Mayor Adams Unveils Comprehensive Neighborhood Plan to Improve Quality of Life, Alleviate Flooding, Build Affordable Homes in Jewel Streets Neighborhood of Brooklyn and Queens

NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams today released a landmark plan to transform the Jewel Streets area in Brooklyn and Queens into a safer, more affordable neighborhood, delivering long-overdue infrastructure upgrades, laying the foundation for thousands of new homes, and improving quality of life for current and future residents. The plan — which marks the culmination of more than two years of deep community engagement since its launch in June 2023 — includes a new, comprehensive drainage system to address chronic flooding in the neighborhood as well as new bus lane and traffic safety improvements along Linden Boulevard.

Additionally, as part of the neighborhood plan, the city will transform 17 acres of city-owned land into 1,400 new homes and pursue an area-wide rezoning proposal for the neighborhood to unlock another 3,600 homes as well. The Adams administration will immediately begin implementation of the Jewel Streets Neighborhood Plan, investing in infrastructure investments and new housing as well as kicking off the public approval process for the plan this year. Altogether, the city will invest over $146 million in upgrading the neighborhood’s streets and infrastructure.

“New Yorkers in this neighborhood are the crown jewel of our city; unfortunately, we cannot say the same for the area’s infrastructure. For too long, the Jewel Streets neighborhood has suffered from chronic flooding, dangerous streets, and a dire housing shortage. When we came into office, we said the days of letting government ignore the Jewel Streets and leaving residents to fend for themselves were over, and today, with the release of this plan, we are again keeping our word,” said Mayor Adams. “After two years of community engagement, we are not only unveiling but implementing a landmark neighborhood plan that invests nearly $150 million in this neighborhood to create a safer, more affordable Jewel Streets with new sewers to address flooding, street upgrades to protect pedestrians and bikers, and plans for thousands of new homes. From the North Shore of Staten Island to Jamaica, Queens, our administration is fighting to make sure that every neighborhood is a safe, affordable place to raise your family.”

“For too long the residents of the Jewel Streets have waited to see real change in their neighborhood,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Jeff Roth. “Over the past two years, the community has worked alongside the city to tackle illegal dumping and nuisance flooding, but more is needed. The new Jewel Streets Neighborhood Plan lays out a long-term, all-inclusive strategy to deliver the infrastructure and investment this community deserves — creating a safer, stronger, and more resilient neighborhood for current and future residents.”

"After years of extensive engagement, this administration is presenting an historic vision for the Jewel Streets," said Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Adolfo Carrión, Jr. "Our plan will bring much-needed infrastructure improvements, support for existing homeowners and approximately 5,000 units of new housing to the Jewel Streets. I look forward to seeing this neighborhood plan advance and ultimately be implemented to vastly improve the lives of generations of New Yorkers."

Collaborating with the Community

On February 16, 2022, 60 Jewel Streets residents and stakeholders sent a letter to several city agencies demanding a long-overdue investment in their neighborhood and kicking off a multi-year partnership between community stakeholders, city agencies, and lawmakers to strengthen the neighborhood’s future. In June 2023, the Adams administration formally launched the community planning process to engage residents and stakeholders. The community planning process included:

• Six public workshops.
• Over 50 biweekly meetings with local advocates and elected officials.
• 12 quarterly meetings with residents focused on quality of life.
• Six neighborhood tours with city officials.

The process has already delivered short-term interventions responding to direct community demands and, with the release of today’s plan, established a long-term vision for community development shaped by community perspectives.

Protecting the Jewel Streets from Flooding

Because the Jewel Streets — which straddles 12 blocks across East New York in Brooklyn and Lindenwood in Queens — is a low-lying area without comprehensive stormwater and sanitary sewer infrastructure, residents experience year-round flooding; the neighborhood is often described as “The Hole” due to its sunken streets. Led by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT), and the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC), the city will install a comprehensive new drainage system to eliminate the use of septic systems in the Jewel Streets and protect the neighborhood from flooding.

The infrastructure plan includes:

• New sanitary sewers across the neighborhood, ending dependence on outdated septic systems.
• A stormwater and sanitary pump station to be built on a city-owned parcel.
• A network of storm sewers to direct rainfall into newly-created bluebelts — natural water features that store and filter rainwater before ultimately releasing the water into Spring Creek.
• Publicly accessible bluebelt ponds with plantings and open space benefits.
• Reconstructed streets with sidewalks, street trees, and safety improvements.
• Planned acquisition of vacant land for bluebelts and site selection for the pump station will be advanced through an area-wide rezoning Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), expected to begin in 2026.

