Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
REMARKS
Commissioner Diane Savino on the decades-long housing crisis and the need for open primaries
0:22:15
·
3 min
Commissioner Diane Savino thanks the commission members for their volunteer service and praises the staff, particularly Executive Director Alex Schierenbeck.
She shares her personal experience with the city's housing crisis, noting it has been a problem for decades.
While she supports the housing proposals, she expresses profound disappointment that the commission did not advance a proposal on open primaries, which she argues would enfranchise 1.1 million unaffiliated voters. She calls for a new commission in 2026 to specifically tackle this issue.
Diane Savino
0:22:15
Thank you.
0:22:16
Obviously, I'm gonna join the chorus of thanking the chair for this hard work, all of my commission members.
0:22:21
And I think it's important to remember that everyone that's here does this on their own time.
0:22:25
This is a purely volunteer effort driven by people who are committed to this city in many ways, in the nonprofit world, in the in the corporate world, and just in their community.
0:22:33
So I think it's really important that we reflect on the fact that none of you had to do this.
0:22:37
You did it freely, openly because you care about the future of this city.
0:22:42
I also wanna thank the commission staff.
0:22:44
Last year, I had the opportunity to be the executive director of the Charter Revision Commission, so I know how hard that work is.
0:22:50
And it would not have happened this year without the leadership of the person that I think, I say it all the time, is the smartest young attorney I have ever met, and that's Alex Schernebeck and his staff.
0:23:02
You know, I grew up in New York City.
0:23:04
I was born and raised in Queens.
0:23:05
I find myself living in Staten Island because the housing crisis that we talk about today is not new.
0:23:11
It has been a crisis for decades now.
0:23:14
I was forced to leave the community I grew up in because housing opportunities didn't exist then.
0:23:18
And now very the very same young people in Staten Island are gonna be forced to leave Staten Island in New York City because there are no opportunities in Staten Island or in any of the outer boroughs.
0:23:28
This crisis has been decades in the making, but we've taken some steps in the past couple of years.
0:23:33
We went to Albany.
0:23:34
We got a lot of substantive changes.
0:23:36
We got the extension of four twenty one a, four eighty five x last year working with the city council, the first rezoning in almost fifty years with the city of yes, but still more work needs to be done.
0:23:46
We are not going to regulate our way out of this crisis.
0:23:49
We can only build our way out of it.
0:23:51
And so these proposals today will help us achieve those goals of having smart solutions that will help move this city forward.
0:24:00
And the one thing that I am profoundly disappointed about though, because as you know, when you have a charter revision commission, you open the door to everything in the New York City charter.
0:24:08
And the one thing we heard more than anything is that the second largest group of voters in this city, the 1,100,000 in growing unaffiliated voters, are deliberately cut out because of the the process that we use, the closed primary system.
0:24:23
And they came in record numbers in either in person to sit through hours long or submitting written testimony to talk about how they felt that they were being denied the opportunity to be able to have a say in the future of their city.
0:24:36
It is a disappointment that we were unable to get there, but I do believe that there are legitimate questions that are still yet to be answered.
0:24:42
What type of system?
0:24:43
Is it a top two?
0:24:45
Is it a top four?
0:24:46
Is it a straight up nonpartisan election?
0:24:48
And so to those who are really engaged in this, I think the day after election day, the mayor needs to commit create another charter revision commission for 2026 and task it with the with the requirement that we study improving our democracy in the city of New York, bringing more voters in.
0:25:05
And I hope that that is exactly what will happen.
0:25:08
We owe it to the grow to the largest growing number of voters in this city, and those are those are who do not want to belong to any party.
0:25:15
And there are days when I understand why.
0:25:17
So thank you again for everyone's work here.
0:25:20
I'm really proud to have been part of this process this year as I was last year, because I know everybody in this room is committed to making New York City better for everyone.
0:25:28
Thank you.