Number 3: Purnima Kapur
Since Purnima Kapur’s appointment as Brooklyn City Planning Director in 2006, four rezonings covering over 470 blocks have been passed (Dyker Heights, Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Grand Street) and she is overseeing at least 10 more covering 800 blocks: Dumbo, Gowanus, Coney Island, Flatbush, Sunset Park, Greenpoint and Williamsburg, Canarsie, and Brighton Beach. She…
Since Purnima Kapur’s appointment as Brooklyn City Planning Director in 2006, four rezonings covering over 470 blocks have been passed (Dyker Heights, Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Grand Street) and she is overseeing at least 10 more covering 800 blocks: Dumbo, Gowanus, Coney Island, Flatbush, Sunset Park, Greenpoint and Williamsburg, Canarsie, and Brighton Beach. She literally has a hand in deciding the size, shape, density, composition and sometimes even aesthetic of Brooklyn blocks. Sometimes millions of dollars in property value for a single parcel are at stake, and rezonings have been known to stop projects at the beginning stages of construction.
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Although EnglishKills is being a bit harsh, he/she is essentially correct. The work and community consent for Fort Greene/Clinton Hill was completed under her predecessor, as was the MUCH more difficult Greenpoint-Williamsburg, and she has fairly little influence for Coney Island (EDC and the Mayor drive this one, as everyone knows). Credit should be steered her way for DUMBO (should they ever get this one done), Sunset Park, and Flatbush.
I think it would be more accurate to say the Borough Director (the title) has the power, and not ms. kapur individually. The position has the power to sway “millions of dollars in property value for a single parcel.”
Interesting. We were trying to avoid city-wide people like Burden, but sounds like that was a mistake in this case. Thanks for the feedback.
This woman has absolutely no say and no power as far as anything that happens in City Planning. Every rezoning that happens comes straight from the whims of Amanda Burden and at times Mayor Bloomberg. I’ve worked at DCP and now with DCP as a consultant. While they are nice people they are essentially doing grunt work that anyone could do, drawing lines and taking photos or land uses. Not sure what has led you to believe that anyone in the Brooklyn Borough office has any sort of influence on the borough.