On Sun., Nov. 4, affordable-housing advocates gathered at the corner of Delancey and Suffolk Sts., by a large parking lot that is part of the undeveloped stretch of land within the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area. They marked the 40th anniversary of the multiblock site having remained vacant after 2,000 people were displaced when their tenements were razed in November 1967. Members of SPARC (Seward Park Area Redevelopment Coalition) managed to collect 700 names of the displaced residents, writing them on ribbons that they attached to the chain-link fence and reading all of them aloud at the event. A SPARC press release said the commemoration was also to call the city’s attention to the fact that the site remains vacant “despite a growing affordable-housing crisis in the city.” Community Board 3 plans to restart discussions about the development of the Seward Park sites next week.