The Adams administration has already worked to address chronic flooding in the neighborhood, installing drainage infrastructure such as storm sewers and catch basins at four intersections in the north and south Jewel Streets. These investments have dramatically improved conditions; the amount of time it takes water to drain at those intersections has plummeted from 60 days to just two days.

Keeping Drivers, Pedestrians, and Bikers Safe

DOT is also delivering bus priority and traffic safety improvements along Linden Boulevard in Brooklyn and Queens — a Vision Zero corridor — to benefit more than 38,000 daily bus riders. The improvements, which will be implemented in 2026, include:

• Corridor-wide markings to reduce speeding and calm traffic.
• Intersection upgrades to protect pedestrians.
• Bike and pedestrian safety enhancements.

Unlocking New Housing Through Comprehensive Rezoning

To meet the urgent need for housing in the Jewel Streets, the city will pursue an ambitious rezoning of the Jewel Streets to enable the creation of approximately 3,600 new homes as well as new retail and community spaces along Linden Boulevard. The rezoning will allow for new multifamily housing and infill development while preserving the neighborhood’s character. A scoping hearing — the first public step in the environmental review process — will be held before the end of 2025, with the full ULURP expected to begin in 2026.

Developing Critical Housing on City Land

On a 17-acre city-owned site within the Jewel Streets, the Adams administration will launch a transformational redevelopment to build up to 1,400 new affordable and mixed-income homes, including units with homeownership opportunities.

The city-owned site in the Jewel Streets will also include:

• New community facilities, retail, and green open space.
• A street grid restoration to reconnect the site to the surrounding community.
• Green infrastructure to manage stormwater and support area-wide resiliency.

Following Mayor Adams’ historic Executive Order 43 requiring city agencies to identify properties that can be turned into new housing, the Adams administration has already advanced nearly 10,000 new homes on city-owned sites.

Helping New Yorkers Find a Safe, Affordable Place to Live

To provide residents with personalized support, including navigating decisions about housing, the Adams administration is launching a range of initiatives to help residents:

• Remain in their home with retrofits that improve flood resiliency, or
• Voluntarily relocate through a buyout to a lower-risk area as part of the city’s “Resilient Acquisitions” pilot program.

Jewel Streets residents can express interest in receiving this support by filling out a online form.

Next Steps

The Adams administration plans to hold a scoping hearing for the plan — the first step in the environmental review process — before the end of 2025. Additionally, the city aims to certify the land use applications in 2026, which includes the rezoning to enable the creation of new homes, the planned acquisition and site selection for bluebelt infrastructure, and the development of the 17-acre city-owned site into housing, retail, and community space.

“We want to congratulate the residents of the Jewel Streets for this historic win in the fight for the long-overdue justice they deserve. When we began organizing in the Jewel Streets four years ago, residents told us they had tried raising their concerns with various government offices for decades to no avail. It is an understatement to say that they were frustrated and jaded, and many felt like giving up. Nevertheless, residents were ready to try again so we formed the Justice for the Jewel Streets Coalition and organized relentlessly around collective demands for investment and infrastructure. Today, we are thrilled that the city has released this detailed plan to address flooding over the long term,” said Debra Ack, co-Founder and board member, East New York Community Land Trust (ENYCLT). “We are proud that our community will be the site of the Resilient Acquisitions program, the city’s first-ever pre-disaster voluntary buyout and retrofit program. The plan is a testament to the power of community organizing and what can be achieved when residents and city agencies work together in good faith. ENYCLT will continue organizing so that residents’ voices are heard through the plan’s design and implementation phases. We will advocate for a just and equitable Resilient Acquisitions program that compensates and supports homeowners and tenants who have endured decades of disinvestment whether they choose to stay or leave.”

“We at Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, proud members of the Justice for the Jewel Streets Coalition, applaud the city’s comprehensive neighborhood plan for the Jewel Streets, which came out of years of our coalition’s grassroots organizing and real collaboration between residents, advocates, and city agencies,” said Meredith McNair, senior community planner, Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, Inc. “For far too long, this community has gone without basic infrastructure, fending for themselves in the face of constant flooding, faulty septic systems, and rampant illegal dumping. Today, we move towards a more livable, resilient future for the neighborhood, complete with infrastructure upgrades, bluebelt ponds, affordable housing, and a voluntary buy-out and retrofit program for residents in flood-prone areas. We celebrate these historic wins and will continue to work with the city to ensure that resident needs, climate resiliency, and equitable development remain front and center throughout the implementation phase.”

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