REMARKS
Council Member Holden discusses electrical grid issues and zoning concerns
3:40:56
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83 sec
Council Member Robert F. Holden raises concerns about the electrical grid in his district and discusses past efforts to protect zoning. He argues that the proposed changes will undo previous work to create contextual zones.
- Holden states that his district has the worst electrical grid in New York City, with frequent blackouts
- He mentions past efforts to downzone and create more contextual zones in his district
- Holden expresses frustration that developers have converted many single-family homes to multi-family dwellings, often illegally
- He criticizes the lack of enforcement regarding illegal apartment conversions
Robert F. Holden
3:40:56
And Also, the electric grid in my district is the worst in the city of New York.
3:41:01
We have the most blackouts.
3:41:03
I had a blackout in February of this year, February.
3:41:06
I had switched over to electric heat.
3:41:09
The mini splits.
3:41:11
I had to turn that off and switch back to gas heat because I can't go through 3 or 4 days of no electric when my heat is run by electric.
3:41:20
So here we are.
3:41:22
With a situation, and the only thing we can we get from city planning, we used to protect zoning, who I looked to, and I worked with the down zone to try to create more contextual zones.
3:41:33
In the nineties into early 2000, we worked with the Bloomberg Administration We surveyed every house in my district.
3:41:40
Means volunteers did because city planning didn't have enough personnel.
3:41:44
So we did that.
3:41:45
We did a survey on each particular house, and now we're throwing that out the window, essentially.
3:41:50
Because what's happened with my 1 family zones that I have a few of community drives, developers have descended upon Middle Village And Mass Bid and have converted many about half of them on each block to 2 family, and, of course, the illegal 3.
3:42:06
And, of course, we can't get into those apartments to have the the Department of Buildings because then they just say, no.
3:42:12
We're not letting you in.
3:42:13
And that's it.
3:42:14
Nobody's done anything.
3:42:15
You said you're working with agencies, but nothing concrete.
