PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon from New York State Assembly on National Infrastructure Bank
0:26:09
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133 sec
Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon testifies in support of the National Infrastructure Bank, highlighting its potential to address critical housing and infrastructure needs in New York City and State. She emphasizes the bank's capacity to generate $5 trillion for various infrastructure projects, far exceeding current federal funding.
- Discusses the need for affordable housing in her district and the high costs of construction
- Highlights aging water and sewer infrastructure as a major challenge for housing development
- Compares the proposed National Infrastructure Bank funding to the limited scope of the current federal Infrastructure Act
Jo Anne Simon
0:26:09
Thank you, and good morning.
0:26:10
And thank you for, your grace in my, delay here.
0:26:16
I can blame the the the MTA.
0:26:19
Why not?
Gene Binder
0:26:19
We yeah.
Keith Powers
0:26:20
We can't
Jo Anne Simon
0:26:20
do that.
0:26:21
Good morning.
0:26:22
It's a pleasure to testify before you.
0:26:24
I've been working on, talking about the National Infrastructure Bank for a number of years.
0:26:30
I think other members of the group have testified previously so I don't wanna repeat that but I don't know what they said.
0:26:36
So let me just talk about housing.
0:26:38
I can talk particularly about my district but some of these issues are certainly present throughout the state, city and the state.
0:26:44
First of all, the number of housing the need for for new housing and the cost of new housing.
0:26:50
So right now in my district, we have had massive amounts of housing that is not even remotely affordable because it costs too much to build, on the private dollar.
0:27:00
And so Downtown Brooklyn, Dumbo, Vinegar Hill, massive amounts of housing.
0:27:04
Gowanus, we're doing a little better.
0:27:06
We have a lot of clean up there.
0:27:08
There is a now we're looking at the Brooklyn Marine Terminal and whether or not that can support housing.
0:27:13
That creates many, sustainability issues.
0:27:17
But one of the big issues that also affects housing that we haven't really dealt with as a city is water and sewer.
0:27:23
Right?
0:27:23
We have a big issue with aging, sewers and, aging aging, water pipes.
0:27:29
And that all affects whether we can build when people are living there, whether they're gonna have the services they need and whether or not they're endangered by the fact that our infrastructure under the ground is not supporting our infrastructure above the ground.
0:27:43
So the National Infrastructure Bank can create $5,000,000,000,000 worth of funds to go towards these needs.
0:27:52
The Infrastructure, Act, that was passed in Congress is only gonna last another 2 years in terms of money.
0:27:58
And it was only roughly 10% of what this the country needed.
0:28:02
New York State has gotten a lot of money from that, but it's a drop in the bucket.
0:28:06
So obviously, this is focused on housing.
0:28:08
We're talking about transportation, talking about BQE, talking about everything.
0:28:12
All of these things can be addressed directly through the National Infrastructure Bank, and that's one of the reasons why I support this resolution.
0:28:19
And I thank you for your your time and attention today.
