New York’s infamous ‘Hole’ neighborhood in East New York is about to get resiliency improvements, repurposing and more housing.
As you walk south on Ruby Street from Conduit Boulevard to Linden Boulevard in the easternmost part of Brooklyn, you descend 10 feet.
This twelve-block depression that straddles the border between Brooklyn and Queens is infamously called “The Hole,” because it sits beneath the other land surrounding it and is not connected to the city’s sewer system.
Every time it rains, the streets flood. And this also applies to the homes of local residents.
“I get three feet of water in my basement,” said Jimmy, a North Jewel Streets resident who preferred to use only his first name.
After decades of neglect, local community groups are optimistic about a city plan to transform the neighborhood.
The $146 million project will build sewers, add a series of ponds to allow stormwater to flow into Jamaica Bay, and allow for the development of as many as 5,000 homes.
The proposal finally gained momentum after community groups pushed the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, Housing Preservation and Development and city councilors to take action.
“For far too long, this community has been left without basic infrastructure and left to fend for itself in the face of constant flooding, inadequate septic systems and rampant illegal dumping. Today we move toward a more livable, resilient future for the neighborhood,” said Meredith McNair, senior community planner with the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation when the plan was drafted. announced.
From ‘The Hole’ to the Jewel Streets
As you walk through The Hole, you’ll hear the splash of tires splitting puddles of water, trucks rumbling past and even goats bleating.
But between those moments of chaos, there is peace.
“It looks like the land down here,” Jimmy said.
The streets, once asphalt, are on a good day a dusty mix of storm runoff and dirt. After a rain shower, the roads are completely flooded.
It’s been free at The Hole for decades. Illegal industrial businesses operate on some of the vacant lots, sending loud trucks through streets intended for residential use only.
“Do you know how long I’ve been complaining about this? I don’t make any noise,” Jimmy said. He has lived on Jewel streets all his life and said he has seen the range of businesses and scammers taking advantage of the vacant lots.
“There was a bus company, a yellow bus company, at five in the morning you would hear backup alarms,” he said. Another adjacent building, he says, “eventually became an airport parking lot. People were beeping here all hours of the night.”
For decades, the Department of Environmental Protection had funding for sewer construction in The Hole. But the city had been unable to move the project forward.
In 2022, residents sent a letter to the Adams administration demanding change, kicking off two years of community engagement.
“We were pissed. Angry. Just because we went unheard for so many years. We felt like the retaining wall on the cul-de-sac, just trapped, like we didn’t exist,” said Julisa Rodriguez, who lives with her children on the south side of Sapphire Street.
The East New York Community Land Trust and the Cypress Hills Development Corporation led the organization, knocking on doors, rallying residents and negotiating with the city. They expressed their desire for a real neighborhood.
Hannah Anousheh, director of the East New York CLT, called it a “masterclass” in working with – but also encouraging – the city.
“We have to give them credit… but at the same time they have to be constantly pressured and constantly told to listen to the residents,” Anousheh said.
Things have improved modestly since then. The city has installed catch basins in the ground to absorb some of the flooding, but it still takes a day or two for the streets to dry.
The city also began cracking down on businesses operating illegally on the streets and causing disturbances.
After two years the plan that emerged was not for The Hole, but reimagined as the Jewel Streets – named after the Sapphire, Amber, Emerald and Ruby streets that run through the neighborhood from north to south.
‘Blue Belts’ and Buyouts
To repair the Jewel Streets, planners are fighting nature itself.
“Our sewer system runs on gravity,” said Michael Sandler, deputy commissioner for neighborhood strategies at HPD.
The Hole follows the path of what was once Spring Creek, which has since been paved. But the water still longs to flow through the historic canal. If it can’t flow, it’s below sea level in The Hole.
Floods are becoming increasingly worse due to more frequent, heavier storms due to a changing climate.
The fact that it is not part of the sewer system also presents unique challenges, Sandler added. “When they flush their toilet, it just runs into the yard next to their house, and that dirt has standing water in it, so the septic stuff flows back into the neighborhood because of the quality.”
A stormwater management plan will create two ponds on the north side of Linden Boulevard that will capture rain. The water then flows under Linden and is pumped to Spring Creek, which flows into Jamaica Bay.
With drainage managed in a “blue belt” that will recreate and expose the path of historic Spring Creek, the city can then raise the underground streets, unlocking the potential for new development.
(Credit: Jewel Streets Neighborhood Plan, via the Mayor’s Office)
“Investments in resiliency and quality of life for Jewel Streets residents will enable thousands of new homes, including a very significant amount of affordable housing,” Sandler said.
This will leave many of the existing houses in the area several meters below the new street, requiring retrofitting to ensure they remain at significant risk of flooding.
The city is testing its very first in the Jewel Streets buyback program before the disaster. Typically, the government only offers buyouts after a disaster has occurred, such as after Hurricane Sandy.
But knowing the neighborhood will flood again, officials are trying to be proactive and give homeowners on Jewel Streets the opportunity to do so by letting the city buy their land.
A new neighborhood
Once all that is built — which could take years, planners say — Jewel Streets will finally have the makings of a new neighborhood.
The city wants to rezone more than two dozen blocks to facilitate the development of new housing, activate commercial strips and bring more amenities to the community.
The area is a 15-minute walk from two subway stations at Grant Avenue at the north end of Conduit Boulevard and Euclid Avenue in East New York.
Planners also want to add passenger islands for the B55 bus route, and more crosswalks on busy Linden Boulevard.
A 17-acre urban site on the south side of the street will continue the blue belt, with more ponds connecting to Jamaica Bay. The rest of the country will support up to 1,400 new homes.
To make that development possible, it will be necessary to follow the city’s often contentious land use process, in which both residents and city council members will continue to play a role.
The area spans both Brooklyn and Queens, represented by Brooklyn Councilmember Chris Banks and Queens Councilmember Joann Ariola.
“I think the plan is a good plan as it is,” said Banks, who is cautiously optimistic about the repurposing.
Ariola declined to comment for this story.
The rezoning process would not start until 2026, when newly elected mayor Zohran Mamdani will come to power. Mamdani did not respond to a request for comment on the proposal.
“We just need to make sure that the next administration has continuity and a commitment to providing these funds so we can get this across the finish line,” Banks said.
After years of broken promises, the residents of the Jewel Streets allow themselves to hope a little.
“We are moving in the right direction. There are still many unknowns and still many questions,” said Rodriguez.
Some organizers are calling for putting some of the land into a community land trust, which would consist of resident-controlled condominiums, with an option for existing residents to move into new, permanently affordable homes.
She said the buyout would be best for her family and her children.
“I imagine the plan will finally be implemented, although for me I would rather move,” Rodriguez said.
“I can’t hide my feelings when I see a beautiful Jewel neighborhood, a place of equality and diversity, beautiful homes, sidewalks, trees, colorful flowers, gardens, the smell of fresh grass instead of sewage, children playing on a dry, cobblestone street and making new friends. A close-knit community with all the essentials that others take for granted.”
Contact us to reach the reporter behind this story [email protected]. To reach the editors, please contact [email protected]
Would you like to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.
#Living #Het #Gat #Residents #Hope #Decades #Disinvestment #City #Limits