BROOKLYN, NY January 19, 2005 —The public will get a chance to weigh in on the city's extensive plan for re-zoning Greenpoint and Williamsburg Brooklyn at a hearing being held today. The plan is supposed to generate 10,000 new apartment units, parks, a public esplanade and an aquatics center. During a presentation at the Department of City Planning yesterday, Housing Commissioner Sean Donovan said about 2,000 housing units for low and middle income families would be created by offering financial incentives to developers.

DONOVAN: We are also looking at every single potential publicly owned site in the neighborhood to make sure we can donate those for affordable housing at the same time we are also working with partners to see if we can get them to dedicate some of their sites to affordable housing as well.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz wants 30 percent of the housing units to be affordable. He says the city is catering to Manhattanites instead of protecting long time residents of the neighborhood.