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TESTIMONY

Alicia Boyd, Crown Heights resident, on City Planning Commission's failure to provide affordable housing and protect communities

5:24:28

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3 min

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Alicia Boyd, a resident of Crown Heights, criticizes the City Planning Commission for failing to provide truly affordable housing and protect community interests, particularly in relation to development near the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. She argues that the Commission consistently approves projects that do not benefit local residents or consider the impact on children and communities of color.

  • Boyd highlights the disconnect between the Commission's stated goals and the actual outcomes of development projects
  • She points out that the income brackets for 'affordable' housing often start at $140,000, far above the $40,000-$50,000 range of her community
  • Boyd accuses the Commission of approving 99% of applications, questioning its effectiveness in ensuring affordable housing and community benefits
  • The City Planning Commission doesn't consider the impact on children in development projects
  • Development near Brooklyn Botanic Gardens will negatively impact sunlight for a nearby playground
  • The Commission prioritizes development over affordable housing
  • The affordable housing being created is not truly affordable for the local community
  • The City Planning Commission consistently fails to protect the interests of local residents
  • The Commission approves 99% of applications, questioning its effectiveness
  • The development plans do not genuinely care about communities of color

[EXPERIMENTAL]

Which elements of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity were discussed in this testimony?

  • UAP

The following are AI-extracted quotes and reasoning about which elements of the proposal were discussed in this testimony.

This is a quick, close approximation. Occasionally, the connection between a testimony's transcript and specific elements of City Planning's proposal is tenuous.

Read about this AI-generated analysis here.

UAP

"And yet all you talk about is how you wanna provide housing for people like us, for people of color. You don't want to provide housing for us. You don't care about us."

This quote indirectly references the UAP element by criticizing the Commission's claims about providing affordable housing, which is a key component of the UAP proposal.

"As if that's the only thing that matters. Is the creation of housing. And it's not even affordable because you know what the income bracket started at, a $140,000. And did you know where my community starts at? 40 to $50,000."

This quote directly addresses the affordability aspect of the UAP proposal, highlighting the discrepancy between the proposed affordable housing income brackets and the actual income levels in the speaker's community.

About this analysis:

This analysis is done by AI that reasons whether or not a quote from the testimony discusses a particular element of the proposal.

All the prompts and data are open and available on Github.

You can search for testimonies that mentioned a specific element in the table on the main meeting page.

When an element is explicitly stated in the testimony (e.g. "Universal Affordability Preference" or "UAP"), the analysis is accurate.

But the connection between a quote from the testimony and an element of the proposal is sometimes implicit.

In these cases, the AI might eagerly label a testimony as discussing a proposal when the connection is tenuous, or it might omit it entirely.

↗ Why are there transcription and diarization errors?
Alicia Boyd
5:24:28
Can you set up that?
5:24:31
Yes.
5:24:33
Can you hear me now?
5:24:35
No.
5:24:37
Can you turn around?
5:24:39
What time are you looking?
5:24:40
Can you turn
5:24:43
Okay.
5:24:44
I bought my grandchildren here.
5:24:47
Tell me a bit.
5:24:50
Because we're forgetting the children in this whole entire process.
5:24:55
But she has unflowers.
5:24:58
She was flowers?
5:25:00
Because I live right down the block from the book and botanic gardens.
5:25:04
And, you know, they wanna do development along the book and botanic gardens.
5:25:08
And when the developers came into this commission, the commissioner said, oh, we want the development to happen.
5:25:16
And we don't even care if they provide affordable housing.
5:25:20
We just want it to happen.
5:25:23
And yet all you talk about is how you wanna provide housing for people like us, for people of color.
5:25:33
You don't want to provide housing for us.
5:25:35
You don't care about us.
5:25:36
We have a playground that's about to go into the dark because of the book and botanical garden development.
5:25:42
Did anyone think about the fact that these children will now have to play without sunlight?
5:25:47
Do you think that because we have melanin in our skin that we don't need vitamin d?
5:25:51
Is that true kill?
5:25:53
Benjamin?
5:25:54
Because you are the one who suggested that the developers don't even have to have to
Dan Garodnick
5:26:00
ask that you'd not make the ad hominem attack, please.
5:26:03
Please go ahead.
5:26:04
I'm I'm
Alicia Boyd
5:26:04
talking about a statement that she made at hearing.
5:26:06
I can refer to that.
5:26:07
She's supposed to be representing us.
5:26:09
So I have the right.
5:26:10
This is not a
5:26:10
personal attack.
5:26:11
This is a
5:26:12
statement that she made at the last hearing where she said she did not care if the developers built as long as they build, and she's not care if they even had affordable housing.
5:26:21
As if that's the only thing that matters.
5:26:24
Is the creation of housing.
5:26:26
And it's not even affordable because you know what the income bracket started at, a $140,000.
5:26:31
And did you know where my community starts at?
5:26:34
40 to $50,000.
5:26:36
So even if they did create some affordable housing, it wouldn't be affordable for us.
5:26:40
But then we all know this, don't we?
5:26:42
You sit here year after year after year after year after year development project after development project.
5:26:49
And you're the reason why we're in the crisis?
5:26:52
Because this commission is supposed to have been back in 1936.
5:26:57
We're supposed to ensure that development that happened in New York City was for the people.
5:27:01
And you have failed in your job countless of times.
5:27:04
Each time a developer comes with a plan, each time the NIH program the incentive program, you continue to fail us over and over and over and over again.
5:27:16
And here you are with another plan.
5:27:18
Oh, they're gonna create affordable housing.
5:27:21
You don't care about us.
5:27:22
You don't care about these children.
5:27:24
You don't care about our brown communities.
5:27:26
All you care about is your careers, making sure that you stay.
5:27:31
You know, did I just want people to know.
5:27:33
Do you know that the commissioners though 99% positive on every application that comes before them.
5:27:40
So the question
5:27:41
is why even bother having the
5:27:42
commission if they're gonna approve it anyway?
5:27:45
Oh, because they're supposed to ensure that there's affordable housing.
5:27:48
Time.
5:27:49
We don't get affordable housing from you.
Dan Garodnick
5:27:51
Thank you, miss Boyd.

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