Supporters Of Blood Center Tower Step Up Lobbying Ahead Of Vote

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — In recent months, supporters of the New York Blood Center's controversial rezoning have been almost entirely drowned out by its detractors, but a new coalition aims to shake up that dynamic as the project heads toward a final showdown.

The coalition of labor and community groups has formed with the express purpose of boosting the proposal — which centers around a 334-foot-tall life sciences hub on East 67th Street, dubbed "Center East" — before the City Council holds an expected vote on it in the coming weeks. They will kick off their efforts in a letter to Upper East Side City Councilmember Ben Kallos, urging him and his colleagues to support the rezoning.

The letter, obtained by Patch, frames the debate in explicitly racial terms, arguing that a small, predominantly white group of Upper East Side residents should not be able to derail a project expected to create thousands of jobs and contribute to key research initiatives.

"Opponents of the project are complaining about the building height, shadows, and how workers and staff from Center East will crowd their nearby park. These 'Not in My Back Yard' (NIMBY) opponents are overwhelmingly white and wealthy," the letter reads.

"We can’t help but observe that their real opposition may be to more Black and brown New Yorkers working on the Upper East Side and spending time there."

The coalition's leaders include Laborers' Local 79, a prominent construction workers' union, whose leaders have vocally supported the Blood Center project for its potential to create more than 1,500 construction jobs.

Other members are new to the debate, like Community Voices Heard, an East Harlem-based progressive group that advocates for racial and economic justice; and Urban Upbound, a Queens-based antipoverty group focused on employment help and college access, which has partnered with Local 79 in the past.

City Council showdown approaches

First unveiled last fall, the proposal by the nonprofit blood bank aims to replace its aging, three-story headquarters with a 16-story research tower filled with laboratories, offices and more. To build it, the Blood Center must persuade the city to rezone the block to allow for more dense construction.

It has stoked fierce opposition from neighbors who object to the precedent that would be set by "upzoning" a mid-block site, as well as concerns about shadows the tower would cast on nearby St. Catherine's Park.

Winding its way through the monthslong public review process known as ULURP, the Blood Center rezoning is currently before the City Planning Commission, whose 12 members have until around the end of September to hold a vote. A majority vote to disapprove would likely kill the project, while approval would send it to the City Council, which will have 50 days to approve or disapprove it.

Kallos has come out strongly against the Blood Center project, centering his concerns around its shadows, zoning changes and the strong local pushback it has received.

Historically, the Council has allowed members to essentially veto land-use projects in their own districts, a practice known as member deference. If that holds, the Blood Center could be in trouble — but the practice has shown signs of waning recently, meaning nothing will be certain until the Council holds its vote.

Kallos, who is term-limited and will leave office in January, has also been skeptical of claims that the Blood Center rezoning would serve racial justice goals, pushing back after advocates first rolled out that argument at a July public hearing.

"We haven’t received any evidence whatsoever that a commercial biotech office tower would somehow be occupied by workers of color," Kallos told Our Town. "In fact, what we’ve seen from other biotech spaces is that the workers they are largely white."

"Diverse grassroots coalition"

Others joining the pro-Blood Center coalition are fellow construction labor groups like the Greater New York LECET and the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York; as well as Baruch College's Computing and Technology Center and The Knowledge House, a nonprofit that gives digital skills training to underserved youth.

A number of educational and science-based groups have voiced support for the rezoning in the past, thanks to the Blood Center's pledge to devote some of the new facility to programs for neighborhood youth.

Describing itself as a "diverse grassroots coalition," the new group says Center East has the potential to "boost wages and incomes for thousands of New Yorkers in Harlem, the South Bronx, Queensbridge, and other neighborhoods," noting it may also create more than 2,600 full-time jobs once open.

Advocates on the Upper East Side, meanwhile, may push back against the coalition's claims that opposition to the rezoning is "narrow." Kallos, for example, said an online survey through his office found 97 percent of the 800-plus respondents opposed the project, and a May protest under the banner "Stop the Tower" drew hundreds of people to 67th Street.

The Blood Center counters that more than 300 people have registered support for the project through a webpage devoted to Center East.

More Blood Center coverage:

• Brewer Rejects UES Blood Center Rezoning, But Battle Continues
• Who Supports The Blood Center's Upper East Side Expansion?
• UES Blood Center Tower Disapproved By Board, Heads To Boro Prez
• Blood Center Returns To UES Board As Frustrations Mount
• Upper East Side Blood Center Tower Advances Despite Opposition