when plans for the cornell tech campus on roosevelt island were first publicly announced, there was some opposition from roosevelt island residents who disliked that the construction traffic would potentially disrupt the quality of life there, as well as from pro-palestinian activists. additionally, there were concerns that the campus's construction might lead to a decrease in the amount of affordable housing units, since many of the island's affordable housing units, built under the mitchell-lama housing program in the 1970s, were becoming market rate housing without any of the maximum-rent restrictions provided for in the mitchell-lama program.