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Council Member Sanchez advocates for action on distressed buildings and Intro 1063
0:10:41
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3 min
Council Member Pierina Ana Sanchez addresses the deplorable conditions of a building at 2201 Davidson Avenue and advocates for broader action on distressed buildings in New York City. She emphasizes the importance of Intro 1063, the Housing Rescue and Resident Protection Act, which would give HPD more authority to act on problematic properties.
- Sanchez details the extensive violations and poor conditions at 2201 Davidson Avenue, including $28 million in municipal arrears and 600 open HPD violations.
- She criticizes the failure of existing city programs to adequately address the issues in this and nearly 10,000 other distressed buildings across the city.
- Sanchez promotes Intro 1063 as a solution to give HPD the necessary authority to transfer ownership of distressed properties to responsible owners through a fair legal process.
Pierina Ana Sanchez
0:10:41
Thank you so much, madam chair.
0:10:43
And I just wanna start by thanking HPD for all your work on this building.
0:10:49
It Arvind just said it all, but just to to put this into context because it's this is one of the buildings in the city of New York that makes the least sense to me.
0:11:00
Nearly $28,000,000 in municipal arrears, 600 open HPD violations, 90 DOB violations, nearly 60 Department of Health violations.
0:11:10
We're talking about mold, water damage, collapsed ceilings and structures because of that water damage, vermin.
0:11:17
People in this building, my neighbors who live in this building, have been living in these deplorable conditions for over ten years.
0:11:24
This building, as Arvin has mentioned, has been through the alternative enforcement program, which is one of the city's strongest enforcement programs with escalating fines, a heightened presence of all of the enforcement agencies knocking on the doors, looking at the building all the time, and issuing more fines.
0:11:40
This building has also been tried to take the city has tried to take this building through DBT in the past and was not able to do so.
0:11:48
This building has attempted to go through seven a.
0:11:51
And my point is that the city's programs, which are some of the strongest in the nation, have failed this building, have failed my my neighbors.
0:11:59
And so today, after petitioning, after taking office and and petitioning HPD to reopen a TPT process and try to take this building away from this terrible management, terrible landlord.
0:12:12
We're here today to to talk about an article 11 for the future of this building, and and the urban area development project approval for the future of this building.
0:12:21
But, chair Hanks, I just wanna take this this opportunity to to be very clear with New Yorkers, to be very clear with colleagues.
0:12:28
In New York City, there are nearly 10,000 buildings that are falling apart like this.
0:12:33
This is not new.
0:12:34
This is not something that happened to 2201 Dash 5 Davidson A Couple Years ago.
0:12:39
They've been fighting for attention and for for fixes for over a decade.
0:12:44
And the city has not had the tools that it needs to to to enforce to properly enforce the the ultimate stick.
0:12:52
And we have legislation in the city council.
0:12:54
It's intro ten sixty three that would give HPD the authority through HPD, the law department, through a fair legal process to really finally act on these properties and take away the the the properties from transfer them to responsible ownership.
0:13:09
So that's intro October, the Housing Rescue and Resident Protection Act.
0:13:14
And so I just wanna wanna impress upon all of us, right, that we we, especially in this time where we have limited resources, dwindling resources, resources being stolen from our city, from the federal government, and we're tightened in terms of the state and the city in terms of the state and city's budget.
0:13:32
Right?
0:13:32
We're gonna be facing pressures.
0:13:34
Projects like this, authority like this to give HPD the the power and to give the city the power to act on behalf of residents and New Yorkers who are struggling is of the utmost importance.
0:13:44
So, ten sixty three offers a path forward, and it's directly responsive to the flaws that plagued, the past rounds of TPT.
0:13:51
We know that the third party transfer in the past was checkered.
0:13:54
It was administered in ways that were problematic, But we can address all all of those problems, all of those challenges, and use the tool in the right way.
0:14:02
And the right way is to make sure that buildings like this, like 2201 Davidson, don't have residents who are living in these deplorable conditions, kids growing up and developing asthma and other health conditions because of how we are we are forcing them to live by not acting.
0:14:18
So thank you so much, chair Hanks, for for the time and opportunity.
0:14:21
And HPD, thank you for your partnership on this building, and and let's, let's bring this to more properties across the city of New York.