PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Mary Anne McGowan, President of Clove Lakes Civic Association
1:41:10
·
127 sec
Mary Anne McGowan, President of Clove Lakes Civic Association in Staten Island, addresses the housing crisis in New York City and criticizes the City of Yes proposal. She highlights the paradox of having 64,000 vacant apartments while facing a housing crisis and calls for a thorough examination of rent control and stabilization systems.
- Questions the effectiveness of current housing programs given the high number of vacant apartments
- Calls for increased enforcement and inspection of rent-controlled and rent-stabilized apartments
- Criticizes the City of Yes proposal for eliminating defining characteristics of residential districts citywide
Mary Anne McGowan
1:41:10
Is that what?
1:41:11
Okay.
1:41:12
Good afternoon or good morning, and thank you very much for holding this public hearing.
1:41:19
My name is Mary Anne McGowan.
1:41:21
I'm president of the Cloverlake Civic Association in Staten Island, New York.
1:41:26
And the first thing I want to address is the rent control and stabilized market rate and affordable housing here in the city.
1:41:34
Presently, there are more than 64,000 vacant apartments within New York City's limits.
1:41:42
Close to 30,000 of those vacant apartments are under city programs of rent control and rent stabilization.
1:41:49
The other 34,000, what I I assume, are under what would be market rate, whatever that really means.
1:41:58
As a lifelong New York City resident and a taxpayer, I wanna know how do we explain that we have 64,000 available apartments in this city and yet we are still dealing with this kind of a crisis for people who need housing.
1:42:18
There has to be the buildings department who was supposed to be the enforcer, but there has to be a total incomplete examination of rent control systems and the rent stabilized Are the people in these eligible to be there?
1:42:36
Is this being abused?
1:42:39
And why aren't these apartments available if they have to be?
1:42:43
If it's the landlords not maintaining them, something has to be done.
1:42:47
And that requires us to get more inspectors into the buildings department.
1:42:52
The second area I want to address directly affects most of Staten Island in many areas of Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn.
1:43:01
And that is that the proposal, the city of yes proposal, eliminates all defining characteristics that are specific to the separate types of residential districts city wide.
1:43:14
And I guess I will submit the rest.
1:43:17
Thank you.
Kevin C. Riley
1:43:17
Thank you.
