The citymeetings.nyc logo showing a pigeon at a podium with a microphone.

citymeetings.nyc

Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.

TESTIMONY

Robert Press from Bronx Community Board 11 on City of Yes for Housing Opportunity and its impact on the Bronx

7:43:33

·

173 sec

Report an issue

Robert Press, a member of Bronx Community Board 11, reports that the board voted overwhelmingly against the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative. He expresses concerns about the proposal's suitability for boroughs outside Manhattan, particularly regarding parking mandates and the calculation of affordable housing rates.

  • Highlights the recent construction of over 9,000 new housing units in Council District 13, challenging the need for the initiative in that area
  • Criticizes the rushed nature of the process and lack of complete information provided to the community board
  • Argues that the plan does not effectively control or make housing affordable, suggesting that changes to Area Median Income (AMI) calculations are necessary for true affordability
  • Bronx Community Board 11 voted overwhelmingly against the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity
  • Parking mandate may work in Manhattan but not in other boroughs
  • Council District 13 in the East Bronx has already produced significant affordable housing without this initiative
  • The process was rushed and incomplete information was provided to Community Board 11
  • Concerns about inadequate parking spaces for new housing developments
  • The plan does not control or make housing affordable, it just increases housing supply
  • AMI calculation method needs to be changed to make housing truly affordable in the Bronx
  • Current 'affordable' housing in the Bronx is still too expensive

[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

"Let's say that the parking mandate may work in Manhattan, but not in the 4 out of boroughs."

This quote directly addresses the proposal to remove parking mandates, suggesting that while it might be suitable for Manhattan, it's not appropriate for the other boroughs.

"To the person who said 200 parking spaces at 1601 Bromstale Avenue is enough. There are 24108 units of housing. It is ridiculous that only 200 parking spaces will be there. Where will the other 2200 plus or more cars be parked?"

This quote further elaborates on the speaker's concerns about removing parking mandates, providing a specific example of how reduced parking might be problematic in their view.


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?
Robert Press
7:43:33
Hello.
7:43:34
Okay.
7:43:34
Thank you.
7:43:36
Having sat on Bronx Community Board 11th City of Guest Committee, The committee suggested to Bronx Community Board 11th to vote no on the city of yes housing opportunity, which Bronx Community Board 11th overwhelmingly voted no on the city of yes housing opportunity at its June 27th full board meeting.
7:43:58
The following on mine and mine only commits.
7:44:01
Because of time, I will not go into each of the 15 parts of the housing opportunity.
7:44:05
Let's say that the parking mandate may work in Manhattan, but not in the 4 out of boroughs.
7:44:10
I will say, I like some of the other items like my borough president, the SL Gibson said, but not all of them.
7:44:18
As in the East Bronx Council District 13 is said to need more housing because it hasn't produced any housing in the past couple of years.
7:44:28
And over 9000 units of new housing mostly affordable has been built or is online to be built such as the 71100 units of the 7500 units of housing in the Metro North rezoning.
7:44:43
So Council District in Council District 13.
7:44:45
So Council District 13 will be getting new affordable housing without the city of yes housing opportunity to say that this process was not rushed is felt is false as your branch representative Paul Phillips did not give Community Board 11 all the information it needed as we found out that after his Bronx meeting with the Bronxboro delegation, there was more information that we found out, so he rushed it.
7:45:13
I moved to the Morrick Park Avenue recently, and had no problem of finding a rental unit that was satisfactory to me after viewing several of them.
7:45:24
To the person who said 200 parking spaces at 1601 Bromstale Avenue is enough.
7:45:31
There are 24108 units of housing.
7:45:34
It is ridiculous that only 200 parking spaces will be there.
7:45:38
Where will the other 2200 plus or more cars be parked?
7:45:45
This plan does not control or make housing affordable, it just makes more housing, which prices will be up to the developer or owner of the properties.
7:45:56
To make affordable housing, you need to change how the AMI is calculated, which here in the Bronx includes the wealthier parts of Westchester County.
7:46:06
That is why a so called affordable housing studio in the Bronx begins at $3000.
7:46:13
And not much lower if you were to do it by borough.
7:46:17
And finally, commissioner Benjamin Rivadel is not on the east side of the Bronx.
7:46:23
It's on the west side of the Bronx.
7:46:25
Thank you.

Subscribe to the citymeetings.nyc newsletter

Highlights of meeting moments and curious claims every 1-2 weeks.

Read previous issues

Citymeetings.nyc pigeon logo

Is citymeetings.nyc useful to you?

I'm thrilled!

Please help me out by answering just one question.

What do you do?

Thank you!

Want to stay up to date? Sign up for the newsletter.