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PUBLIC TESTIMONY

Testimony by Paul Tainsh on 441/467 Prospect Avenue (Arrow Linen) Rezoning

4:50:15

ยท

125 sec

Paul Tainsh, a long-time resident of Brooklyn, testified against the proposed rezoning application for the Arrow Linen site. He argued that spot rezoning is unnecessary and potentially dangerous, given the existing City of Yes framework and its incentives for development near mass transit.

  • Tainsh emphasized the complexity of housing issues and their impact on communities, cautioning against relying solely on statistics.
  • He stressed the importance of livable scale in communities, citing Jane Jacobs' work on urban neighborhoods.
  • As an urban sociologist with 45 years of experience, Tainsh warned that out-of-scale projects can damage the fabric of communities.
Paul Tainsh
4:50:15
Thank you to the chair and to the committee members for the opportunity to testimony, make testimony.
4:50:21
My name is Paul Tainch.
4:50:22
I lived on 16th Street, 2 blocks away from the proposed rezoning site for 39 years.
4:50:28
And I've lived in Brooklyn for 70 years.
4:50:32
I want to ask this committee to reject the application for a number of reasons, most of which have been stated.
4:50:39
But I want to say that the city council, after much consideration and input from communities through New York, asked the city of YES to try and provide some uniform guidance to rezoning and that this new zoning provides ample opportunity for the developers of ARO and the 2 lots to increase the number of units allowed by taking advantage of incentives that are included in the framework for developing near mass transit and, including affordable units.
4:51:07
I think that doing this kind of spot zoning, rezoning is both unnecessary and actually, can be very dangerous in terms of creating exceptions that then become the rule for the kinds of buildings that get built in the future.
4:51:23
I do want to say on one hand, people keep citing statistics, like how many vacancies there are in district 15, for example, which of course is irrelevant if your school is the school down the block and it's full.
4:51:36
A lot of people also cite the citywide vacancy rate is 1.9 or 1.4, I've heard people say, but the project developers cited a 5.7% local vacancy rate.
4:51:49
So I just want to be clear when people throw numbers around, it sounds really professional and such.
4:51:54
But this issue of housing and its impact on communities is actually much more complex.
4:52:00
I'm trained as an urban sociologist, and I've studied urban neighborhoods for 45 years.
4:52:04
And we know from New York City history that scale matters and out of scale projects can damage the fabric of communities.
4:52:11
Jane Jacobs made a clear out of pointing out the importance of livable scale community
UNKNOWN
4:52:17
Thank you.
4:52:17
Time's expired.
Matt Goldberg
4:52:18
To create these kinds of exceptions.
Paul Tainsh
4:52:19
Thank you so much for your time.
Kevin Riley
4:52:21
Thank you, Paul.
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