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TESTIMONY

Indiana Porta from Manhattan Community Board 9 on procedural questions and concerns about the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal

14:02:04

·

3 min

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Indiana Porta, speaking in her personal capacity as a Manhattan Community Board 9 member, raises procedural questions about the availability of public testimony and seeks clarification on specific aspects of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal, particularly regarding the Universal Affordability Preference (UAP) and recently rezoned areas.

  • Inquires about the public availability of written and oral testimony from the hearing
  • Requests clarification on the fixed percentage of affordable housing units required under the UAP
  • Asks about the implications for buildings in recently rezoned areas that haven't yet been constructed
  • Emphasizes the importance of accessibility features as a wheelchair user
  • Requests for public availability of written and oral testimony
  • Clarification on the universal affordability preference proposal, specifically the fixed percentage of affordable housing
  • Suggestion to set a base minimum of affordable units (20%)
  • Question about recently rezoned areas and how the new initiative would affect them
  • Support for accessibility features as a wheelchair user

[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

"Specifically for the universal affordability preference proposal, I am hearing different things. Right? It sounds like in the materials that were provided by DCP that the 20% additional housing that would be required to be affordable."

The speaker directly mentions the Universal Affordability Preference proposal and discusses the 20% additional affordable housing requirement, which is a key aspect of this element.

"So just clarity on that, is it a fixed percentage of the affordable housing? And I would encourage the commission and if not, the council members when they vote on this to set a base minimum of deformable units. Right? I think 20% seems fair."

The speaker is asking for clarification on the percentage of affordable housing required and suggests setting a minimum, which directly relates to the UAP 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?
Indiana Porta
14:02:04
Going up.
14:02:05
Alright.
14:02:06
So Hello.
14:02:07
My name is Indiana Porta, and I work for the city and sit on my community board by classified today in my personal capacity.
14:02:14
As you can imagine at 11:56 PM.
14:02:18
I wanted to take this, you know, opportunity right off the bat to ask the commission and the department if testimony offered today written testimony will be made publicly available.
14:02:31
And if you can just provide some information as to when and where that will be posted along the same lines, I was curious if the oral testimony would be summarized like, the October 2023 scoping meeting.
14:02:44
I think there's, like, a summary of, you know, kind of a quick recap of all of the oral testimony as well.
14:02:49
So I was curious if that would be made publicly available.
14:02:53
And then to the substantive proposals, which I will summarize since it is so late, I am not a land use specialist by any meeting.
14:03:03
So I think that my I the best thing I can do, right, is maybe raise some of the questions that I'd love to hear more from the board about, right, in the commission.
14:03:15
Specifically for the universal affordability preference proposal, I am hearing different things.
14:03:25
Right?
14:03:25
It sounds like in the materials that were provided by DCP that the 20% additional housing that would be required to be affordable.
14:03:35
It's kind of so good as, like, a given.
14:03:37
Yes.
14:03:38
20% of the housing will be affordable.
14:03:40
But then as other presenters have spoken, it seems like maybe there are some discretion and that it may have to do with, you know, like, a percentage.
14:03:50
Right?
14:03:50
If something was zone for f a r 12, but they decide to build FAR 10 because of economic reasons.
14:03:59
I think that was an example earlier tonight.
14:04:02
That there would be fewer affordable housing units because the developer chose not to build, I guess, the full affordable housing percentage that they could.
14:04:13
So just clarity on that, is it a fixed percentage of the affordable housing?
14:04:17
And I would encourage the commission and if not, the council members when they vote on this to set a base minimum of deformable units.
14:04:28
Right?
14:04:28
I think 20% seems fair.
14:04:30
So to remove that discretion if it exists, see I'm doing on timing, 30 seconds.
14:04:37
Okay.
14:04:38
Very quickly.
14:04:39
At the city planning commission meeting on July 8th, there was a question about what happens for areas that were recently rezoned?
14:04:48
And so if a building had an FAR 6, you know, zoning, I guess.
14:04:53
But they, through the community agreement, decided to build f a r 5.
14:04:57
What happens now if that building has not yet been built?
14:05:00
Can the developer go back to city planning and say, listen, I wanna take part in this, and it'll be affordable housing year time.
14:05:10
Thank you.
14:05:10
One last thing.
14:05:12
I am a wheelchair user.
14:05:13
I became a wheelchair user 2 years ago, and so to the time, accessibility features, I would appreciate that.
14:05:20
Thank you.

Follow-up discussion/remarks

REMARKS

Chair Garodnick addresses process questions about testimony publication

14:05:24

·

47 sec

Chair Dan Garodnick and other officials respond to inquiries about the publication and availability of public testimony for the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative.

  • Written testimony is not typically posted on the website but can be requested from the department
  • A response to comments will be included in the final environmental impact statement
  • The CPC report will provide an overview of all testimony and comments received
  • The public hearing video will be available on YouTube for viewing
  • Requests for public availability of written and oral testimony
  • Clarification on the universal affordability preference proposal, specifically the fixed percentage of affordable housing
  • Suggestion to set a base minimum of affordable units (20%)
  • Question about recently rezoned areas and how the new initiative would affect them
  • Support for accessibility features as a wheelchair user

[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

"Specifically for the universal affordability preference proposal, I am hearing different things. Right? It sounds like in the materials that were provided by DCP that the 20% additional housing that would be required to be affordable."

The speaker directly mentions the Universal Affordability Preference proposal and discusses the 20% additional affordable housing requirement, which is a key aspect of this element.

"So just clarity on that, is it a fixed percentage of the affordable housing? And I would encourage the commission and if not, the council members when they vote on this to set a base minimum of deformable units. Right? I think 20% seems fair."

The speaker is asking for clarification on the percentage of affordable housing required and suggests setting a minimum, which directly relates to the UAP 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?
Dan Garodnick
14:05:24
Let's just let's address the process questions here about what's posted where, matter of secretary?
UNKNOWN
14:05:30
To address the question on publishing testimony, we don't typically posted on the website.
14:05:36
However, there will be a response to comments in the final environmental impact statement.
14:05:42
And it is something that could be requested from the department as a record of the meeting.
14:05:47
And then there will also be in the CPC reports an overview of all the testimony and comments and written testimony received.
Juan Camilo Osorio
14:05:56
And you too.
UNKNOWN
14:05:58
Yes.
14:05:58
And you can also watch the YouTube livestream.
14:06:01
We'll have the video up on YouTube.
Dan Garodnick
14:06:05
I mean, it that's a that's a good watch.
14:06:07
That must that's must see TV right there.
Robert Poole
14:06:11
Mhmm.

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