Elaine Young, President of West Cunningham Park Civic Association, on opposition to City of Yes for Housing Opportunity and its impact on single-family home communities
9:37:43
·
3 min
Elaine Young, representing a civic association of 1200 households in Fresh Meadows, Queens, strongly opposes the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative. She argues that the plan will negatively impact single-family home communities, which make up only 17% of New York City, and fails to address affordable housing needs effectively.
- Warns of severe infrastructure strain, including overcrowded schools, overwhelmed utilities, and parking issues, especially if parking mandates are eliminated citywide
- Argues that Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) will likely be rented at market rates rather than providing affordable housing for family members, based on her experience with illegal ADUs in the community
- Criticizes the initiative as a 'one size fits all' approach that doesn't consider the needs of suburban-type areas with limited public transportation, where cars are necessary
- Only 17% of New York City is single family homes, yet they are being targeted by this plan
- The plan will decimate communities by overturning existing zoning
- The plan will increase density without supporting infrastructure
- Legalizing basement, attic, and garage apartments won't address affordable housing needs
- Homeowners will likely charge market rates for ADUs, not use them for family members
- Infrastructure (schools, sewers, water, electric utilities) will be overwhelmed
- Parking will become impossible, especially with the elimination of parking mandates
- The plan doesn't consider the needs of areas with poor public transportation
- Most civics in the area and 12 of 14 community boards in Queens are against this plan
[EXPERIMENTAL]
Which elements of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity were discussed in this testimony?
- Parking Mandates
- ADU
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.
Parking Mandates
"And speaking of parking, to eliminate the parking mandate citywide is another example of the one size fits all approach that does not work for everywhere."
This quote directly addresses the proposal to remove parking mandates, which is a key element of the City of Yes For Housing Opportunity proposal.
"For example, we have the 1 acre former Klein Farm site in our Civic, and it currently enjoys the protection of the special preservation to strip zoning. This would probably be the first to go with an apartment building likely built there with zero parking."
This quote discusses a specific example of how removing parking mandates could affect a local development, demonstrating the speaker's concern about this element of the proposal.
"There is a complete anti car sem to mint in this city. A speaker earlier said New York City needs to move away from cars. I say come out to our community, which is a suburban type public transportation desert and see why we need our cars."
This quote expresses opposition to the removal of parking mandates by emphasizing the need for cars in certain communities, which directly relates to the parking mandate element of the proposal.
ADU
"It would create living spaces that would do nothing to address the lack of affordable housing such as legalizing basement attic and garage apartments."
This quote directly references the proposal to legalize accessory dwelling units (ADUs) such as basement, attic, and garage apartments, which is a key element of the City of Yes For Housing Opportunity proposal.
"The homeowners would charge market rate to think that they would only build these ADUs for family to be able to remain in New York City as the number of speakers have said today is disingenuous."
This quote discusses the potential use of ADUs and criticizes the idea that they would be used primarily for family members, which directly relates to the ADU element of the proposal.
"As a civic association president, I have had enough experience with folks in our community who have created illegal ADS and are renting them out at market rate to pocket the money."
This quote discusses the current state of illegal ADUs in the community, which is relevant to the proposal to legalize such units.
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.
Follow-up discussion/remarks
Chair Garodnick clarifies flexibility and neighborhood-specific impacts of City of Yes proposal
9:40:57
·
151 sec
Chair Dan Garodnick addresses concerns about the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal being a 'one size fits all' approach. He emphasizes that the plan allows for neighborhood-specific flexibility and is based on extensive analysis of existing conditions across New York City.
- Parking minimum elimination will affect neighborhoods differently based on local needs
- The proposal includes a range of options from ADUs to office building conversions, adaptable to various neighborhood densities
- Applicability maps demonstrate how the proposal will work differently for each community district
- Only 17% of New York City is single family homes, yet they are being targeted by this plan
- The plan will decimate communities by overturning existing zoning
- The plan will increase density without supporting infrastructure
- Legalizing basement, attic, and garage apartments won't address affordable housing needs
- Homeowners will likely charge market rates for ADUs, not use them for family members
- Infrastructure (schools, sewers, water, electric utilities) will be overwhelmed
- Parking will become impossible, especially with the elimination of parking mandates
- The plan doesn't consider the needs of areas with poor public transportation
- Most civics in the area and 12 of 14 community boards in Queens are against this plan
[EXPERIMENTAL]
Which elements of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity were discussed in this testimony?
- Parking Mandates
- ADU
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.
Parking Mandates
"And speaking of parking, to eliminate the parking mandate citywide is another example of the one size fits all approach that does not work for everywhere."
This quote directly addresses the proposal to remove parking mandates, which is a key element of the City of Yes For Housing Opportunity proposal.
"For example, we have the 1 acre former Klein Farm site in our Civic, and it currently enjoys the protection of the special preservation to strip zoning. This would probably be the first to go with an apartment building likely built there with zero parking."
This quote discusses a specific example of how removing parking mandates could affect a local development, demonstrating the speaker's concern about this element of the proposal.
"There is a complete anti car sem to mint in this city. A speaker earlier said New York City needs to move away from cars. I say come out to our community, which is a suburban type public transportation desert and see why we need our cars."
This quote expresses opposition to the removal of parking mandates by emphasizing the need for cars in certain communities, which directly relates to the parking mandate element of the proposal.
ADU
"It would create living spaces that would do nothing to address the lack of affordable housing such as legalizing basement attic and garage apartments."
This quote directly references the proposal to legalize accessory dwelling units (ADUs) such as basement, attic, and garage apartments, which is a key element of the City of Yes For Housing Opportunity proposal.
"The homeowners would charge market rate to think that they would only build these ADUs for family to be able to remain in New York City as the number of speakers have said today is disingenuous."
This quote discusses the potential use of ADUs and criticizes the idea that they would be used primarily for family members, which directly relates to the ADU element of the proposal.
"As a civic association president, I have had enough experience with folks in our community who have created illegal ADS and are renting them out at market rate to pocket the money."
This quote discusses the current state of illegal ADUs in the community, which is relevant to the proposal to legalize such units.
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.