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TESTIMONY

Jeffrey Thomas on universal affordability preference and removing parking minimums in City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal

0:47:00

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123 sec

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Jeffrey Thomas, a Brooklyn resident, expresses support for the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal, particularly focusing on the universal affordability preference (UAP) and the removal of parking minimums. He argues that these changes would increase affordable housing and encourage alternative transportation methods.

  • Thomas praises the UAP as a 'win-win' solution that aligns market realities with the need for more affordable housing
  • He suggests that removing parking minimums would lead to lower construction costs, more affordability, and fewer cars on the roads
  • Thomas encourages the commission to support the entire proposal, citing its potential to address the housing crisis
  • Supports the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal in general
  • Specifically favors the Universal Affordability Preference (UAP)
  • UAP makes buildings more profitable while increasing affordable housing
  • Supports removing parking minimums
  • Removing parking minimums can encourage alternative transportation methods
  • Removing parking minimums can lower construction costs and increase affordability
  • Fewer parking spaces can lead to less congestion and fewer cars on the roads

[EXPERIMENTAL]

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

  • UAP
  • Parking Mandates

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

"I'd like to speak specifically in favor of the universal affordability preference."

The speaker directly mentions and supports the Universal Affordability Preference (UAP) element of the proposal.

"UAP makes the buildings more profitable because say it's not saying, you know, take some of your existing housing, make make make these units affordable. So you can build even more units that are affordable. It's it's a it's a win win."

The speaker explains how UAP works, allowing for more profitable buildings while also creating more affordable housing units, which aligns with the UAP element of the proposal.

Parking Mandates

"I'd also like to speak quickly in favor for moving parking minimums."

The speaker directly mentions and supports removing parking minimums, which is a key aspect of the Removing Parking Mandates element of the proposal.

"In New York City, especially when especially when you're building new buildings, if you say here's a building with no parking, people who move in will commute with some way other than a private vehicle."

This quote shows the speaker's understanding of how removing parking mandates can influence transportation choices, aligning with the goals of the Removing Parking Mandates element.

"That all, as people said, lower cost construction, get us more affordability, hopefully use a space. It also means in better ways. It also means fewer cars on the roads. And less congestion."

The speaker outlines benefits of removing parking mandates, such as lower construction costs, increased affordability, better use of space, and reduced congestion, which align with the goals of 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?
Jeffrey Thomas
0:47:00
Hi.
0:47:00
My name is Jeffrey Thomas.
0:47:01
I'm a resident of Brooklyn.
0:47:02
I've lived here for a decade.
0:47:04
Very fortunate to be able to find housing in a vibrant trans accessible neighborhood when I moved here, and I hope that the city can continue to be walking to people like me I support the city of US for housing, our free proposal in general.
0:47:14
I'm glad to see some mysterious action being taken on the housing crisis.
0:47:17
I encourage implementing the full proposal.
0:47:19
For the sake of time, I'm just gonna say, I'd like to speak specifically in favor of the universal affordability preference.
0:47:24
I think every time we look at new housing as well, why is it more affordable?
0:47:27
Why aren't they building more affordable housing?
0:47:29
We all support more affordable housing.
0:47:31
How do we actually make that happen?
0:47:32
How do we make the buildings?
0:47:33
Actually get built.
0:47:34
And usually when you say we need we have an affordable housing requirement that makes the building less profitable, less likely to get built.
0:47:40
UAP makes the buildings more profitable because say it's not saying, you know, take some of your existing housing, make make make these units affordable.
0:47:46
So you can build even more units that are affordable.
0:47:48
It's it's a it's a win win.
0:47:49
It's very rare.
0:47:50
It's aligned with the kind of brutal realities of the market, and it's also aligned with getting more affordable housing.
0:47:55
I think it's a great common sense proposal.
0:47:58
And then I'd also like to speak quickly in favor for moving parking minimums.
0:48:02
I know speak people have spoken in favor of that.
0:48:04
I'd just like to say personally, because people say, you know, while this won't get people out of their cars, it'll just put more pressure on parking.
0:48:11
The reason I got comfortable, you know, biking, you know, figuring how to take transit centers, I spent so long circling looking for street parking.
0:48:17
I talked to myself, you know, I have to figure something out.
0:48:19
And this was in San Francisco, which is a city, which is, you know, honestly, terrible transit.
0:48:24
In New York City, especially when especially when you're building new buildings, if you say here's a building with no parking, people who move in will commute with some way other than a private vehicle.
0:48:33
That all, as people said, lower cost construction, get us more affordability, hopefully use a space.
0:48:38
It also means in better ways.
0:48:40
It also means fewer cars on the roads.
0:48:42
And less congestion.
0:48:43
If we have regulations that require parking, some people who might not really need cars, even in neighborhoods with the public energy, they say, well, why not?
0:48:50
There's parking spaces here.
0:48:51
Be on the roads.
0:48:52
That's where it's prevalent.
0:48:53
So I think the our moving parking manage is also a great common sense proposal.
0:48:57
I encourage the commission to pass the to to support the entire proposal.
0:49:01
And thank you very much for your time.

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