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TESTIMONY

Megan Fitzpatrick from Landmark West on City of Yes for Housing Opportunity's potential negative impacts on neighborhood livability and affordability

6:54:22

·

149 sec

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Megan Fitzpatrick, representing Landmark West, expresses opposition to the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal. She argues that the proposed zoning changes will not achieve the stated goals of improving affordability and environmental sustainability, instead benefiting developers at the expense of residents and neighborhood quality of life.

  • Fitzpatrick contends that the proposal will weaken housing standards, increase market-rate development in dense areas, and potentially create substandard housing.
  • She criticizes the plan for potentially excluding public and City Council input from land use decisions, undermining transparent and democratic governance.
  • Landmark West supports zoning changes that enhance livability and equity, but believes very little in the current proposal furthers these goals.
  • City of Yes will not produce more environmentally conscious, viable, and affordable housing
  • The proposal will weaken housing standards and benefit developers at the expense of residents
  • It will not significantly increase affordable housing stock and will make affordable housing optional
  • The plan will increase market-rate development in already dense residential areas
  • It may create substandard and unsustainable housing
  • The proposal could accelerate gentrification
  • It may negatively impact quality of life due to increased traffic and density
  • The plan excludes public and City Council input from land use decisions
  • It loosens landmark transfer development rights, potentially allowing taller market-rate buildings
  • The organization supports changes that enhance livability and equity, which they feel this proposal does not do

[EXPERIMENTAL]

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

  • UAP
  • Parking Mandates
  • Small and Shared Housing

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

"Contrary to claims, in support of proposals, it will not significantly increase the stock of affordable housing. In fact, it will legislatively make affordable housing optional."

This quote directly criticizes the UAP element of the proposal, suggesting that it won't increase affordable housing and may even make it optional, which goes against the intended purpose of the UAP.

"In our opinion, City of Yes will increase market rate development in already dense residential blocks."

This statement indirectly relates to the UAP, as it suggests that the proposal will lead to more market-rate development rather than affordable housing, which is contrary to the UAP's goals.

Parking Mandates

"Negatively impacting our neighbor's quality of life."

While this quote doesn't explicitly mention parking, it comes right after mentioning traffic overflow, which could be related to the removal of parking mandates and its potential impact on neighborhood quality of life.

"contribute to traffic overflow in the neighborhood"

This quote suggests that the proposal will lead to increased traffic, which could be indirectly related to the removal of parking mandates, as it might lead to more cars circling for parking or increased density without corresponding parking spaces.

Small and Shared Housing

"creates substandard and unsustainable housing"

This quote could be referring to the small and shared housing element of the proposal, as the speaker seems to view these types of housing as substandard or unsustainable.


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?
Megan Fitzpatrick
6:54:22
Thank you.
6:54:23
Hello, commissioner.
6:54:24
It's Megan Fitzpatrick speaking on behalf of Labmark West.
6:54:27
You for hearing me today.
6:54:29
NAMARK West is a neighborhood historic preservation and land use nonprofit based in the upper west side.
6:54:34
We advocate for sensible community focused land to use regulation and zoning that serves the interests of the people.
6:54:40
We plan on submitting to the commission details testimony them.
6:54:44
Issues we feel impact our district the most.
6:54:47
City of Yes is a massive and often internally inconsistent overhaul of our city zoning regulations.
6:54:53
While we are not opposed to updating our zoning, we do advocate for sensible contextual zoning that will protect our neighborhoods and produce a more environmentally conscious viable and affordable New York.
6:55:05
In our considered opinion, the city of yes for housing opportunity proposal will not serve these goals.
6:55:11
Throughout its history, the city has used zoning at the tool to improve the quality of life of residents by raising housing standards in densely packed neighborhoods.
6:55:20
City of US will weaken those standards and allow developers to make more money at the expense of the people who live here.
6:55:26
Contrary to claims, in support of proposals, it will not significantly increase the stock of affordable housing.
6:55:32
In fact, it will legislatively make affordable housing optional.
6:55:36
In our opinion, City of Yes will increase market rate development in already dense residential blocks.
6:55:42
In one of the densest neighborhoods in the city, the Upper West Side, creates substandard and unsustainable housing, supercharge and supercharge gentrification, utilize cynically named affordability programs for the benefit of developers and contribute to traffic overflow in the neighborhood.
6:56:01
Negatively impacting our neighbor's quality of life.
6:56:04
A close reading of city of yes for housing opportunity shows that one of the most damaging results of its passage will be to exclude the public and even seek counsel from land use decisions.
6:56:14
The result is volatile and destructive of the principles of transparent and democratic government.
6:56:20
It also seeks to loosen landmark transfer development rights to allow taller market rate buildings, while at the same time remove these decisions from both public scrutiny scrutiny and input.
6:56:31
Our committee supports changes that would enhance livability and equity in our neighborhoods very little of any of the proposed further that goal.
6:56:40
We hope that the commission will reevaluate the content of its massive effort to clear the way for developers and recommit itself to people centered policies that focus on the community.
6:56:50
Thank you.

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