Queens electeds warn against City of Yes as milestone approaches
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A host of Queens elected officials, including Assemblymember Ed Braunstein, City Councilmember Vickie Paladino, Councilmember Linda Lee, Assemblymember David Weprin, State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky and Assemblymembers Sam Berger, Alicia Hyndman and Nily Rozic, rallied in Bayside on Monday to oppose the Adams administrations City of Yes for Housing Opportunity. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
Elected officials primarily from Northeastern Queens gathered in Bayside this week and imagined a world where the mayor’s controversial City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal becomes a reality – and they don’t like how it looks.
On Monday, a group of seven Queens electeds and dozens of community members and leaders protested the Adams administration’s plan to put “a little more housing in every neighborhood,” otherwise known as the City of Yes.
At the protest, speakers painted a picture of a world where COY goes forward as planned, one that they claim could drastically change many of the neighborhoods they represent.
“Can you imagine if on every corner around here we had a three-story apartment building?” said State Assemblymember Ed Braunstein, who organized the rally. “Can you imagine what the parking would be like in this community if we doubled, or more than doubled, the amount of people living on every block?”
“This is a calculated effort to destroy the character of our districts,” added Republican Councilmember Vickie Paladino.
In general, officials and locals are worried that aspects of the COY – including new zoning laws which would allow for building more housing near transit, legalizing accessory dwelling units like cottage apartments and lifting parking mandates – would inundate their blocks with more housing and change the fabric of their mostly quiet neighborhoods.
The fears toward the City of Yes in Queens are not new but have begun to reach a fever pitch as the plan makes its way toward the City Council for a final vote. Next week, the city’s Department of City Planning is expected to vote on and pass the plan.
“This proposal is an extinction event for our communities,” Paul Graziano, a Queens city planner who has become perhaps the city’s most outspoken opponent to COY, said on Monday.
None of the 14 community boards in the borough approved the plan outright, and only two boards – CBs 1 and 2 – came out with favorable recommendations on the plan, but with conditions.
Citywide, only two community boards out of 59 came back with a straight “favorable” view of the plan.
The loudest pushback has largely been from Queens, and, in particular, the suburban-esque, residential neighborhoods in Eastern Queens like Bayside, Queens Village, Douglaston and others.
Following the DCP’s vote on COY next week, the plan will go before the council, which is expected to issue a vote on COY before the end of the year.
As of now, at least seven Queens councilmembers have expressed some worries about the COY, or say they plan to reject it outright.
Councilmember Linda Lee is among the latter group.
“This is a sledgehammer solution, which really requires a scalpel,” she said to the crowd on Tuesday. “Every neighborhood is different. Every neighborhood’s needs are different, and you cannot treat this like a one-size-fits-all solution. We need to look at other solutions, other areas, other other creative ways to look at the housing situation that we're in.”
City Councilmember Vickie Paladino, the lone Republican speaker on Tuesday, is also against the plan.
She specifically cited the transit-oriented development provision in the COY plan, which would change zoning to allow for more buildings within half a mile of transit stations.
“A half a mile is a very large area, and it will affect every single one- and two-family residential area here in Bayside, Douglaston, Auburndale and Murray Hill,” she said. “No one is immune.”
State electeds – who ultimately have no official say on the outcome of COY – also spoke in opposition to the plan, including Braunstein, State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky and Assemblymembers David Weprin, Sam Berger, Alicia Hyndman and Nily Rozic.
Statements were also read from Queens Congressional Representatives Grace Meng and Tom Suozzi, both of whom are also in opposition to the plan.
The city and the Department of City Planning has made it clear from their perspective that the fears expressed by lawmakers on Monday are unfounded.
Elected officials in Queens addressed a large crowd of several dozen Queens residents who came to rally against the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity plan in Bayside on Tuesday. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
“Inaction is simply not an option,” said DCP Director Dan Garodnick in a statement Tuesday. “City of Yes is carefully crafted to respect the character of communities while ensuring that every neighborhood does its part to generate much-needed new housing. We look forward to its upcoming vote at the City Planning Commission and review by the City Council.”
In an op-ed published by the Eagle this week, Garodnick looked to “clear the air” on the plan and some potential worries about its provisions.
In the piece, Garodnick said that he doesn’t think that the City of Yes would have “a drastic impact on any one neighborhood,” when it comes to infrastructure.
“By creating just a little more housing in every neighborhood – and over a long period of time – the proposal avoids over-burdening any one neighborhood’s infrastructure,” he wrote.
Garodnick also fought back against concerns over a proposal within COY that would eliminate parking mandates for developers.
“With City of Yes, we want to get zoning out of the parking conversation so parking is created where residents need it, rather than being mandated by government,” he said. “If someone wants to include lots of parking in their building, great. If it’s unnecessary, that’s fine too.”
While Gardonick and Mayor Eric Adams have tried to minimize the fears over the last several months, that has not assuaged the worries in Eastern Queens.
“The conversation ended when the community boards voted,” Berger said. “If the mayor wants to do something, it's his job to convince and explain it to the committee boards, and he failed to do so.”
What ultimately happens with the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity will come down to the 51 members of the City Council.
“Pay very close attention, because now you will finally see how your representatives truly represent you, the people, by the way they vote in the City Council,” Paladino said.
Lee, who has long been on the record as being against the City of Yes, does see a potential opening for the city to make a number of changes to the proposal that may not compel her to change her vote, but may ease her concerns a little.
“Even though I'm on the record already for being a no on this, I think it doesn't mean I'm not going to try to fight for a lot of the amendments, because if this does pass, we don't want to be left with a plan that really hurts our neighborhoods out here in Eastern Queens,” she told the Eagle. “We haven't had a lot of in-depth conversations with our colleagues about this yet, but I know that there's definitely parts of it that for sure we're going to try to advocate to either take out completely or try to advocate to lessen it.”
Other Queens councilmembers who the Eagle reached out to about City of Yes also expect to vote against the proposal.
Conservative City Councilmember Bob Holden and Republican Joann Ariola both said they expect to vote no, as does Councilmember Jim Gennaro.
Councilmembers Nantasha Williams and Lynn Schulman didn’t provide the Eagle with an answer as to how they would vote. Williams said she “remains concerned about the current version,” and Schulman said she has “major reservations.”
Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers said she has heard concerns from her Southeast Queens constituents on the plan and told the Eagle she “plans to work with the administration and other council colleagues to address these concerns and make sure community voices are heard.”
