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TESTIMONY
Testimony by Ben Weinberg, Director of Public Policy from Citizens Union on maintaining City Council land use authority
2:06:18
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3 min
Ben Weinberg from Citizens Union argues that NYC's housing problems stem from a lack of political coordination and vision, not fundamental charter flaws regarding land use authority. He opposes shifting final decision-making power away from the City Council, asserting that zoning is law and should reside with the legislative branch, while urging better collaboration between the Mayor and Council on broader housing initiatives.
- Weinberg represents the good government group Citizens Union.
- He believes the housing shortage results from political failures, not the charter's structure.
- He opposes removing the Council's final say on land use matters.
- He advocates for comprehensive executive proposals coordinated early with the Council, rather than piecemeal projects subject to member deference.
Ben Weinberg
2:06:18
Thank you.
2:06:19
My name is Ben Weinberg, and I'm the director of public policy at Citizens Union.
2:06:23
I wanna thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak before you today.
2:06:28
Citizens union is a nonpartisan good government group committed to reforming city and state government by fostering accountability, honesty, and the highest ethical standards, advocating for political reform, and fair and open elections.
2:06:40
New York City is facing a serious housing crisis and has a severe housing shortage, a shortage in housing units overall and affordable housing in particular.
2:06:49
It needs to produce more housing and provide better opportunities for New Yorkers to obtain and remain in reasonable housing.
2:06:56
We very much appreciate the commission's goal to review sections of the city charter addressing planning, housing, and development, and to recommend changes that would improve the state of housing in our city.
2:07:07
We heard a lot of, views here today about EULARP timelines and other, sections of the charter related to housing.
2:07:14
We are not opining at this time on individual changes you may be considering to these sections.
2:07:20
However, we do wish to comment on recent proposal to substantially alter the powers of city officials on land use matters.
2:07:28
Specifically, you will likely hear, receive proposal and shifting final decision making power on land use matters from the council to the executive branch or the planning commission or other entities.
2:07:40
This raises fundamental questions about the structure of city government and the system of checks and balances.
2:07:45
So we would like to give our opinion on that matter.
2:07:48
As a general matter, citizens union believes that the problem of New York City housing is not a problem of the New York City charter, but rather of a lack of a more comprehensive vision and coordination between the executive and legislative branches.
2:08:02
Our housing our housing shortage, in other words, is not the result of flaws in the structure of government, but how these branches of government operated and the politics that drove and still drive their decisions.
2:08:13
And we heard from other speakers that in past decades, the city has taken a piecemeal approach to dealing with housing and planning, And the city council, in approving or disapproving those narrow proposals, it's also generally deferred to one or two council members.
2:08:28
It is therefore gratifying to see some recent shifts in political mid wind, including the city of Yes.
2:08:36
I'll wrap up and say, we believe that the keys for such further successes like the city or Yes are the willingness of their executive branch to develop and present housing and other development programs of broad scope wherever possible and the willing of the mayor and the council to coordinate from an early stage in such programs.
2:08:53
Continuing the political jockeying between the city planning commission and the council on narrow proposal is a steep price to pay for the millions of city residents who cannot find or afford a place to live.
2:09:03
We also know that as a general principle, zoning is a law which determines how land may be used, and therefore, changes to that law should rest in the hands of the council as the legislative body.
2:09:14
The mayor has a strong role in this process through the city planning commission, which has the sole power to introduce plans, control the land use of data, and decide what proposals we
Richard R. Buery Jr.
2:09:22
bring before the council.