Petycja - Polski Greenpoint

GREENPOINT   DLA   POLAKÓW

Greenpoint zawsze i  wszystkim bez wzgledu na pochodzenie kojarzy sie z polskoscia. Przez dziesiatki lat byl domem dla wielu generacji polskich imigrantow:  tych za chlebem po pierwszej wojnie swiatowej, wykletych weteranow po drugiej wojnie swiatowej i wygnanych dzialaczy Solidarnosci w latach 80-tych, ktorzy walczyli o wolna Polske.  Tu wychowalismy nasze dzieci, budowalismy polskie koscioly i zakladalismy polskie organizacje i biznesy. To bylo miejsce gdzie predzej czy pozniej nasze drogi sie spotykaly bez wzgledu na to gdzie nas los rzucil bo Greenpoint zawsze byl symbolem naszej tozsamosci narodowej.Uwazamy jako polska grupa etniczna, ze jestesmy zupelnie pominieci i dyskryminowani w obecnym procesie ogromnych zmian ekonomicznych jakie zachodza w naszej dzielnicy. Nastawiony tylko i wylacznie na zysk bezprecedensowy rozwoj luksusowego budownictwa eliminuje jakiekolwiek szanse utrzymania etnicznego charakteru naszej dzielnicy. Ciezko pracujace rodziny, polskie biznesy oraz organizacje charytatywne daja stabilnosc i poczucie bezpieczenstwa oraz stanowia sile i unikalny czar tej dzielnicy dla wszystkich mieszkancow. Zostajemy zastapieni rzeszami naplywowej ludnosci zpoza Nowego Jorku, ktora powoduje wzrost cen eliminujac nie tylko starszych i nisko zarabiajacych ale tez bogaty wklad kulturowy jaki Ci ludzie wlozyli przez lata w te dzielnice. Zadamy aby lokalni politycy, wladze miejskie oraz firmy deweloperskie dali priorytet polskim imigrantom, ktorzy zostali zmuszeni do przesiedlenia lub sa na granicy wyprowadzenia sie z Greenpointu na mieszkania w nowych budynkach dla niskozarabiajacych.  Zadamy aby kwota na mieszkania dla polskich imigrantow byla zgodna z procentowa iloscia populacji polskiego pochodzenia w tej dzielnicy. Zadamy aby process zachodzacych przemian wzial nasza polska grupe etniczna pod uwage i aby nasze kulturowe dziedzictwo i charakter byly czescia przyszlego ksztaltu Greenpointu.     Apelujemy do wszystkich aby podpisali te petycje bez wzgledu na adres zamieszkania. Chodzi o utrzymanie Greenpointu dla wszystkich Polakow. Powysza petycja bedzie zlozona do rady Miejskiej przez Krzysztofa Olechowskiego Przewodniczacego Dystryktu w czasie przesluchan na temat planow zabudowania wybrzeza. Udzielmy glosu i poparcia pierwszemu polskiemu politykowi w Greenpoincie, ktory reprezentuje nasza grupe etniczna i walczy o nasze interesy.

TYLKO RAZEM MOZEMY UTRZYMAC SWOJE MIEJSCE I BYC CZESCIA ZACHODZACYCH ZMIAN !!!

Greenpoint for the Poles

Regardless what your background, Greenpoint  has always been associated with being “Polish”. For decades it was home to many generations of Polish immigrants: those after bread in post-World War I, those condemned after World War II, and those exiled activists dudring the Solidarity period in the 1980’s who fought for a free Poland. Here, we raised our children, built Polish Churches and established Polish organizations and businesses. Greenpoint was the place where sooner or later our roads would meet regardless of where fate may have tossed us because Greenpoint was always the symbol of our national identity. We believe that as a Polish ethnic community we have been completely dismissed and discriminated against in the present circumstances surrounding these great economic shifts that are affecting our neighborhood and our community. Laying the foundation for these changes based on unprecedented profit-driven luxury housing eliminates any chance of retaining our ethnic character in our neighborhoods.  Hard working families, Polish businesses as well as not-for-profit organizations gives us stability and a sense of security as well as a sense of strength and a rich and unique charm for all residents of this community. We are left supplanted with a new population from outside of New York that is driving prices up which effectively not only eliminates our senior and low-income populations from a normal existence but also eliminates a rich cultural input that this Polish community has provided over many years.

