Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
TESTIMONY
Testimony by Gillian Morris, Member of the Public advocating ULURP reform and agency streamlining
3:00:37
·
117 sec
Gillian Morris, a native New Yorker and renter, highlights NYC's lagging housing production compared to cities like San Francisco and supports ULURP reform for speed and representativeness. She also suggests streamlining city agencies by potentially combining overlapping functions of HPD, DCP, DOB, and FDNY involved in housing development and oversight.
- Morris contrasts NYC's housing production unfavorably with San Francisco's.
- Supports faster, more representative ULURP.
- Proposes exploring charter reforms to consolidate agency functions related to housing planning (HPD/DCP) and building oversight (DOB, FDNY, HPD).
- Urges action based on expert testimony to address the affordability crisis.
Gillian Morris
3:00:37
My name is Jillian Morris.
3:00:38
I was born in New York City and, moved away as a child because my parents couldn't afford to live here.
3:00:45
I've recently been able to move back.
3:00:47
I'm an entrepreneur.
3:00:47
I founded a technology company, and I'm a renter now in Fort Greene.
3:00:53
I, like everyone here, have witnessed the housing crisis.
3:00:56
We know that we have less than 1.4% vacancy.
3:01:00
I also moved I lived in San Francisco for a while, and I am slightly ashamed that San Francisco, which is known for being nimby and and anti housing and anti development, has actually built more housing per capita in the last ten years than New York City has.
3:01:14
And I personally think New York City is a much better city than San Francisco on nearly every level, but this is something where I think we could do a lot better.
3:01:21
We've heard a lot of great ideas here tonight.
3:01:24
I do think, as many, many others have said, ULURP can be reformed.
3:01:28
It could be faster, more representative of the city's best interests rather than those of the broadly older, wealthier, wider community board members that, that have undue representation in the process, and undue sway.
3:01:44
Or there is also, a lot of needless extra bureaucracy in new building.
3:01:50
The Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Department of City Planning have a ton of overlap, and there could be charter reform that combines a lot of those departments.
3:02:00
Oversight is also split between the department of buildings, the fire department, department of housing preservation and development.
3:02:07
I'm sure there could be a lot of streamlining there as well.
3:02:11
I'm not an expert in these matters.
3:02:12
Many more, more well informed people have testified, and I just want to add my small voice to, the urgent need to pay attention to these matters and address our affordability crisis so that more people so that I I more people like me could actually grow up in New York City, and more people can move here.
3:02:33
Thank you.