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TESTIMONY
Testimony by Rafael Mourie-Punnett from Bronx Community Board 6 on the role of community boards
3:36:20
·
3 min
Rafael Mourie-Punnett, District Manager for Bronx Community Board 6, testifies that the commission's land use proposals would cut out the "soft power" and influence of community boards.
He argues that by eliminating council member deference and overlapping the review timelines, the proposals create a facsimile of a community process without any actual influence.
He fears this will lead to housing being built at unaffordable levels without meaningful local input.
- Mourie-Punnett argues that a community board's power lies in its ability to influence the borough president and council member.
- The proposed changes would remove this soft power, making the community board review process meaningless.
- He is concerned that board members will be required to hold hearings without being able to actually influence the outcome.
- He believes the changes will lead to projects being built that are not truly affordable for the community and lack local input.
Rafael Mourie-Punnett
3:36:20
Thank you so much for staying here so late tonight.
3:36:23
My name is Rafael Mori Panet.
3:36:24
I'm the district manager for Bronx Community Board six.
3:36:27
I'm here representing the community board.
3:36:29
First, I wanna say that we are a we're not an anti development community board.
3:36:33
We're not voting down projects, and our role, what we see it, is to really bring out the best of each project and work with the power that we have to bring positive change to the neighborhood through land use actions.
3:36:46
The way that we do that is not by having yes or no power as you're aware of.
3:36:50
Right?
3:36:50
Our the community board's role is a soft power.
3:36:53
It's an influence.
3:36:55
Things that come up at the community board hearing where the community is president, the board members are deliberating, and the city council rep and the borough president rep are in attendance is where we get to influence them on decision making on land use items to make them more affordable, to hold the entities accountable that are trying to, you know, get a public good, which is changes in the zoning code.
3:37:17
My concern is in my board's position is that the proposals cut the community board soft power out By eliminating council member deference, by overlapping the borough president timeline with the board timeline, we will no longer be able to influence a borough president's vote in any way because they will likely have already made a decision before it comes to the board.
3:37:35
And that without having a city council role in EULRP, there won't be a way for us to influence the council.
3:37:42
And, really, you you you risk creating this fast track system and this EULRP system where, you know, housing gets built without local input.
3:37:51
There's a community board review process.
3:37:54
You have the process in your timeline, but there's no actual influence the community board can exert in that process.
3:38:01
And so it's just it's a facsimile of a community board process that we're used to having where at least we have some soft power.
3:38:07
Now that there's this process where we have actual no influence and the board members, I can tell you, are going to be irate that we are being required to hold hearings and not actually being able to influence the process.
3:38:18
Because I can tell you, the working class members of my board are gonna be very resistant in going to the CPC to testify the position of the board.
3:38:28
Right?
3:38:28
There what what I think is a reasonable expectation is that a development project wants to happen in community board six.
3:38:34
They come to community board six.
3:38:35
Community board six has influence, and my board members putting it to a vote that night in front of the council member have influence on the process to require them to then choose as individuals to testify before the CPC, which doesn't know the neighborhood, doesn't know the developer.
3:38:51
And that's the big one is we have developers that will bring land use actions, and there won't be anyone that has contextual knowledge on how that developer is in the neighborhood and in the borough to expect us to have that same influence of the CPC is just not it's not realistic.
3:39:06
And it's really cutting local input out of land use actions for the sake of fast tracking projects that are gonna be at a 120 AMI and are not gonna be for this community, are gonna get built in this community without local input.
3:39:19
I encourage you all to look at one nine seven a as a way to build local influence.
Richard R. Buery Jr.
3:39:23
Sorry.