We demand that:

-Local elected officials, city officials, as well as developers give priority to Polish immigrants who have been forced to relocate to other neighborhoods or are on the verge of eviction from existing buildings due to rising rents.

-That the quota for Polish residents qualifying for affordable housing be set in accordance with the percentage of the Polish population that has traditionally resided in Greenpoint.

-That the ensuing changes take into consideration our Polish community and that our cultural heritage and ethnic character be a sustainable factor in the quality of life for the future of Greenpoint.

We appeal to all fellow Poles to sign this petition regardless of where they live.  This is about preserving Greenpoint for all Poles. This petition will be submitted to the Brooklyn Borough President’s office, by Christopher Olechowski, District Leader of the 50th AD at the time when the Borough President will be holding his Public Hearing in the matter of Greenpoint’s waterfront development at the Greenppoint Landing and 77 Commercial Street sites. We strongly support as our representative, Mr.Olechowski, the first Polish immigrant  elected official in Greenpoint who represents our ethnic group and is fighting for our cause.

Only together can we save our neighborhoods and be an integral part of these profound changes!

Polish Greenpoint

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Krzysztof Olechowski
Bring Back Displaced Poles to Greenpoint

Regardless what your background, Greenpoint  is always associated with being “Polish”. For decades it was home to many generations of Polish immigrants: those after bread in post-World War I, those condemned after World War II, and those exiled activists during the Solidarity period in the 1980’s who fought for a free Poland.

Here, we raised our children, built Polish Churches and established Polish organizations and businesses. Greenpoint was the place where sooner or later our roads would meet regardless of where fate may have tossed us because Greenpoint was always the symbol of our national identity.

We believe that as a Polish ethnic community we are completely dismissed and discriminated against in the present circumstances surrounding these great economic shifts that are affecting our neighborhood and our community. Basing these changes on unprecedented profit-driven luxury housing eliminates any chance of retaining our ethnic character in our neighborhoods.  Hard working families, Polish businesses as well as not-for-profit organizations gives us stability and a sense of security as well as a sense of strength and a unique charm for all residents of this community. We are left supplanted with a new population from outside of New York that is driving prices up which effectively not only eliminates our senior and low-income populations from a normal existence but also eliminates a rich cultural input that this Polish community has provided over many years.

Whereas:

The Polish Nation was unjustly subjected to a communist system imposed by Stalinist/Soviet forces in 1945 after World War II and

Whereas Poles fought and died for a free world against the oppressive and cruel forces of Nazi Germany and

Whereas Poles were forcibly resettled from their homes in eastern Poland by the newly imposed communist regime after 1945 and

Whereas many Poles were forced into exile because of these repressive changes imposed on Poland and

Whereas many of these exiles and future generations of Polish immigrants wishing to live in the free United States of America settled in Greenpoint that already had a strong tradition of a Polish heritage making it home to the largest Polish ethnic population in New York City and

Whereas the harmful changes to Poland imposed by a repressive communist system that lasted until 1989 was in great measure a result of decisions made at conferences in Tehran and Yalta in 1944 and 1945 and

Whereas decisions made at those conferences directly harmed Poland and its people and

Whereas decisions made at those conferences were in great measure determined by the United States of America under the Roosevelt administration that resulted in Poland and its people to be enslaved under a communist regime for nearly 44 years

Be it known that people of Polish decent and especially Polish immigrants of Greenpoint, Brooklyn demand the following:

That resident of Polish decent displaced from Greenpoint be given special status as an aggrieved ethnic minority and that

Local elected officials, city officials, as well as developers give priority to Polish immigrants who have been forced to relocate to other neighborhoods or are on the verge of eviction from existing buildings due to rising rents.

-That the quota for displaced Polish residents qualifying for affordable housing be set in accordance with the percentage of the Polish population that has traditionally resided in Greenpoint and as a result of invasive development is leading to the erosion of a mainstay of diversity in New York City.

-That the ensuing changes take into consideration our Polish community and that our cultural heritage and ethnic character be a sustainable factor in the quality of life for the future of Greenpoint.

Only together can we sustain our neighborhoods and set an example for other aggrieved ethnic minorities be an integral part of these profound changes!

Submitted on behalf of the Polish Community of New York City by:

Christopher Olechowski,

State Committeeman, 50 A.D.