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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Leslie Sloan on Western Rail Yards Rezoning Plan
3:09:58
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126 sec
Leslie Sloan, a long-time Chelsea resident and business owner, testifies in support of the Western Rail Yards rezoning plan. She describes the transformation of the area from a desolate neighborhood to a vibrant community with Hudson Yards, and argues for the benefits of the proposed development.
- Shares personal experience of working in the area since 2002 and witnessing its transformation
- Highlights the economic and community benefits of Hudson Yards, including job creation and new amenities
- Urges the council to vote yes on the rezoning plan, emphasizing the potential for more housing, green space, and community facilities
Leslie Sloan
3:09:58
I'm here.
3:09:59
I'm here.
3:10:00
Thank you.
3:10:03
I moved to New York City in 02/2002 and worked in the building that is now called 5 Manhattan West that sits between 30 First and 30 Third, between Ninth And Tenth.
3:10:12
Back then, it was a harsh, brutalist building that straddled rail yards to its east and west.
3:10:18
The neighborhood was deserted, and as a young woman, I was afraid to walk home alone at night.
3:10:23
How many jobs were in those rail yards?
3:10:24
How many restaurants and stores were there for my colleagues and I to go to dinner?
3:10:28
The McDonald's on 30 Fourth And Tenth.
3:10:31
What Related has built in the first phase of Hudson Yards is a brand new neighborhood within our city and a complete urban downtown were it to be dropped into any other American city.
3:10:40
I brought my three kids to the Hudson Yards Opening Day Festivities in March of twenty nineteen and told them that they would tell their grandchildren they were present when this exciting new community was born.
3:10:50
But I'm really here to speak to you as a Chelsea resident of over twenty years who owns a business.
3:10:55
My company plans corporate and not for profit events, and Hudson Yards is a place my clients are eager to go and bring their attendees, welcoming people to a part of the city that was previously desolate.
3:11:06
What the gorgeous spaces within Hudson Yards campus represent to my clients is the best of New York opportunity and promise on the literal horizon.
3:11:15
That's tangible and doesn't exist in the same way anywhere else in our amazing city.
3:11:20
Now we have the opportunity to add more benefits, more housing units, more green space, a school, a child's care center.
3:11:26
Is this plan perfect?
3:11:28
Probably not.
3:11:29
But are shovels going into the ground tomorrow?
3:11:31
Also no.
3:11:33
Related, we'll have to keep coming to these meetings and continuing to integrate the feedback of the community, the organizations in our community as they've done to this point.
3:11:44
We're not voting on a casino today.
3:11:46
We're voting on progress.
3:11:48
We are voting for an opportunity to add to and enhance the West Side.
3:11:52
As a Chelsea resident for decades and someone who only wants progress that benefits our city until my children are old enough to speak at city council meetings, we need you to please vote yes on the rezoning plan.