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TESTIMONY

Jack Connors from the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on transit-oriented housing policies in City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal

14:29:33

·

3 min

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Jack Connors, representing the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, strongly supports the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal. He argues that the initiative addresses inequities in commute times and revives transit-focused housing policies that were successful in the early 20th century.

  • Highlights how the current housing crisis disproportionately affects Black New Yorkers, who have 23% longer commute times than white New Yorkers
  • Emphasizes that policies like accessory dwelling units, transit-oriented development, and the absence of parking mandates can improve ridership and fare revenue for the MTA
  • Calls for additional initiatives such as expanding bus lanes, zoning for accessibility, and increasing Fair Fares program eligibility to complement the housing proposal
  • Support for City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal
  • Affordable housing crisis hurts MTA riders, with longer commute times compared to other cities
  • Racial disparities in commute times, with Black New Yorkers having longer commutes
  • Proposal addresses inequities by returning to transit-focused housing policies
  • Encourages transit-oriented development and removal of parking mandates
  • Potential to improve lives of current and future transit riders
  • Calls for additional initiatives like expanding bus lanes and Fair Fares program
  • Emphasizes the need to ensure transit infrastructure is accessible to working New Yorkers

[EXPERIMENTAL]

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

  • Parking Mandates
  • ADU
  • Transit-Oriented Development

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

"During that time, policies included in the city, yes, for housing opportunities such as accessory dwelling units, transit oriented development, and the absence of parking mandates were known by a different name. Common sense."

This quote directly mentions the absence of parking mandates as part of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal, which aligns with the removing parking mandates element.

ADU

"During that time, policies included in the city, yes, for housing opportunities such as accessory dwelling units, transit oriented development, and the absence of parking mandates were known by a different name. Common sense."

This quote directly mentions accessory dwelling units as part of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal, indicating that the speaker is discussing this element.

Transit-Oriented Development

"During that time, policies included in the city, yes, for housing opportunities such as accessory dwelling units, transit oriented development, and the absence of parking mandates were known by a different name. Common sense."

This quote directly mentions transit oriented development as part of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal, indicating that the speaker is discussing this element.

"City of yes for housing opportunity addresses these glaring inequities by returning to the transit focused housing policies that enabled our rail networks expansion in the early 20th century."

This quote refers to 'transit focused housing policies', which is closely related to the concept of transit-oriented development, further supporting that the speaker is discussing this 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?
Jack Connors
14:29:33
I'm here.
14:29:34
Hello?
Dan Garodnick
14:29:35
Hello there.
14:29:36
Welcome.
Pablo Zevallos
14:29:38
Thank you, and good morning.
Dan Garodnick
14:29:41
Good morning.
Jack Connors
14:29:43
Cherger Rodnick, members of the city planning commission.
14:29:45
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the post CVS for housing opportunity citywide zoning text amendment.
14:29:53
When Jack Connor's research and communications associated with the permanent citizens advisory committee to the MTA, as a voice for MTA writer since 1981, PCC researches issues, recommends viable solution, and advocates on behalf of the region's subway bus and Staten Island railway riders and LA, double r, and metro North Railroad commuter In service of that mission, we strongly support the framework set forth by Mayor Adder Adam's commissioner Grodner Grodnik part of me.
14:30:17
It's like, and their staffs in the city of yes, for housing opportunity pro proposal, New York City's affordable housing crisis hurts MTA riders who spend on average 20 minutes more a day in transit than residents of peer cities like Seattle and San Francisco despite the fact that we in New York have the most expansive public transportation network in North America.
14:30:38
According to this to the new new New New York panel report released in December of 2023, this burden falls disproportionately on Black New Yorkers whose commutes averaged 43 minutes, 47 minutes, 23% longer than the 38 minute commute of white New Yorkers.
14:30:54
Average commute.
14:30:56
City of yes for housing opportunity addresses these glaring inequities by returning to the transit focused housing policies that enabled our rail networks expansion in the early 20th century.
14:31:06
During that time, policies included in the city, yes, for housing opportunities such as accessory dwelling units, transit oriented development, and the absence of parking mandates were known by a different name.
14:31:15
Common sense.
14:31:17
Unfortunately, to the Dutchmen of riders in the densest city and the nation, close tie between new housing and transit has been broken in many neighborhoods in recent decades.
14:31:25
Getting back to basics will help the city and the MTA as both continue to recover.
14:31:30
From the from pandemic ridership losses by bringing riders closer to stations, thereby encouraging and improving ridership and simultaneously fair revenue.
14:31:39
The city of yes for housing opportunity proposals have the opportunity have the potential to improve the lives and experiences of current and future transit riders around the fibrosis across the region.
14:31:48
Particularly when combined with other ongoing initiatives.
14:31:51
We call in the city to act decisively to fulfill the Street's planned mandate of a 150 miles of new bus lanes But and busways by the end of 2025, expanding zoning zoning for accessibility city wide and to bus improvements and expanding Fair Fair so that Low Income New Yorkers can afford to ride.
14:32:08
We appreciate the mayor and speaker for the for raising the eligibility for the Fair First program to 140 percent of the federal property level in the city budget, but continue to call for further expansion to 200% and to the commuter railroads, which better reflects the high cost of living in NYC.
14:32:23
Well as peer cities with similar programs.
14:32:25
As billion dollars or public of public money are invested to enhance transit, we must ensure that exclusionary zoning policies do not put this infrastructure out of reach to the working New Year New Yorkers who stand to benefit the most.
14:32:37
Thank you for the opportunity

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