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TESTIMONY

Jean Hahn, resident of Forest Hills, Queens, on opposition to City of Yes for Housing Opportunity

13:30:25

·

168 sec

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Jean Hahn, a homeowner from Forest Hills, Queens, expresses strong opposition to the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative. She argues that the plan is ill-conceived and would strip zoning decisions from local community boards, ignoring the diverse needs of different neighborhoods in New York City.

  • Hahn criticizes the plan for potentially sacrificing quality of life issues like daylight, air, and open space in the name of addressing the housing crisis.
  • She questions the lack of infrastructure planning to accommodate new developments and expresses concerns about the impact on historic and low-density neighborhoods.
  • Hahn opposes specific aspects of the plan, including the expansion of transit and town center zones, the legalization of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), and the elimination of parking requirements.
  • Opposes the City of Yes plan as it strips zoning decisions from local community boards
  • Concerned about loss of daylight, air, and open space
  • Believes the plan won't guarantee more affordable or low-income housing
  • Worried about strain on aging infrastructure and lack of plans for additional public services
  • Opposes expansion of transit and town center zones in low-density neighborhoods
  • Against ADUs in basements and rear yards due to quality of life concerns
  • Opposes eliminating parking requirements, citing needs of families, elderly, and disabled
  • Advocates for local community board control in housing decisions
  • Urges City Planning Commission to vote against the City of Yes housing plan

[EXPERIMENTAL]

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

  • Town Center Zoning
  • 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.

Town Center Zoning

"I'm opposed to expansion of transit and town center zones, which would negatively affect the historic and contextual fabric of my low density neighborhood, which my neighbors and I pay a hefty property tax premium to live in."

This quote directly mentions the speaker's opposition to town center zones, which is a clear reference to the Town Center Zoning element of the City of Yes For Housing Opportunity proposal.

Parking Mandates

"I'm opposed to eliminating the parking requirement. Many families rely on cars to transport our children to and from school and activities in our elderly and disabled family members. To say that we don't need parking, it's discriminatory against that live against those that live in transit deserts, which are pretty much everywhere outside of Manhattan high density areas."

This quote directly addresses the proposal to remove parking mandates, expressing opposition and providing reasons why the speaker believes parking is necessary.

ADU

"I own close to committing ADUs in basements, in rearguard, as a bright. Cramped spaces are not quality of life for our either the resident or the neighbors, and again brings up the question of infrastructure. Legalizing illegal basement conversions does not make a space any safer."

This quote directly addresses the Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) element of the proposal, expressing concerns about the quality of life and safety issues related to basement conversions and other forms of ADUs.

Transit-Oriented Development

"I'm opposed to expansion of transit and town center zones, which would negatively affect the historic and contextual fabric of my low density neighborhood, which my neighbors and I pay a hefty property tax premium to live in."

This quote mentions opposition to the expansion of transit zones, which is directly related to the Transit-Oriented Development element of the City of Yes For Housing Opportunity 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?
Jean Hahn
13:30:25
Hello?
13:30:26
Can you hear me?
Dan Garodnick
13:30:28
We can.
13:30:28
Yes.
Jean Hahn
13:30:30
Oh, great.
13:30:31
Thank you, Chair.
13:30:32
Thank you, commissioners.
13:30:34
I I've been on this call for quite a while.
13:30:37
I'm very happy to speak.
13:30:39
My name is Jean Hahn, and I'm a homeowner of Forest Hills Queens.
13:30:43
I'm opposed to the city of Yes, which on its face is an ill conceived plan designed to strip away zoning decisions from local community boards because we are not a one size fits all city.
13:30:55
There's a saying to by opportunists to never waste a good crisis.
13:30:59
Well, the city of yes is doing the same with the Sony proposal.
13:31:03
Daylight air and open space are important quality life issues, and tossing them to the wayside with city of gas because we are in a housing, quote, unquote, crisis is akin to throwing out the beep throwing the baby out with the bathwater because hopes only does not translate to or guarantee more affordable low income housing.
13:31:23
Instead market and luxury developments get built pushing low income residents further and further out, We have all seen examples of this everywhere.
13:31:30
If we are truly in a housing crisis, boys have more being done to bring vacant units back on the market, where it wouldn't put a strain on our aging infrastructure.
13:31:38
Where are the plans for school buildings, hospitals, police departments, fire stations, road maintenance, and sanitation service?
13:31:44
To accompany these new buildings.
13:31:46
Would developers be given Phoebe's when our infrastructure is further overburdened?
13:31:50
At the end of the day, we know it will all fall on the taxpayers who are already struggling with current inflation.
13:31:56
I'm opposed to expansion of transit and town center zones, which would negatively affect the historic and contextual fabric of my low density neighborhood, which my neighbors and I pay a hefty property tax premium to live in.
13:32:09
I own close to committing ADUs in basements, in rearguard, as a bright.
13:32:13
Cramped spaces are not quality of life for our either the resident or the neighbors, and again brings up the question of infrastructure.
13:32:20
Legalizing illegal basement conversions does not make a space any safer.
13:32:25
I'm opposed to eliminating the parking requirement.
13:32:27
Many families rely on cars to transport our children to and from school and activities in our elderly and disabled family members.
13:32:34
To say that we don't need parking, it's discriminatory against that live against those that live in transit deserts, which are pretty much everywhere outside of Manhattan high density areas.
13:32:44
As many here have already said, let the people control the housing process through decision make and decision making at the local community board level instead of a one size fits all plan.
13:32:53
I strongly urge the city plan and commission to unanimously unanimously vote no to the city of yes housing plan, and go back to the drawing board.
13:33:03
Some ideas there are not completely bad, but I feel like to pass it unanimously as it is would be a grave mistake to New York City Presidents.
13:33:13
Thank you so much.

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