROOKLYN — During his sixteen years as district manager of Community Board 7, Jeremy Laufer has seen plenty of local changes.

CB7 represents Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace and South Slope. In recent decades, he said, the communities have successfully fought for additional public schools (including P.S. 971, P.S. 516 and P.S. 437), defeated a plan to bring a floating power plant to the area, and worked to secure the economic redevelopment of the waterfront.

The safety of 4th Avenue has improved, Laufer said, with traffic reduced from three lanes to two in each direction, and with planted medians planned for the 4th Avenue between 15th Street and 60th Street.

Today, Laufer says CB7's zone of operation is experiencing an "unprecedented" level of investment, along with "very strong job growth in a way we haven't seen in decades." (A recent report by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli described Sunset Park as a "neighborhood on the rise," in large part for that reason.)

But Laufer said that many local issues remain to be addressed. (A long list of them will be included in the community board's 2016 budget priorities document, which it will finalize after a to-be-announced public hearing in October.)

In the last year, the city has started renting space in five area hotels for homeless families, Laufer said. The district manager emphasized that homeless individuals are as deserving of shelter as anyone else, both legally and morally. However, he said the Department of Homeless Services is "not reaching out to the community to let us know they're doing this," which troubles residents and "stigmatizes the families, because it seems like the city's doing this secretly."

On a related note, Laufer said the board wants the city to change an effective zoning loophole allowing the construction of new hotels in M-3 (or light manufacturing) zones without community input. A significant chunk of Sunset Park is zoned as M-3, he said, and the area doesn't want to turn over too much of its manufacturing base to the hospitality industry.

Despite the schools that have been added in past years, the district remains in desperate need of additional school space, Laufer said, a point driven home during a contentious board meeting earlier this year over whether the landmarked former police precinct headquarters at 4th Ave. and 43rd Street should become a new school.

"We have schools that are 60 or 70 percent overcrowded," Laufer said, which "limits the ability of programming" to reach local kids.

Looking ahead, the district manager said he soon expects the Brooklyn Public Library and the Fifth Avenue Committee to officially seek permission to tear down the Sunset Park Library so it can be replaced with an affordable apartment building that has a new library inside. (The plan has already sparked protests.)

Also down the line, Industry City is expected to seek a zoning change to its property, in an attempt to open it up to new hotels and other non-industrial uses.

Asked about job creation at the sprawling redevelopment development, Laufer said the board wants "to see efforts made to connect the community to these jobs."

He said he was glad that Sunset Park High School is now offering training in healthcare work, considering the sector's growth in the neighborhood, but added that it remains critical to both "train the workers of tomorrow" and "our current workers" who need jobs now.

All of the community board's meetings are open to the public. Scheduling updates are typically posted on the CB7 website, and you can reach the board from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week by calling 718-854-0003. Laufer said the easiest way to stay in touch is to sign up for the CB7 email newsletter. You can do that by sending an email to bk07@cb.nyc.gov.

The board tweets @BkCB7, is on Facebook, and has an Instagram page as well.

Pictured at top: Jeremy Laufer, center, speaks during a recent event in Sunset Park. Image courtesy of the subject.