Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
Q&A
Balancing citywide housing needs with local infrastructure and environmental concerns
0:36:34
·
4 min
Commissioner Leila Bozorg asks Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers about the fairness of the current system where some members use deference to block development while others negotiate projects, leading to uneven distribution of housing.
Brooks-Powers suggests opposition isn't always obstruction, but can stem from legitimate concerns about inadequate infrastructure, density, or environmental vulnerability in certain districts (like her coastal district).
She argues that council members bring a necessary nuanced understanding of local conditions that must be considered alongside citywide housing goals.
Leila Bozorg
0:36:34
Hi, council member.
0:36:37
Thanks for your testimony.
0:36:39
I think I wanna ask a similar question that I just asked the majority leader.
0:36:42
I think part of the challenge, you're highlighting how you have used the ULURP process to negotiate for your community, and you've gotten to yes and used that power to make sure that projects are meeting the needs of your local community.
0:36:57
And the HPD, you know, the affordable housing side of the world, where it's absolutely the case that we have a resource need to get through a lot of the backlog of projects.
0:37:06
But I think part of what we've been focused on and hearing a lot about is not the challenge with members who are willing to get to yes, but members who have used the kind of practice of member deference to not even let projects get started in the first place.
0:37:22
And so what's happened is this unfair situation where most of the development has been happening in low income communities, communities of color, and typically, whiter, wealthier communities have been able to just block projects from starting off the ground from the start.
0:37:37
So I'm curious to hear your thoughts about just the fairness of that reality, and if you'd be in favor of some kind of mechanism that still gives you power and input to shape projects and get to yes in a way that works for you and your community, but really solves for this other problem that there are other colleagues that have been able to use the process to ensure nothing is happening?
0:37:59
And not just HPD projects, but no development whatsoever, even of modest size.
Selvena Brooks-Powers
0:38:05
So I can appreciate that question.
0:38:08
And what I will say is I don't look at it necessarily as members trying to not get to a yes.
0:38:17
I think many members have often come in with good intentions, but they are not engaged early enough for sometimes the size of the projects.
0:38:29
But I also think that this council takes seriously the need to create housing.
0:38:35
And when when we see that there is a a greater citywide need or impact, the council takes that very seriously.
0:38:49
But I do believe wholeheartedly that as a council member, we have a unique lens on our community and what our needs are and what some of the challenges are.
0:39:01
So there may be a type of development that's being proposed in our district that may work in one part of New York City and not necessarily in another.
0:39:11
Give my district, for example, where we have crumbling infrastructure, where we are largely a coastal community and already have great density.
0:39:23
So when myself or or members that have districts that are very similar, it may come off like we are NIMBY or that we don't want to see development when that's not the case.
0:39:39
It's about being nuanced, understanding that we have vulnerable communities.
0:39:46
Certain districts lack the basic infrastructure, and members may need to address those challenges before they can accommodate additional density.
0:39:55
So I think while we look to to address the housing crisis, we can't do it in a vacuum in the sense that we're not taking into account other elements in that community on the ground because what then happen will be that will then make a community even more vulnerable.
0:40:17
So, like, as you see, NASA put out a report about a year or so ago talking about New York City, sinking.
0:40:24
When you look at some of those community districts that are included, a lot of it is in my district.
0:40:28
Right?
0:40:29
So when I approach ULURP, I have to take that into account and not solely just building housing.
0:40:38
And so in the council, again, I think we have that unique lens that the agencies may not have.
0:40:45
They have the lens of the housing crisis globally and a goal of creating x amount of housing.
0:40:53
We have a a responsibility to our community to make sure that we do create housing because every district has a housing crisis and is impacted by that.
0:41:03
But but we also have to be nuanced in how we approach it.