PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Tammy Meltzer, Chair of Manhattan Community Board 1
3:34:57
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128 sec
Tammy Meltzer, Chair of Manhattan Community Board 1 and a long-time downtown resident, testified about the changes in Lower Manhattan's housing landscape over the past three decades. She highlighted the initial success of affordable housing initiatives post-9/11, followed by a shift towards market-rate and luxury housing that has pushed out many residents and small businesses.
- Meltzer emphasized that Lower Manhattan has lost more affordable housing than any other district in the state, despite an overall increase in housing units.
- She pointed out that the area's experience demonstrates the failure of trickle-down housing theory, with essential workers and middle-income families no longer able to afford housing downtown.
- Meltzer urged the City Council to mandate affordable housing in the "City of Yes" proposal, citing Lower Manhattan's past success as an example of how affordable housing can create vibrant, diverse communities.
Tammy Meltzer
3:34:57
Good afternoon.
3:34:57
I'm Tammy Meltscher, Manhattan Community Board 1, and a downtown resident for nearly 30 years.
3:35:02
I worked at windows on the world where we had seamstress, banquet waiters, managers, and owners who all lived downtown and walked to work.
3:35:09
The diversity in Lower Manhattan was thriving with small businesses.
3:35:13
After 911, the city and state put massive efforts into rebuilding, And by 2016, we had nearly tripled the number of people living in Manhattan, Lower Manhattan through a huge push in 421A housing that required a stabilized affordable housing.
3:35:27
In 2014, state controller, Denapoli, said the number of children living downtown tripled to 73100 with 3 new schools being built.
3:35:36
Once we boomed, developers chose to offset affordable housing to outer boroughs and 421A started to expire.
3:35:43
Buildings transformed into condos or full market rate housing and people were pushed out through skyrocketing rents.
3:35:49
Our senate district has lost more affordable housing than any other district in the entire state.
3:35:56
Our local retail suffered from less people and higher rents.
3:35:59
Than the pandemic hit.
3:36:01
However, the housing market continued to add more market units and rents and rack rates continued to rise.
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Announced office conversions are almost exclusively market rate or luxury.
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Our elementary schools which 10 years ago had long waiting lists now have hundreds of seats available enough to enroll over a 150 migrant children into open school seats.
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Lower Manhattan is the example of failed trickle down housing theory.
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Waiters, essential workers, middle income families, can no longer afford housing downtown.
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The city needs to mandate more than shelters, but provides no path for stabilized low income or even middle income households to stay in neighborhoods that they have ties.
3:36:41
We know how to desegregate schools, stabilize retail, and create vibrant live work communities, it required affordable housing.
3:36:49
We need city of yes to mandate affordable housing.
3:36:52
We proved it worked in Lower Manhattan.
3:36:55
And I urge you to use the decades of growth as an example of success, not today's empty storefronts with the most expensive housing ZIP codes in New York City.
Kevin C. Riley
3:37:04
Next, we're gonna have miss Patricia Lofmann.
