PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Peter Sluszka on Opposition to Development Proposal
5:03:26
ยท
102 sec
Peter Sluszka expresses strong opposition to a proposed development project, citing lack of community engagement, out-of-scale design, and potential negative impact on neighborhood character. He argues for responsible development that respects community wishes and neighborhood context.
- Criticizes closed-door meetings between developers and elected representatives
- Suggests doubling the zoning as a compromise, but emphasizes the importance of maintaining neighborhood scale
- Argues that one development cannot solve all of the city's housing issues and that poorly conceived projects can have far-reaching negative impacts
Peter Sluszka
5:03:26
Hello.
5:03:26
I'm at work, so I can make this short and sweet, but I too am vehemently opposed to this proposal.
5:03:32
I was also impressed.
5:03:34
I was on earlier and heard about the Coyle Street development where it did seem like the developers engaged the community.
5:03:40
There's been no engagement whatsoever.
5:03:43
There's been lobbyists and closed door meetings with our elected representatives who has been pointed out, are supposed to represent the people in the community, and that seems to be absent.
5:03:54
This project is ludicrously as proposed, ludicrously out of scale for the neighborhood.
5:03:59
I see developments all over the place, including the former Prospect Hall that, you know, there are 5 stories.
5:04:07
Look, everyone knows we need to build there.
5:04:08
Everyone's fine.
5:04:10
We've come at it as a community with a a spirit of compromise.
5:04:13
Of course, up the zoning, double the zoning.
5:04:16
But scale still does count.
5:04:18
The neighborhood character still does count.
5:04:20
And And we've been shut out of any real negotiations or discussions.
5:04:24
And, you know, one development can't solve all of the city's housing issues.
5:04:29
That's what City S is for, is to make every neighborhood kind of, stretch a bit and really try to solve this together.
5:04:36
But people are acting like this is a, a public works housing where we're gonna solve everything in one fell swoop.
5:04:42
But I would say one ill conceived development can have an incredibly negative effect and impact that really does destroy the character of a neighborhood and and has an impact, you know, above and beyond that ripples into many other neighborhoods.
5:04:56
Look.
5:04:56
We wanna do this.
5:04:57
We want more housing and inclusionary housing for sure, but let's do it responsibly in a way that respects the neighborhood and respects the wishes of the community, the people who actually live in neighborhood.
5:05:07
Thank you.