REMARKS
David M. Carr explains his vote on City of Yes initiative
0:41:08
·
130 sec
Council Member David M. Carr explains his opposition to the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative (LU 181), citing concerns about preserving neighborhood character, lack of consideration for local infrastructure needs, and potential legal challenges due to insufficient environmental due diligence. He votes no on LU 181 and aye on the rest.
- Carr represents a community that values quality of life and neighborhood character
- He argues that the council should champion local concerns over citywide pressures
- Carr believes the plan is a "mapping action masquerading as a text amendment" without proper environmental review
David M. Carr
0:41:08
Thank you, chair.
0:41:10
You know, I spoke, when I made my motion earlier, but I just wanna add some local color, to to the reasons why I'm opposing this.
0:41:18
You know, I come from a a community, that is home to people who chose to leave where they came from, usually other parts of the city, in order to find a better quality of life.
0:41:29
And that's what's been motivating my approach, and and the same is true for the Southwest Brooklyn constituents I represent.
0:41:35
These are neighborhood characters that have served generations of families well.
0:41:40
There's absolutely opportunities to find new housing within them, but this is not the correct approach.
0:41:46
And there have been a number of times where my council delegation and our other colleagues came forward and said that we were willing to meet the administration and and find a way to meet housing goals, but in a way that respected neighborhood context, in a way that respected local infrastructure needs.
Kevin Riley
0:42:02
Buyers will do.
David M. Carr
0:42:03
And those, you know, offers were not taken up on.
0:42:07
And it's a shame because there was a way for us to, contribute to the housing stock need, but at the same time, doing so in a way that was careful and considerate of neighborhood context.
0:42:18
We need to put neighborhoods first in these conversations, and the council, by design of the charter, is meant to be a champion of the local, rather than give way to, the the pressures of the executive branch who have a citywide basis.
0:42:33
And that's unfortunately what we're acquiescing to, by, really putting forward, from my perspective, minimal accommodations to the local concerns that were articulated by my communities.
0:42:45
But most importantly, I think what's what's at play here is that this is a mapping action masquerading as a text amendment.
0:42:51
And that there was no environmental due diligence done for a mapping action, but we are in effect creating new mapping districts through the transit oriented development, through so many other aspects of this plan.
0:43:02
And so I do not believe that the environmental due diligence was done, and I do not believe that this plan could survive a quarter challenge, and very likely may not survive 1 if it comes to fruition.
0:43:13
Thank you, chair.
0:43:13
And with that said, I vote no on LU 181, and aye on the rest.
