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TESTIMONY

Theresa Westerdahl from Brooklyn Community Board 9 and Sullivan Ludlam Stoddard Neighborhood Association on opposition to City of Yes zoning amendments and parking mandate reductions

7:47:05

·

3 min

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Theresa Westerdahl, a long-time Brooklyn resident and member of Brooklyn Community Board 9, testifies in opposition to the City of Yes zoning text amendments and the reduction of parking mandates. She expresses concerns about the potential doubling of density in her district and the lack of proper environmental and racial impact studies.

  • Calls for increasing parking mandates and including bike, Electric Vehicle (EV), and micro-device parking in new developments
  • Highlights issues with current large-scale developments in her neighborhood, including environmental and safety hazards
  • Recommends that Community Board 9 be exempt from City of Yes rezoning and opposes air rights sales for the historic district
  • Opposition to City of Yes text amendments and changes to zoning regulations
  • Opposition to reducing parking mandates, believes in increasing parking mandates
  • Need for visionary planning including bike, EV, and micro device parking and charging stations
  • Concern about ongoing large-scale development projects and their environmental impacts
  • Lack of oversight and regulation enforcement by city agencies
  • Failure to conduct environmental and racial impact studies in the district
  • Criticism of the Bedford Army Terminal development as luxury housing instead of affordable housing
  • Concern about potential doubling of density in the district due to new zoning
  • Request for Community Board 9 to be exempt from City of Yes rezoning
  • Opposition to air rights sales for the historic district

[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

"In addition, I am in opposition to reducing parking mandates. I believe we need to increase parking mandates."

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 explicitly states her opposition to reducing parking mandates, which indicates she is discussing this aspect of the proposal.

"We need to become visionary and not reactionary and include bikes, EV, and micro device parking and charging station in all new developments."

While not directly mentioning the removal of parking mandates, this quote suggests an alternative approach to parking in new developments, which is related to the parking mandate element of the 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?
Theresa Westerdahl
7:47:05
Hello?
7:47:05
Can you hear me?
Dan Garodnick
7:47:08
We can hear you.
Theresa Westerdahl
7:47:10
Hi.
7:47:12
My name's Theresa Westinall.
7:47:14
I live in Crown Heights next to Ebony's field and survive community board nice environmental protection committee for 3 years, and I am a member of the Sullivan Emblem Stoddard Neighborhood Association.
7:47:28
I've lived in New York City for over 35 years, and in Brooklyn for almost 30.
7:47:33
I love Brooklyn.
7:47:34
I love my neighbors.
7:47:35
I love my neighborhood.
7:47:37
I'm deeply in love with Brooklyn.
7:47:39
I'm a parent, a biker, a driver, a dog walker, and a gardener, and homeowner since 2005.
7:47:44
I'm here to testify in opposition of City of Yes.
7:47:48
Text amendments, changes to zoning regulations.
7:47:51
In addition, I am in opposition to reducing parking mandates.
7:47:56
I believe we need to increase parking mandates.
7:48:00
We need to become visionary and not reactionary and include bikes, EV, and micro device parking and charging station in all new developments.
7:48:10
To reduce our impact on the climate along with creating deeply affordable housing development for families while maintaining the affordable housing we have.
7:48:19
Within a few blocks of my house, there are over 3000 units being currently developed in large projects, which are continually creating an enormous number of hazards with violations of environmental tension, OSHA, and DLB regulation.
7:48:33
There's little oversight by city agencies, which includes air quality violations, asbestos, lead, ground contamination, toxic waste, and several street collapses.
7:48:42
We need the feds to help us with regulating the construction because the city is failing and will continue city and failed to conduct environmental and racial impact studies and assessments in our district.
7:48:53
New York City has failed crown heights with a sellout of the Bedford Army sold to the city by a dollar that could have been affordable housing, deeply affordable housing, but instead is being developed into luxury housing.
7:49:07
We have not forgotten, like, who both sold out crown heights.
7:49:11
I have religiously attended CB 9 year subcommitting meetings and focused on a deep study of the city of yes text amendment changes, and there are disastrous potential to affect our community.
7:49:21
My district is one of the dentist in Brooklyn.
7:49:24
Our current zoning allows for over 25,000 units of new development, and we currently see that happening.
7:49:30
The new quoid zoning would allow for an additional 25 units, 25,000 units, meaning our density would double hell no.
7:49:39
In addition, I did attend the meeting with the city planning for our community board and they were ill prepared with their data facts and figures for our district.
7:49:49
What was their understanding of the future impact?
7:49:51
These figures do not include vital Brooklyn, which is another story.
7:49:55
My recommendation is CB9 the exempt from COI to text amendment changes, and we are opposed to air rights sales for the historic district.
7:50:04
Again, CB9 needs to be exempt for the city of yes rezoning.
UNKNOWN
7:50:11
So do you mean
Dan Garodnick
7:50:15
Oh, okay.
7:50:16
K.
7:50:16
Thank you.
7:50:16
It looks like you hit your time as Westerdall.
7:50:19
Thank you for being with us.
7:50:22
Okay.

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