TESTIMONY
Whitestone Lanes Rezoning: Testimony in Opposition from a Member of Local 157
1:39:46
·
3 min
Christian Beatrice, a member of Local 157, a carpenter's union, testifies in opposition to the Whitestone Lanes Rezoning.
He cites that they have not come to an agreement with the developer, despite their fee transparency and willingness to compromise, and that the developer has repeatedly canceled meetings at the last minute.
Speaker 1
1:39:46
Christian, if you can hear me, please unmute, and you may begin.
Speaker 19
1:39:54
Yes.
1:39:54
I can hear you.
1:39:56
Good afternoon.
1:39:57
My name is Christian Beatrice, and I'm proud earlier member of Local 157.
1:40:01
I resent the representative for the New York City District Council governors and also McQueen's resident It is my privilege to speak on behalf of our 600 members, resided in in the immediate area of this project.
1:40:15
And a 1000 more who called Quinn's home, who could now be here to do their work commitments.
1:40:20
This is personal to me.
1:40:22
I grab all in of wife's length, and I live just 5 minutes away from this development.
1:40:29
Every morning, I pass by design.
1:40:31
When it take, you know, wife's in a expressway on my way to work and 5 of my members.
1:40:35
This is my community, and I care about it's theater.
1:40:38
Future.
1:40:40
This is which why I'm a I'm a voice, my opposition to the development may normally stays creating more housing is critical.
1:40:49
But if the very people building affordable housing cannot even afford to live in it, then we are making this crisis worse, not holding it.
1:40:58
That's why it brings me no joy to report that while we have have some discussions with the developer.
1:41:05
We don't have any agreement at this time.
1:41:08
With Trims, probably, provide them our rates and offer to work with them to make sure this project is profitable for them and actually buildable for from a financing perspective.
1:41:20
After all, if a project cannot be built, what is good for it for my members?
1:41:25
Customer members, you know what?
1:41:27
Union Carpenter is We're always still willing.
1:41:30
We're always still willing to compromise, and we have done so in the past.
1:41:34
But we cannot, and we will not settle for scraps.
1:41:37
And at this point, we don't even have scraps to consider.
1:41:40
We cannot work towards the deal if one of the side is unwilling to provide any any data to offer to back up to their claims.
1:41:48
Despite months of outreach from our union, there is no offer in hand from the developers.
1:41:55
Since an initial discussions on December 7th, there have been multiple meetings canceled at the last minute.
1:42:02
All by the developer.
1:42:04
We'll have repeatedly asked for them to provide any information to us so we can work with them.
1:42:10
Nothing has been provided.
1:42:11
We hope this is not indicative of how they will act towards the community if a resigning is granted.
1:42:19
But actions to tell better story than words.
1:42:23
That is part of the reason why we are we urge you to oppose
Speaker 1
1:42:28
Thank you.
1:42:30
Thank you, Christian.
Speaker 19
1:42:33
Just let me finish, please.
1:42:35
In our cloud agreement
Speaker 1
1:42:36
If you could just wrap it up, Christian.
1:42:38
Thank you.
Speaker 19
1:42:42
Alright.
1:42:42
Thank you very much.
1:42:43
It's a lot and and solidarity, you know, from the union's union carpenters.
1:42:47
You know, we just wanna get, you know, you know, an agreement approved and, you know, for this resolving to be approved, you know, we provide the this develop for us to call this, you know, things.
1:42:58
That's all we're we're looking to get over here.
Speaker 1
1:43:02
Thank you so much for testifying, Christian.
