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TESTIMONY

Darrick Borowski, Architect and Member of the Housing Committee at AIA, on supporting City of Yes for Housing Opportunity and addressing New York City's housing crisis

2:34:24

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164 sec

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Darrick Borowski, an architect and member of the AIA Housing Committee, speaks in support of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative. He argues that changing the zoning code is crucial to addressing New York City's housing crisis and maintaining its vitality.

  • Borowski emphasizes that current zoning codes, largely unchanged since 1961, have contributed to the present housing crisis and limit possible solutions.
  • He supports proposals in the draft plan, including affordability bonuses, housing over retail, legalizing shared living, and eliminating parking requirements.
  • Borowski acknowledges concerns about increased density but urges commissioners to prioritize creating housing opportunities and vote yes for the City of Yes initiative.
  • Current zoning code from 1961 has contributed to the housing crisis
  • Changing codes is necessary to create affordable housing for all incomes
  • Supports proposals in the plan such as bonuses for affordability, housing over retail, legalizing shared living, small apartments, ADUs, and eliminating parking requirements
  • Housing affordability is crucial for maintaining New York City's vitality and cultural diversity
  • Many New Yorkers, including young professionals and creatives, are struggling to afford housing
  • Acknowledges concerns about increased density but believes prioritizing housing creation is necessary
  • Urges commissioners to vote yes for City of Yes for Housing Opportunity

[EXPERIMENTAL]

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

  • UAP
  • Town Center Zoning
  • Parking Mandates
  • ADU
  • Small and Shared Housing

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

"In this draft, I see proposals that enable many of the possibilities my colleagues students and IFCS tools to help us get get us out of this current crisis, including bonuses for affordability"

The speaker mentions 'bonuses for affordability' which aligns with the Universal Affordability Preference (UAP) element of the proposal that allows buildings to add more housing if it's affordable.

Town Center Zoning

"In this draft, I see proposals that enable many of the possibilities my colleagues students and IFCS tools to help us get get us out of this current crisis, including [...] housing over retail in town centers"

The speaker explicitly mentions 'housing over retail in town centers', which directly relates to the Town Center Zoning element of the proposal.

Parking Mandates

"In this draft, I see proposals that enable many of the possibilities my colleagues students and IFCS tools to help us get get us out of this current crisis, including [...] eliminating parking requirements"

The speaker explicitly mentions 'eliminating parking requirements', which directly corresponds to the Removing Parking Mandates element of the proposal.

ADU

"In this draft, I see proposals that enable many of the possibilities my colleagues students and IFCS tools to help us get get us out of this current crisis, including [...] ADUs"

The speaker explicitly mentions 'ADUs', which is the acronym for Accessory Dwelling Units, directly addressing this element of the proposal.

Small and Shared Housing

"In this draft, I see proposals that enable many of the possibilities my colleagues students and IFCS tools to help us get get us out of this current crisis, including [...] legalizing shared living, small apartments"

The speaker explicitly mentions 'legalizing shared living, small apartments', which directly corresponds to the Small and Shared Housing element of the proposal.

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?
Darrick Borowski
2:34:24
Good afternoon, commissioners.
2:34:26
I hope everyone can hear me, and thank you for the opportunity to speak.
2:34:30
My name is Derek Bruski.
2:34:31
I'm an architect and a member of the housing committee where I've studied elements, this plan, its various impacts on our neighborhoods.
2:34:37
I also teach a design studio, research, write, and speak on the future of cities.
2:34:41
More specifically housing to which the futures of cities is most indelibly tied.
2:34:46
Well, both my practice and academic work have reinforced time and again, is that our codes and regulations establish what is possible, and results as a result in collaboration with funding shape what we get.
2:34:57
The current zoning code largely the same since 1961 has to its credit ushered us through a number of crises over the last 63 years.
2:35:05
But in shaping our built environment, it's also helped shape the current housing crisis, and the possible fixes for this crisis are limited by the possibilities written into this code If we wanna create a city where people of all incomes can afford to live, we must change the codes.
2:35:19
In this draft, I see proposals that enable many of the possibilities my colleagues students and IFCS tools to help us get get us out of this current crisis, including bonuses for affordability, housing over retail in town centers, legalizing shared living, small apartments, ADUs, and eliminating parking requirements, and that's why I'm here in support of the city of yes for housing opportunity.
2:35:39
Moved to New York 20 years ago.
2:35:40
For the same reason many young people do, I was drawn to the vitality of this place, its energy, its legacy as a center of culture.
2:35:46
The city has seen its ups and downs, but always has been the people who historically can least afford to live here, young people, artists, creative immigrants, who have kept the city vital and those who have nothing to lose, those who have the courage to leave home and reinvent themselves here, reinvent culture, and in the process, reinvent New York City.
2:36:03
In my time here, I've watched housing across skyrocket, forcing friends and fellow creatives to leave, leaving others hanging by a thread to an apartment they and their family have long outgrown I have talked to young graduates who struggle to find an apartment they can afford on starting salary and architecture and design and mid career architects who try to start a family.
2:36:20
Must consider leaving because even with 10 or 15 years experience, they find it hard to find a home they can afford.
2:36:25
Last month, I went to my community board meeting where they butted against plan, citing quite a bit the false information, sadly.
2:36:31
I've also done a lot of listening generally to people's concerns, and I don't think on a whole New Yorkers are opposed to housing, understandably, they, we are worried about the impacts of higher density on our already tenuous hold on our quality of life.
2:36:44
Yorkers are stretched thin.
2:36:45
I get it.
2:36:45
It takes a lot to live here.
2:36:46
I acknowledge that we can and must tackle those challenges as well.
2:36:50
But right now, we have an opportunity to make creating housing a priority, and that means changing what's possible.
2:36:56
This plan attempts to do that.
2:36:58
And, yes, it will require us to step up and face those other challenges as well.
2:37:02
But this moment requires the courage to take that first step, and that's why I urge you to vote yes for city of yes.

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