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TESTIMONY

Pedro Rodriguez from Queens Community Board 6 on City of Yes and its potential to address the housing crisis

5:42:31

·

3 min

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Pedro Rodriguez, a resident of Forest Hills, Queens, and member of Queens Community Board 6, speaks in support of the City of Yes initiative. He argues that the proposal is necessary to address the housing crisis in New York City, which has forced many people, including his own family members, to leave the city.

  • Rodriguez emphasizes that neighborhood character is defined by people, not buildings, and that City of Yes would help preserve communities by allowing residents to stay.
  • He advocates for a regional approach to housing solutions, arguing that piecemeal neighborhood-by-neighborhood changes have been ineffective over the past 50 years.
  • Rodriguez supports the removal of parking minimums, stating that this would allow for smaller, more affordable apartment developments that better blend into low-density neighborhoods.
  • Support for City of Yes to address the housing crisis
  • Neighborhood character is defined by people, not buildings
  • Need for a regional solution to housing problems, not piecemeal approaches
  • Removal of parking minimums to allow for more diverse and affordable housing options
  • Concern for future generations' ability to afford housing in New York City
  • Opposition to misinformation about the proposal

[EXPERIMENTAL]

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

  • 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.

Parking Mandates

"We need to remove parking minimums. They make low height, high density housing that we are actually quite used to here in New York City. Impossible to build nowadays."

This quote directly addresses the proposal to remove parking mandates, which is a key element of the City of Yes For Housing Opportunity plan. The speaker is advocating for the removal of parking minimums, which aligns with the proposal's aim to end mandatory parking requirements for new housing.

"By eliminating parking minimums, then we can not only not only help the environment by encouraging other modes of transportation, but we also allowed the kind of small scale, small lot apartment developments that are cheaper to create."

This quote further elaborates on the benefits of removing parking mandates, which is a core element of the proposal. The speaker highlights how this change can lead to more affordable housing options and environmental benefits, which are key goals of the City of Yes For Housing Opportunity plan.


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?
Pedro Rodriguez
5:42:31
Hello?
5:42:33
Hello.
5:42:33
Hello.
5:42:34
Yes.
5:42:35
My name is Per Rodriguez, and I and I have lived in New York City for over 2 decades, and I am currently living in Forest Hills Queens.
5:42:41
I am a father, a husband, and a community board member here in Queens Community board 6.
5:42:45
But I am speaking for myself.
5:42:49
I am writing I am speaking in support of City of Yes.
5:42:52
Do I own my own home?
5:42:54
My parents didn't, and they were and they left New York City because of the housing crisis housing crisis spreading my our family and forcing my son to see them mostly through WhatsApp nowadays.
5:43:05
I've lost many friends and no current friends who are considering living the city within the next couple of years.
5:43:11
Due to the housing crisis.
5:43:12
This is something I am sure every single New Yorker has experienced even those who oppose city of yes.
5:43:18
Now some say that this proposal is gonna damage the character of the neighborhood, quote a quote, but a neighborhood character a neighborhood character is his people, not the trees and the buildings.
5:43:27
It is the character.
5:43:28
It's the character of a neighborhood the same.
5:43:30
If the buildings look the same, but the kids who the kids who grew up in it were forced out of there.
5:43:36
Or if or if your friends who you grew up with, it's in about it's the same character?
5:43:41
No.
5:43:42
If you genuinely care about the character of a neighborhood, not the buildings of a neighborhood, then you should support city or gas, and what the pre housing proposals because it's the people who give a a a place character, not the buildings.
5:43:54
Now some of this will say that this proposes too large and that we should do a neighborhood by neighborhood.
5:43:58
We've been doing neighborhood by neighborhood for over 50 years now.
5:44:03
Housing is a regional problem, and it is a regional solution.
5:44:06
Housing availability here in Forest Hills affects housing costs in Corona, Williamsburg, Whitestone, Morrisburg, the South Bronx, and even Long Island and and and and New Jersey.
5:44:16
And the rear diverse.
5:44:17
The reverse is true.
5:44:18
Housing availability in those places affects the housing prices here.
5:44:22
So we need a regional solution, not a piecemeal one, and that is for City of Yes, is is part of.
5:44:27
We need to remove parking minimums.
5:44:29
They make low height, high density housing that we are actually quite used to here in New York City.
5:44:34
Impossible to build nowadays.
5:44:36
As I as I've been mentioning in this before, they force developers to build this massive overbearing buildings that no one likes.
5:44:45
Because you have to have a space for all this parking.
5:44:48
By eliminating parking minimums, then we can not only not only help the environment by encouraging other modes of transportation, but we also allowed the kind of small scale, small lot apartment developments that are cheaper to create.
5:44:59
So they're their shipper for their renters, but they also blend better into the low density neighborhoods, which they're trying to move into.
5:45:08
And lastly, as I said, I'm a father.
5:45:10
My son is fourteen years old.
5:45:11
More fourteen months old right now.
5:45:13
And I worry that in 20 plus years, when he's looking for his own housing, He will either move out of the city, and I'll only see him in during Christmas, or he'll stay with us until his 30 plus holding him back.
5:45:25
Like so many people are being held held held nowadays.
5:45:29
And I don't want that for him, and I don't want that for his friends, and I don't want that for my friends.
5:45:33
And I don't want that for my friends, kids either.
5:45:35
So I implore the commission to keep the proposal assets and to not fall victims to the misinformation that so many people are doing are putting out
Sanford Miller
5:45:43
in that way.
Pedro Rodriguez
5:45:44
Thank you.

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