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TESTIMONY

Sara Penenberg representing 32BJ Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Manny Pastreich on support for City of Yes for Housing Opportunity zoning text amendment

12:00:26

·

158 sec

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Sara Penenberg, representing 32BJ Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Manny Pastreich, expresses support for the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity zoning text amendment. The union, representing property service workers, recognizes the housing crisis affecting its members and supports the initiative to address the housing shortage in New York City.

  • 32BJ SEIU supports key aspects of the proposal, including the universal affordability preference density bonus, office-to-residential conversions, and removal of parking restrictions.
  • The union acknowledges the need for policy interventions to address the estimated 500,000 unit housing shortfall in the city.
  • 32BJ SEIU looks forward to learning more about the proposal's impact on existing affordable housing programs and working with the city to ensure housing accessibility for all workers.
  • 32BJ SEIU supports the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity zoning text amendment
  • 32BJ members struggle with skyrocketing rents and finding affordable housing in NYC
  • The city is not building enough housing to keep pace with population and job growth
  • Supports unlocking new affordable housing through universal affordability preference density bonus
  • Supports facilitating more office to residential conversions
  • Supports allowing modern density multifamily projects in more areas of the city, including transit-rich neighborhoods
  • Supports removing experience restrictions to new residential developments across the city
  • The scale and urgency of the housing crisis demand policy interventions like this proposal

[EXPERIMENTAL]

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

  • UAP
  • Residential Conversions
  • Parking Mandates
  • Transit-Oriented Development

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

"32 BJ strongly supports the City of YEP's proposal to unlock new affordable housing through the universal affordability preference density bonnet"

This quote directly mentions the Universal Affordability Preference, which is a key element of the City of Yes For Housing Opportunity proposal. It shows that the speaker is discussing this specific aspect of the proposal and expressing support for it.

Residential Conversions

"to reimagine underutilized commercial buildings by facilitating more office to residential conversions"

This quote directly refers to the Residential Conversions element of the proposal, discussing the conversion of commercial buildings (specifically offices) to residential use, which is a key aspect of this part of the City of Yes For Housing Opportunity plan.

Parking Mandates

"And to remove experience restrictions to new residential developments across the city."

While this quote doesn't explicitly mention parking mandates, it refers to removing restrictions on new residential developments. This could be interpreted as including the removal of parking mandates, which are a type of restriction on new residential developments. However, the speaker's intent is not entirely clear, so this interpretation should be considered with caution.

Transit-Oriented Development

"to allowed modern density multifamily project in more areas of the city, including transit rich neighborhood."

This quote directly refers to allowing higher density multifamily projects in transit-rich neighborhoods, which is a key aspect of the Transit-Oriented Development element of the City of Yes For Housing Opportunity 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?
Sara Penenberg
12:00:26
My name is Sarah Penenberg, and I am a political coordinator at FTU, local 32 BJ.
12:00:31
And I will be reading this testimony on behalf of our 32 BJ president, Mady Patrick.
12:00:37
32pj is the largest union of property service workers in the country representing over a 170,000 members across 13 states, including 85 in New York.
12:00:50
Our union is here today in support of city of yes for housing opportunities owning text amendment.
12:00:55
30 2bj members, are the backbone of the New York residential sector.
12:01:00
We are doorman, porters, handy person, superintendent, and other essential workers upon whose owners and tenants rely to keep the building safe clean and running.
12:01:12
32 BJ has fought hard for many decade to raise the standards for city property service workers, and yet our members, like so many other New Yorkers, struggle to keep up with the skyrocketing rents and to find affordable housing opportunities in the city.
12:01:28
We recognize that the housing crisis experienced by 32 BJ members is a result of decades of unproductive, simply put.
12:01:35
The city is not building enough housing to keep the pace of the population in job growth.
12:01:41
Generating an estimated 500,000 unit shortfall.
12:01:45
To address this shortage, our leaders and policymakers must refine and use every tool available, which is why earlier this year, 32bj supported a suite of state legislation designed to revitalize formable housing production in New York.
12:02:01
We believe that city of yes for housing opportunity answers the same call.
12:02:05
32 BJ strongly supports the City of YEP's proposal to unlock new affordable housing through the universal affordability preference density bonnet to reimagine underutilized commercial buildings by facilitating more office to residential conversions to allowed modern density multifamily project in more areas of the city, including transit rich neighborhood.
12:02:31
And to remove experience restrictions to new residential developments across the city.
12:02:36
At the same time, we look forward to learning more about how city have yet.
12:02:40
As a proposal will impact existing affordable housing programs and pipelines, the scale and urgency of the housing crisis, demand policy intervention like this proposal.
12:02:51
30 TBJ looks forward to working with the city, capacity of guest housing opportunity, and to ensure that all workers who want to call New York home are able to do so.
12:03:03
Thank you.

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