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Q&A
Addressing community board resistance to housing development
3:05:39
·
133 sec
Commissioner Dr. Lisette Nieves asks Karl-Henry Cesar, as a Community Board (CB) chair, for solutions regarding CBs that resist producing their fair share of housing.
Cesar suggests initiating dialogue to understand the CB's perspective and needs first, acknowledging this takes time.
Nieves counters that such conversations have occurred for decades in some communities without yielding housing; Cesar acknowledges this difficult dilemma in balancing local perspectives with citywide needs.
Dr. Lisette Nieves
3:05:39
I do have a question for you.
3:05:40
I think you're the first community board member that spoke tonight.
3:05:43
So thank you.
3:05:45
What would you suggest to community boards that are not doing their fair share in this housing crisis?
3:05:51
Like, what would be a solution you would put forward?
Karl-Henry Cesar
3:05:53
So I think so I think the first thing would be the painful conversation of going to them and asking them what they think their fair share is because, you know, there are 56 community boards.
3:06:07
Right?
3:06:07
And so there are some community boards that felt insulted by chair Gorodnik saying that what they did during City of Yes Housing opportunity was community engagement, where if you do the math, it averaged out to two or three meetings per community board.
3:06:22
That doesn't feel like engagement.
3:06:23
That feels more like we came to talk to you versus like we came to engage with you regularly.
3:06:28
And so to your point about fair share, I think the first thing would be having to speak with each of those community boards, which does take a lot of time and investment, and I understand that.
3:06:38
But it would be sitting down with each of the community boards and saying, hey.
3:06:42
Right now from where certain folks are at a city level, they believe that the district and the community board are not doing their fair share for housing.
3:06:51
What do you think?
3:06:53
Right?
3:06:53
And then having that conversation, number one.
3:06:56
And then number two, because there's so many advocacy groups that have that housing information, right, between DCP and these other organizations that are here, continuing those conversations and then saying, hey.
3:07:09
This is what the need is.
3:07:10
This is what the city says is needed.
3:07:13
This is what you are saying you who live on the ground need.
3:07:16
What comes
Dr. Lisette Nieves
3:07:17
in Totally got I'm just gonna jump in for a second because I I hear more processes as a solution.
3:07:22
I'm a fellow Brooklynite.
3:07:23
Mhmm.
3:07:23
Mhmm.
3:07:23
That conversation's been going on for thirty years in these communities.
Carl Weisbrod
3:07:26
Yes.
Dr. Lisette Nieves
3:07:27
And I've not had additional housing put there.
3:07:30
I'm just saying that.
Karl-Henry Cesar
3:07:30
I understand.
Dr. Lisette Nieves
3:07:31
I I
Valerie White
3:07:31
don't Mhmm.
Dr. Lisette Nieves
3:07:33
So I'm just trying to explain the dilemma that that I'm digesting too on this Yes.
Abdul Nasser Rad
3:07:37
Yes.
Dr. Lisette Nieves
3:07:38
And that what we're all trying to digest.
3:07:40
So thanks for your feedback.
Karl-Henry Cesar
3:07:41
Yes.
3:07:41
Yes.
3:07:41
And I thank you for sharing that because, yes, like, the conflict and the pain that you're describing, yes.
3:07:46
Right?
3:07:46
Like, that's one of the challenges of balancing the needs of people who've been there with the greater picture.
3:07:51
Right?
3:07:51
So thank you.