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

citymeetings.nyc

Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.

TESTIMONY

Yiatin Chu, President of Asian Wave Alliance, on opposition to City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative

12:16:37

·

158 sec

Report an issue

Yiatin Chu, representing Asian Wave Alliance, expresses strong opposition to the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative. Chu argues that the proposal will negatively impact homeowners, particularly Asian New Yorkers, in outer boroughs by degrading quality of life, causing uncertainty in property values, and straining infrastructure in residential neighborhoods.

  • Criticizes the elimination of parking requirements, citing existing parking shortages in areas like Bayside, Flushing, Bensonhurst, and Gravesend
  • Opposes the legalization of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), arguing it will worsen quality of life and congest infrastructure
  • Urges the City Council to reject the entire package of proposals, emphasizing the need to respect the unique composition of each neighborhood
  • The proposal will destroy communities
  • Asian New Yorkers have high homeownership rates in outer boroughs
  • The plan will create uncertainty in property values
  • It will degrade quality of life in 1 and 2 family zoned neighborhoods
  • Elimination of parking requirements is problematic
  • Areas lack efficient public transportation and rely on cars
  • Opposition to legalization of ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units)
  • Existing infrastructure cannot support increased density
  • Schools are already overcrowded
  • Each neighborhood should be respected for its unique composition
  • The proposal favors developers' interests over community needs

[EXPERIMENTAL]

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

  • Parking Mandates
  • ADU
  • 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.

Parking Mandates

"It is absurd that the city of yes will eliminate parking requirements for new residential housing."

This quote directly addresses the proposal to remove parking mandates for new housing, which is a key element of the City of Yes For Housing Opportunity proposal.

"We are already stressed with the lack of parking and bayside flushing Bensonhurst and Gravesend. With more multi generation families living in one family and 2 family homes. These areas lack efficient public transportation and rely on cars to get around."

This quote provides context for why the speaker opposes the removal of parking mandates, highlighting current parking issues and the reliance on cars in certain neighborhoods.

"In Queens, we cannot support more development around LIR stations. The parking is near impossible to find now. Many people drive and park near the stations and need to drive to pick up kids from schools into our food shopping."

This quote further elaborates on the opposition to removing parking mandates, specifically mentioning the impact on areas near transit stations, which relates to the transit-oriented development aspect of the proposal.

ADU

"We oppose the dangerous legalization of ADUs. Basement apartments, garage conversions, and backyard houses."

This quote directly addresses the proposal to legalize Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), which is a key element of the City of Yes For Housing Opportunity proposal.

"illegal ADUs are already a huge problem for many residential areas. And permissive zoning in the city of yes will make the quality of life much worse."

This quote provides context for why the speaker opposes the legalization of ADUs, mentioning existing issues with illegal ADUs and concerns about quality of life.

Transit-Oriented Development

"In Queens, we cannot support more development around LIR stations. The parking is near impossible to find now. Many people drive and park near the stations and need to drive to pick up kids from schools into our food shopping."

This quote indirectly addresses the transit-oriented development aspect of the proposal by discussing development around transit stations (LIR stations) and the associated challenges with parking and transportation needs.


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?
Yiatin Chu
12:16:37
Good evening.
12:16:38
My name is Jatin Chiu, and I'm President of Asian Wave Alliance.
12:16:42
Our organization represents the interest of thousands of residents proper owners and voters throughout New York City.
12:16:49
We speak for our friends and neighbors who are outraged at the mayor's blanket proposals that will destroy our communities.
12:16:55
Asia New Yorkers have the highest rate of homeownership, and we've settled in the Outer Burrows of Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island.
12:17:03
Many of us are immigrants who poured our life savings into our home to put down roots in our communities, a nest egg for retirement, and maybe pass it down to our children.
12:17:13
The American dream, and building generational wealth.
12:17:16
Most of us have a small home with a front and backyard, and good schools for our children as a path for social mobility.
12:17:24
Not only will the city of yes throw uncertainty in property values, but most pressing is how the ill conceived plan would degrade our quality of life in the 1 and 2 family zone neighborhoods.
12:17:35
It is absurd that the city of yes will eliminate parking requirements for new residential housing.
12:17:40
We are already stressed with the lack of parking and bayside flushing Bensonhurst and Gravesend.
12:17:45
With more multi generation families living in one family and 2 family homes.
12:17:50
These areas lack efficient public transportation and rely on cars to get around.
12:17:55
In Queens, we cannot support more development around LIR stations.
12:17:59
The parking is near impossible to find now.
12:18:02
Many people drive and park near the stations and need to drive to pick up kids from schools into our food shopping.
12:18:09
We oppose the dangerous legalization of ADUs.
12:18:12
Basement apartments, garage conversions, and backyard houses.illegal ADUs are already a huge problem for many residential areas.
12:18:20
And permissive zoning in the city of yes will make the quality of life much worse.
12:18:25
The congestion and infrastructure demands in these less dense suburban areas cannot be supported without major investments in sewer lines, electrical capacity, roadwork, and essential services like schools, police, fire departments and hospitals.
12:18:40
With the class size law, many schools in Queens and Brooklyn cannot even accommodate the school's zone for the local schools now.
12:18:47
How can we have more families move into these neighborhoods without provisions for these basic essential services?
12:18:54
We are a city made up of hundreds of unique neighborhoods.
12:18:57
Each neighborhood and community should be respected for our unique composition and concerns.
12:19:02
And not gentrified in favor of developers' interest.
12:19:05
Asian Wave Alliance opposes the city of yes.
12:19:07
We urge the city council to reject the entirety give this harmful package of proposals from Mayor Adams.
12:19:13
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.