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TESTIMONY

John Mudd, President of Midtown South Community Council, on opposition to City of Yes for Housing Opportunity and concerns about developer-driven policies

1:49:16

·

175 sec

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John Mudd, representing the Midtown South Community Council, expresses strong opposition to the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative. He argues that the proposal will exacerbate existing housing and homelessness issues by favoring developers and the real estate industry over public interests.

Highlights the need for addressing the root causes of homelessness and housing insecurity rather than rushing through developer-friendly policies
Criticizes the perceived lack of public equity opportunities and oversight in current and proposed housing policies
Expresses concern about the connection between various development plans in Midtown and their potential negative impacts on communities

The proposal will strip away equity opportunities for the public
The plan will feed more wealth to developers and the real estate industry
The plan is rushed and not well thought out
It will continue to increase disparity
The plan should focus on preventing and curing homelessness
Opposes social cuts, land giveaways, and selling of public assets
Concerns about the influence of the real estate industry on the city
The plan is connected to other controversial development projects in the city
Lack of oversight on housing and homelessness issues
Concerns about tenant displacement

[EXPERIMENTAL]

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

I was not able to tie quotes from the testimony back to specific elements of the proposal. Check out another testimony here.

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?

John Mudd

1:49:16

Okay.

1:49:17

Hi.

1:49:18

Thanks for having me.

1:49:20

My again, my name is John Mudd.

1:49:22

I'm with the Midtown South Community Council, and we been in Midtown there since 1984.

1:49:28

We work with a lot of other coalitions, including the Empire State Coalition.

1:49:33

That's been working against the looking for better development here in in Penn Area.

1:49:38

We work with right the council 80 co over 80 coalitions.

1:49:42

We work with Nitrogen Elliott and Fulton House residents.

1:49:46

We work with other housing people and homeless issues.

1:49:50

We work on health housing and food and security.

1:49:54

And we choose these because these are the 3 basic needs for us to breathe and flourish as a as a civil society.

1:50:01

And I appreciate your opening mark remarks and all those other people who expressed the dire need for housing because it is a crisis.

1:50:08

And it's among many of our other crisis, but there's an intense rush to strip away any equity.

1:50:16

Opportunities for the public.

1:50:17

And this homelessness and housing issues have been a a policy problem and it's been going on for a long time.

1:50:26

We haven't resolved it.

1:50:27

There's oversight that's been missing.

1:50:29

There's people getting getting pushed out their tenant billings, and and this is not going to help us.

1:50:35

Okay?

1:50:36

This is going to strip more away.

1:50:38

Gonna feed more wealth up to the developers and the real estate industry.

1:50:43

We know the hold that the real estate industry has on this city.

1:50:46

It's it's it's really almost unimaginable, and the economy is in trouble.

1:50:52

And they're they're in there scraping the the honey jar, the bottom of the honey jar, and the up zoning of Midtown, the city of Nest, the Nietta, Demolish and demolition plans in in Granada and Hochul's Penn Station.

1:51:06

They're all connected.

1:51:07

The demolition the and the rent guidelines increases and the stripping away the rent it's it's just gonna continue disparity, and that's what plan will do.

1:51:17

It's not well thought about.

1:51:18

You it should stop.

1:51:21

It should prevent homelessness.

1:51:23

It should there should be a plan to cure the homeless problem and the root cause burden society.

1:51:29

And that's and from my constituents and from people I know and my nonprofit friends, it's extreme rush, and we don't and we're still parsing it out.

1:51:40

And and we're trying to find some some good parts of this.

1:51:45

But but when you rush something through, it's not for the benefit of public.

1:51:49

And and and stacking developer friendly people on the community boards to help serve this notion is is just wrong.

1:51:58

So we oppose this.

1:52:00

We oppose more social cuts.

1:52:02

We oppose the land giveaways, the siphoning of our tax dollars, and the selling off of of public assets.

1:52:08

And further the flow of capital to the top.

Follow-up discussion/remarks

REMARKS

Chair Garodnick addresses concerns about rushing the City of Yes proposal

1:52:18

·

95 sec

Chair Dan Garodnick of the City Planning Commission responds to claims that the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal is being rushed. He emphasizes that the proposal has been under discussion for nearly two years and has followed standard procedures for citywide text amendments, with additional time allocated for community board input.

The Department of City Planning has attended over 175 community board meetings in recent months
Garodnick asserts that the process adheres to charter requirements and best practices
He reaffirms the commitment to ongoing civic engagement throughout the process

The proposal will strip away equity opportunities for the public
The plan will feed more wealth to developers and the real estate industry
The plan is rushed and not well thought out
It will continue to increase disparity
The plan should focus on preventing and curing homelessness
Opposes social cuts, land giveaways, and selling of public assets
Concerns about the influence of the real estate industry on the city
The plan is connected to other controversial development projects in the city
Lack of oversight on housing and homelessness issues
Concerns about tenant displacement

[EXPERIMENTAL]

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

I was not able to tie quotes from the testimony back to specific elements of the proposal. Check out another testimony here.

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

1:52:18

Before I call Darcy Wyndham and Adam Broadheim both on Zoom, I I just want to make one quick comment on the subject of rushing a proposal because I've heard that a few times today.

1:52:33

I will note that we have been talking about this proposal for the better part of 2 years.

1:52:40

It is certainly a big and ambitious proposal.

1:52:44

But it has gone through the same process as any city wide text amendment proposal has ever gone through.

1:52:51

With the addition that we gave community boards more time at the front and we're giving more time at the back.

1:52:59

The Department of City Planning has been to over 175 meetings of the 59 community boards in the last couple of months.

1:53:10

And certainly we're prepared to continue our civic engagement throughout this entire process.

1:53:17

So the notion that it has been Rushed or that any path has been taken differently than what is either required by the charter or is it the best practice of the city is just wrong?

1:53:31

So I do want to note that for the record.

1:53:35

It is defined by the defined by the charter.

1:53:37

So let me move on to Darcy Wyndham on Zoom followed by Adam Brodham.

1:53:45

And I remind people in the audience they shall not be calling out when it is not their turn.

Latanya Harris

1:53:49

And one should not be lying.

Dan Garodnick

1:53:51

Let's go.

1:53:52

Go next.

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