PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Basia Nikonorow, Long-term Resident on 135th Street Rezoning
1:06:16
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162 sec
Basia Nikonorow, a long-term resident of the neighborhood, expressed strong opposition to the proposed 135th Street rezoning. She highlighted concerns about the project's impact on the community, questioned the accuracy of the presentation, and raised issues about air quality, safety, and the suitability of the site for residential use.
- Criticized the characterization of the site as having "failed businesses," noting the previous presence of a beloved community restaurant called COBRA
- Expressed skepticism about claims of minimal impact on sightlines, mentioning concerns about bulkheads and infrastructure required by Local Law 97
- Argued that the site, adjacent to a 6-lane highway, is deeply flawed for residential use due to air quality and safety concerns
Basia Nikonorow
1:06:16
Hi.
1:06:17
My name is Basha Nikonoro.
1:06:19
I'm a long term resident of this neighborhood.
1:06:23
There has been a lot of the views that I hold are shared.
1:06:27
I share a lot of the views of the people that have spoken before me.
1:06:33
I also, as Barry mentioned, take issue with a lot of the inaccuracies that were presented at this presentation currently.
1:06:44
And I take great issue with the fact that this was a site of failed businesses.
1:06:49
I will echo what Barry said.
1:06:52
There was a beloved restaurant, community restaurant, in this neighborhood called COBRA, which have a very important role of bringing community members together, but also working with the city to monitor the safety of this area, this tricky separate area and the stairs connecting to it in the evening.
1:07:16
They always made sure that the lights were functioning.
1:07:18
They advocated with parks, which is the park's property, to have them repaired, and also worked with our former local council members.
1:07:28
I would like to also mention that the the the idea of having bite patronage for potential future commercial spaces is great, but this is past through.
1:07:38
We need an evening activity here to be active.
1:07:42
I take issue with the claim of minimal to no impact to the sidelines as several people ahead of me have mentioned the bulkhead.
1:07:50
And, also, I'll remind you Our city is now undergoing severe electrification, and local law 97 has mandated electrification requirements for infrastructure that will also be populated up on that roof and among all the bulkhead.
1:08:08
The idea of having glass that's partly translucent and noticed that the word was to the best of our ability is sounds incredibly misleading.
1:08:19
And the fact that the owner has reached out
UNKNOWN
1:08:20
to the businesses
Basia Nikonorow
1:08:22
such as Columbia, honestly, they should come out to the community.
1:08:26
We can reimagine this space and make it so that it benefits the community and not just re enacting Robert Moses environmental justice inequities of putting
Tiffany Khan
1:08:39
poor people.
Kevin C. Riley
1:08:39
You could start wrapping up.
Zef Gjini
1:08:41
There are
Basia Nikonorow
1:08:42
people in areas which are deeply flawed as a site for residential use adjacent to a 6 lane highway.
1:08:51
The air quality, as was mentioned earlier, the vibrations, the safety concerns of
Kevin C. Riley
1:08:56
being carried
Basia Nikonorow
1:08:57
over and over.
Kevin C. Riley
1:08:58
Thank you so much.
