Members of the City Council from across all five boroughs have signed a letter urging the Board of Standards and Appeals to forbid the gerrymandering of New York City zoning lots.

This push was sparked by growing concern around the issue of 200 Amsterdam, a supertall tower in development on the Upper West Side, which by the sneaky stitching together of gerrymandered lots has been planned to rise 668′ feet–far above what the neighborhood’s zoning would usually allow, and wildly out of context with the surrounding neighborhood.

The council members included Rafael Salamanca, the Chair of the Committee on Land Use; Ben Kallos, Chair of the Subcommittee on Planning; Francisco Moya, Chair of the Subcommittee on Zoning; and Helen Rosenthal, the councilmember for Community District 6 (where 200 Amsterdam is located)–as well as over 20 other council members, representing among them all the city’s boroughs.

Their letter urged that the BSA tighten the loopholes which gerrymandering allows, and expressed concern that the ramifications of the Board’s ruling on this issue “will be felt citywide”.

Read the full letter below: