The Brooklyn Paper is reporting this morning that a deal has been reached on the Rose Plaza development. The final deal is very much along the lines of what I intimated last night – 30% affordable housing, 74 apartments at 3 and 4 bedrooms, and all of those larger, family-sized, apartments at below-market rates1. The deal, brokered by Councilman Steve Levin, is set to be voted on this morning by the full City Council.

This is huge.

The developer’s original proposal was for 20% affordable housing, the minimum required under waterfront zoning. Many affordable housing advocates in the neighborhood supported the project at 20%, but the Community Board and the Borough President both thought that the series of special permits sought by the developer warranted a higher level of affordable housing. CM Levin thought so, too, and stuck to his guns.

The result is a private development on the waterfront with 30% affordable housing and a density and scale of development that is compatible with all of the other waterfront zonings in Community Board 1 – from Division Avenue all the way up to Newtown Creek.

In other words, that elusive balance between affordability and sustainable density has been achieved.

Huge.

1. My understanding is that the levels of affordability would run from about 60% of AMI up to 120%, exactly what the Community Board asked for.↩

Seems like everyone is having fun with the whole hipsters-hate-the-census meme – even NPR got into the act over the weekend. The funny thing is, “Williamsburg” as the City is defining it pretty much equals Hasidic South Williamsburg. Not that the hipsters are doing that well – the response rate for most of North Brooklyn just plain sucks.

(South) Williamsburg leads the race to the bottom at 31%.

Bushwick and Greenpoint? They’re hovering at about 40%.

Northside and Southside Williamsburg are at about 43% (just besting the Borough average).

And East Williamsburg? A gold star for 48%.

While hipsters aren’t necessarily the problem, there is a certain lack of civic thinking in foolishness like this quote from a clerk at Academy Records:

I guess it’s laziness and like, what’s the point? When it comes down to it, nobody wants to fill out like another form that’s just like getting sent to your house that really relatively has nothing to do with your life… I mean people would do if they got like five bucks.

UPDATE: I see FREE Williamsburg got here first, complete with map links, which show that the Southside and East Williamsburg are up over 50%.

According to Gothamist, Brooklyn has the lowest response rate for filling out Census forms, and Williamsburg is dead-ass last in the borough.

This is not good.

You’ve heard it all before, but the census is used to determine all sorts of things for the next 10 years. If Williamsburg’s response rate remains low, Williamsburg will be screwed in terms of city, state and federal in the coming decade. The census will also determine what our electoral boundaries are when redistricting comes along – everything from our council districts on up to congressional representation.

If you haven’t received a census form (loft dwellers, I’m looking at you), you can pick one up at any number of places right in your neighborhood (Metropolitan Pool and Los Sures to name just two). (Click on the Find Questionnaire Assistance Center here to find more.) If you are worried that the city will find out about your loft, don’t be – the census doesn’t share that information.