PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Kate Van Tassel, Member of the Public
10:40:09
·
135 sec
Kate Van Tassel, a resident of Sunnyside and former city and state government employee, spoke in support of the City of Yes proposal. She empathized with the fear surrounding the proposal but encouraged council members to be bold leaders and not give in to that fear.
- Emphasized that reality is often less scary than the theoretical, and that people often come to appreciate changes they initially feared
- Shared personal experience of being able to afford a co-op in Queens due to previous rezoning efforts
- Stressed that not all Queens residents are against the City of Yes proposal
Kate Van Tassel
10:40:09
Yes.
10:40:09
Can I Can you hear me?
10:40:11
I'm on my my server camera.
10:40:12
Hi.
10:40:13
Good good I was gonna say good morning, and then we are well past the morning.
10:40:16
So I thank city council members for the opportunity.
10:40:22
I am speaking for myself.
10:40:24
Wanna make that clear.
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I am also a resident of study side.
10:40:30
I am and I've worked for the city and state local government for over 15 years.
10:40:37
I wanted to start by saying how I I the reason I start with saying, but I work for
Lucie Levine
10:40:42
the city and state is that
Kate Van Tassel
10:40:43
I I got yelled at at a
Lucie Levine
10:40:45
lot of community board meetings.
Kate Van Tassel
10:40:46
And so I have empathy for your your your groups who are in this position, of of hearing the fear in people's voices.
10:40:55
It's really hard to be in front of a room and to be taking on that fear.
10:41:00
And that is because reality is less scary than the the theoretical.
10:41:06
And right now, City of Yes.
10:41:07
Theoretical, and it's really scary.
10:41:09
And it's really hard for people, which we've heard and all of the testimony to take that on.
10:41:14
And I encourage our council members to be leaders and not just give into that fear.
10:41:21
I've been there.
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And the reason I say that is that I've been then at these these ribbon cuttings for the same things I got yelled at publicly was people then turn me back around and like, hey, you wanna leave this.
10:41:31
This is so amazing.
10:41:32
I love it.
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That is what will happen in the future for City of Yes Things.
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It doesn't have to be scary, and I encourage you to be bold.
10:41:40
You know?
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I I I refuse to let the people from the 19 sixties be the bold leaders, and we could be the bold leaders today.
10:41:47
Alright.
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The last point I wanna make is, again, I have a coop in Queens.
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I do wanna say that not all queens people are against City of Yes and very pro City of Yes.
10:41:55
And also when people are concerned about the cost, what often happens that is that is less seen is that without the Long Island city resigning that happened a number of years ago, I absolutely would not have been able to afford my co op and queens in Sunnyside.
10:42:11
And so
Anthony Ortolano
10:42:12
the time has expired.
Andy Zhang
10:42:13
Thank you.
Kate Van Tassel
10:42:13
I said it happened.
Kevin C. Riley
10:42:14
Thank you, Claire.
Sarah McKenna
10:42:16
Able to take
Kate Van Tassel
10:42:16
that step up into how much
Kevin C. Riley
10:42:18
The next person we're going I'm I'm sorry.
Kate Van Tassel
10:42:21
That's okay.
10:42:21
No.
10:42:22
Thank you very much.
10:42:22
I appreciate your time.
10:42:23
Oh, yes.
