REMARKS
Vickie Paladino explains her vote against City of Yes plan
1:45:22
·
3 min
Council Member Vickie Paladino explains her vote against the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity plan, criticizing the rushed process and potential infrastructure issues. She argues that the city faces an affordability crisis rather than a housing crisis, and that increasing density won't solve the problem.
- Paladino represents Northeast Queens, where 12 out of 14 community boards rejected the plan
- She expresses concerns about infrastructure capacity, including flooding, sewers, and the electrical grid
- Paladino votes no on LU 181 with Reso 689, M 79 with Reso 688, Intro 1127-A, and Intro 1128-A
Vickie Paladino
1:45:22
Permission to explain my vote.
Amanda FarÃas
1:45:24
Permission granted.
Vickie Paladino
1:45:26
Well, once again, we're here, and it's the tale of 2 cities.
1:45:30
I'm gonna tell you something.
1:45:32
We did this wrong.
1:45:33
I said it from the beginning.
1:45:35
This was like a freight train that got rushed through.
1:45:38
I appreciate the hard work and the efforts that the land use committees did.
1:45:43
I appreciate the negotiations that happened, but they happened way too late.
1:45:50
It's as simple as that.
1:45:52
The process was a mess from day 1.
1:45:54
And then in the final days, last week, 2 weeks ago, we rushed through negotiations and compromises in order to get this passed.
1:46:04
I fear that this body is now going to spend years trying to make sense of what we are about to do with carve outs and fixes and clarifications, all because we didn't take the time the time to do this right or to listen listen carefully to what the people are telling us.
1:46:25
I come from a district in Northeast Queens.
1:46:28
And in Queens, as it was earlier stated, 4 12 out of 14 rejected this particular City of Yes plan.
1:46:40
And it's not because anybody here is a nimby or they don't want it.
1:46:44
That's not it at all.
1:46:46
What it is is this was not planned properly.
1:46:50
For example, infrastructure experts tell us that we can barely sustain housing as they as it currently exists.
1:46:58
Flooding is a major problem in this city.
1:47:01
Sewers are overwhelmed as it is, and the electrical grid is at a breaking point.
1:47:06
And we continue to strain it even more with the electrification mandate, adding thousands of new households to these systems without first considering local infrastructure going to a result which is going to result in a in a disaster.
1:47:22
You know, we've been told we're in a housing crisis.
1:47:25
This is not the case.
1:47:27
What we have here is an affordability crisis that is not limited just to housing, but adding density isn't going to lower the cost of living.
1:47:37
It never has.
UNKNOWN
1:47:38
Council member, your time has expired.
Vickie Paladino
1:47:39
Just one more second, please.
1:47:40
You cannot give me one example of a a large city that has gotten more affordable and has gotten less dense.
1:47:50
It is just does not exist.
1:47:53
And there are other ways, but my time is up, But there are ways that we could have fixed this without rushing it through the way we did.
1:48:00
I know a lot of hard work went in, but I have to agree with my district and I must vote no.
1:48:07
Most definitely no.
1:48:09
L u 181 with accompanying reso 689.
1:48:15
M 79 with accompanying reso 688.
1:48:19
Intros, 1 127 a.
1:48:24
No.
1:48:25
1128 a.
1:48:28
No.
1:48:29
Thank you.
