Tensions heat up at City of Yes hearing
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Queens City Councilmember Vickie Paladino testified before the City Planning Commission on Wednesday in opposition to the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal. Tensions ran high not only during her testimony but throughout the all-day hearing. Screenshot via CPC
By Ryan Schwach
Queens City Councilmember Vickie Paladino began to raise her voice while giving testimony at the City Planning Commission’s marathon hearing on its controversial City of Yes for Housing Opportunity plan on Wednesday.
Paladino, who is no stranger to outbursts during discussions about city policy, was one of hundreds to give their passionate opinion on the proposal during the all-day hearing. But she was one of only a few to note how high the temperature has gotten around the plan, which stands to eliminate a number of current zoning regulations the city says has gotten in the way of building the housing New York City needs.
“I really got hot under the collar,” Queens Councilmember Vickie Paladino said after a back and forth with a City Planning commissioner.
The Wednesday meeting, meant to – in theory – gauge support and suggestions for the plan which seeks to add “a little more housing in every neighborhood,” instead had hundreds of voices both for and against the plan mostly muddle together, leaving it difficult to actually determine how New Yorkers as a whole feel about the project. If one thing was clear, it was that both sides felt strongly about the proposal.
While the CPC is chiefly in support of the project and is expected to approve some version of the plan despite the negative feedback, that didn’t stop locals from giving their thoughts on the controversial Adams administration initiative.
Although residents from all five boroughs spoke, the majority of the speakers from Queens – which included some tense testimonies from Republican councilmembers, including Paladino – pushed back against the massive initiative.
The City of Yes for Housing Opportunity is intended to rework land use rules citywide in an effort to spark housing development. However, detractors worry the plan will ruin the personalities of low density, suburban-esque communities and create infrastructure issues across the city.
Both perspectives were widely represented in Wednesday’s testimonies.
Many housing advocacy groups and community members spoke in favor of the housing plan, agreeing with the CPC and Mayor Eric Adams that the plan would facilitate growth, lower rents and overall create more housing opportunities for low income and middle class New Yorkers.
“We want to thank Mayor Adams and his team and the Department of City Planning for all of the work that they put in on the City of Yes, an ambitious and much needed initiative that addresses our city's housing crisis,” said Francesca Brown, from CAMBA Housing Ventures, a non-profit based in Brooklyn. “Great changes can take place citywide with the participation of community stakeholders at the local level, contributing to expanding the housing supply little by little.”
However, an equal number of comments also expressed worries about the plan, and testimonies from those living in some of Queens’ more residential communities highlighted those sentiments.
“New York City is not one size fits all, cookie cutter solutions won't work in our great city,” said Warren Schreiber, president of the Queens Civic Congress, which represents 75 civic groups in the borough.
Schreiber, and other Queens residents, echoed concerns that have been knocking around the borough for months. They claim that the plan would inundate low-density communities – for instance in Eastern Queens areas like Glen Oaks or Douglaston – with new, high-density housing and eliminate the quiet way of life those living there desire.
“Members of the Queen Civic Congress prefer to reside in quiet, tree-lined communities with one and two family housing,” Schreiber said. “City of Yes is a gift to developers that will undo those efforts.”
Many of the Queens civic groups and community boards who have opposed City of Yes have disagreed with several aspects of the plan. Specifically, some Queens residents have ardently fought against the elimination of parking mandates, new development in areas close to transit and the opening for new Accessory Dwelling Units, or ADUs.
“We don't feel that [the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity] really has been completely vetted with all the issues and impacts upon our local communities,” said Henry Euler, an Auburndale civic leader. “This is a deregulatory proposal in a single family and low-density zoned areas. This is going to be especially destructive to our communities.”
Perhaps the most impassioned opposition to the City of Yes came from Queens’ only two Republican elected officials, City Councilmembers Joann Ariola and Paladino.
While both argued that City of Yes would fundamentally change the character of their districts.
“The City of Yes, as it stands, would be an unmitigated disaster, and we cannot allow it to pass in its current form,” Ariola said.
Ariola’s 32nd District includes parts of South Queens and the Rockaways, the latter of which is among the lowest density areas in the entire city.
“People who invest their life savings into purchasing a home in a residential section of the cities deserve to raise their families in the environment that was currently afforded to them,” she said. “I understand that there is a need to expand the city's housing stock and create new commercial spaces, but this should not come at the expense of the peace that so many New Yorkers hold dear.”
“We're not opposed to creating more housing, we just want it to be done in a smarter and more sustainable manner,” Ariola added.
In response, Garodnick pointed to statistics which show Ariola’s district is among the lowest producers of affordable housing of all council districts – a trend City of Yes is trying to change by putting more housing in every neighborhood.
Ariola disagreed with the statistic, arguing that her district has co-ops and condos which she says are beneficial for young people and seniors.
“There's a lot of stuff that isn't in that document that doesn't actually portray my district,” she said.
Ariola’s Northern Queens counterpart, Vickie Paladino, made similar arguments and called for the city to slow down on the massive, all-in-one proposal.
“This is being pushed through like a freight train,” she said. “I really think the city needs to take a breather on this, perhaps start a pilot program, figure it out, get the wrinkles out before we put it in full steam.”
But Garodnick questioned Paladino as well, pointing out that Paladino’s district is among the lowest producers of affordable housing in the entire city and that half of her constituents are rent burdened, meaning that more than 30 percent of their income goes to their rent.
“What would you recommend that we do here for the residents of your district who are struggling?” he asked the Councilmember.
In turn, Paladino told him that his “facts are wrong” and asked what he meant by rent burdened.
The City of Yes for Housing Opportunity still has several meetings scheduled in the coming weeks with community boards as they attempt to assuage worries and get the project to the finish line. Before it gets there however, it will have to get through the City Council, which it is expected to before the end of the year.
