Q&A
Community board representation and City of Yes support
2:25:37
·
3 min
Borough President Antonio Reynoso defends his support for the City of Yes proposal despite opposition from some community boards. He argues that community boards may not fully represent the diverse needs of the borough, particularly those of renters and housing-insecure residents.
- Reynoso emphasizes that 81% of New Yorkers support the City of Yes proposal
- He acknowledges the challenge of balancing diverse community needs across different neighborhoods
- Ariola questions whether a one-size-fits-all approach is appropriate given these diverse needs
Joann Ariola
2:25:37
Thank you, chair.
2:25:38
Thank you so much for our president for coming in today.
2:25:41
In your testimony, you encourage the city council to pass the city of yes, for housing opportunity and its entirety.
2:25:47
You go further on in your testimony to say to the DCP, do not back down, do not scale back, do not shy away.
2:25:55
If you're going to do anything, do more, how many community boards are in your your borrow?
Antonio Reynoso
2:25:59
18 community boards.
Joann Ariola
2:26:01
18 community boards.
2:26:02
I have 16.
2:26:03
So so 10 community boards voted against the city of yes.
2:26:08
Do you think that you're reflective of their their needs, their wants, their desires for their borrow?
Antonio Reynoso
2:26:14
I represent the entire city the entire borough of Brooklyn.
2:26:19
Community boards are a representation of a a saw small subset of my borrow.
2:26:26
If you looked at the polling that was done recently, 81% of New Yorkers support the city of yes, and I can't turn a blind eye to them.
2:26:33
Also, the people that are on community boards tend to be folks that are homeowners, not remburdened, and are actually housing secure.
2:26:41
Versus the people that can't attend those meetings because they're either working jobs or newer families that are actually house rent burden and are not housing secure.
2:26:50
So the demographics of the community boards don't tend to necessarily portray the demographics of the entire community in which they represent.
2:26:58
So while their opinions do matter, they're not a conclusive representation of the sentiment of the borough.
Joann Ariola
2:27:05
Aren't you you're the borough president, don't you have a large part of appointing those members to the committee board to be representative of the of what is happening and and
Renee Kinsella
2:27:15
what is needed for the borrower?
Antonio Reynoso
2:27:16
Yes.
2:27:17
So right now, what we've been doing over the last 2 years, I've been at a borrower present for 2 years.
2:27:21
We've been Ridding the community board of mostly members that don't show up is the first line of the fence.
2:27:27
And now we're starting to have conversations about adding more pro housing, more pro cycling, and more pro transportation, public transportation folks in it.
2:27:35
So the community boards are slightly moving towards a a reflection of, like, what my my goals are, but also I'm not a a dictator or a tyrant.
2:27:46
I like the diversity of my community boards.
2:27:48
I like to hear about the different needs and wants of of members of the borough.
2:27:53
What is good for Wintersburg, isn't good for Kenarcy, isn't good for Kony Island.
2:27:57
So I like to hear the diversity of opinions.
2:28:00
But again, those opinions are not law.
2:28:02
Right?
2:28:02
Those are the opinions of the community board, not necessarily of the entire City of New York.
2:28:06
And I would just give one more example.
2:28:08
There are over 60,000 people living in homeless shelters.
2:28:12
And I would argue that I have appointed more than five people that are homeless on community boards.
2:28:17
It would be a lot.
2:28:18
And those people need a voice too.
2:28:19
And a lot of them are living in Brooklyn, and I wanna make sure that they're represented as well even if they're not on the community board.
2:28:25
So that's the work that I'm doing.
2:28:26
That I I'm doing even if politically unpopular.
Joann Ariola
2:28:29
And I can certainly appreciate it.
2:28:30
Thank you so much.
2:28:31
But but his your own testimony just now?
2:28:34
Shows that you have different communities with different needs, which is why the one size fits all approach doesn't work with City of Yes.
2:28:40
Thank you so
Kevin C. Riley
2:28:40
much.
