Saturday, March 25, 2023

Homeowners resist Hochul's YIMBY decree

Many homeowners against Hochul plan 1

Queens Chronicle

Lawmakers, Eastern Queens civic leaders and homeowners were in Laurelton last week to rally against Gov. Hochul’s proposal to upzone and legalize accessory dwelling units to create more affordable housing in residential neighborhoods.

Many people were concerned about the character of their communities, which consist mostly of one- to -two family homes, changing to become a higher-density area like Long Island City.

The rally was held March 17 in front of the home of Bess de Betham of the Federated Blocks of Laurelton.

“Nearly 52 years ago I moved from Far Rockaway because I liked this neighborhood,” de Betham said at the event. “Why did I move to this neighborhood? Because it had one -and- two family homes and front and backyards. It has treelined streets and spaces between homes on each block. I have not felt crowded or overwhelmed by others living on that block.”

De Betham said that she is not against more affordable housing throughout the city and state, but her family has worked hard and she must protect the biggest investment of her life and of her neighbors’.

“We are here today to let the governor and our state elected officials know that we are not accepting the imposition of mandates of top-down change to the quality of life that we have worked so hard to preserve,” de Betham added. “I hope our elected officials are listening. The people are paying atteniton to not only how you feel on this Housing Compact, but how you will vote on this Housing Compact ... Welcome to my home.”

Hochul’s Housing Compact proposal for the fiscal year 2024 budget is to create 800,000 new homes over the next decade whether it is through new housing production or legalizing accessory dwellings like basement apartments, according to governor.ny.gov. If passed, her proposal would expedite rezonings and give developers tax breaks to make at least 100,000 of the homes affordable.

Hochul said in a statement that the New York dream should be attainable for all who call the state their home and that the objective of the Housing Compact “is for families to stay in New York.”

Bill Perkins of the Rosedale Civic Association said that when homeowners learned about Hochul’s measure had to do their own research to fully understand the extent of the changes she was proposing.

“Many of our communities were downzoned,” Perkins said. “We saw what happened when density wasn’t controlled. It was unbridled and we weren’t prepared for it.”

Perkins said that if Hochul’s proposal were to go through that it would eliminate home rule, with communities being mandated to follow Albany’s growth targets.

“Whenever you have mandates that you are penalized by, that is not the right way to grow our communities,” the Rosedale civic member said. “We grow organically. We think about our growth. We are strategic about it.”

Along with the growth mandates, Perkins does not support amnesty for ADUs.

“About a year ago, nine people died in illegal basements because they could not get out of the basements,” he said, referring to the death toll in Queens from the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida. “You should feel it’s an indictment on you if you are a one- or two-family homeowner because that means it’s taking away ... the ability to be in the community you want to be in.”

Perkins said that Hochul’s bill is doing the opposite of keeping New Yorkers within the state because people like him and de Betham would be less likely to stay.

“We have to be together on this,” he added. “The vote on this is on April 1.”

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

What will happen to the all important Diversity, Equity & Inclusion scam ?
Oh, Some sheeple are waking up ! Great news for Queens....

Anonymous said...

It's hard for me to sympathize with these home owners that are diehard DemocRat supporters. You reap what you sow !

Anonymous said...

C'mon people, what could possibly go wrong? FJB

FreedomFries Fred said...

Bunch of communists trying to block progress and capitalism at work.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to say, but it you are against upzoning, you ain't black!

Anonymous said...

They can stop Hochul's YIMBY decree by all giving their homes to the Lenape Indians.
Prove me wrong...

Anonymous said...

Oh well. YOU voted for this stuff. So you have noone else to blame.

Anonymous said...

I don't see Donovan Richards in that photo, does his absence imply support for Hochul's plan. What a do nothing whore he's turned out to be...

FreedomFries Fred said...

Luddites stepping in the way of progress.
Ignore the haters.
Build baby Build!

Anonymous said...

I guess they don't want some weird QAnon creep moving into the neighbors basement.

Anonymous said...

Here in the "Free State of Florida", we are too busy running from naked Italian statues to worry about basement dwellers.

Anonymous said...

Biden said he lived in Queens before growing up in Scranton.

Anonymous said...

Rise of the yimbys: the angry millennials with a radical housing solution !

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/oct/02/rise-of-the-yimbys-angry-millennials-radical-housing-solution

Anonymous said...

This illustrates the hypocrisy of modern dem political leaders.

Anonymous said...

I have a huge problem with trying to understand these Democrats.
The reality of a soaring crime rate and soaring inflation shows the obvious dysfunction that currently surrounds them was also employed by Nero who reputedly fiddled while Rome burned, and we all know how that ended. Let’s hope the Sheeple can shake the spell of the cognitive dissonance that now burdens them.

Anonymous said...

Lefty NY hypocrites set to hike tax breaks for Hollywood while screwing the sheeple !

Kitara said...

@“ I have a huge problem with trying to understand these Democrats.”

Like the Putinists would do any better ? Both stood by and let corporations run the country. Now we have monopolies that can set their own price for everything. So much for free market economics.
As for crime, the days of semi normal Rudy are over. The new Putanists want to flood cities with guns and ban books. Even TrumpTurd admitted that Florida is a crime nightmare.

Anonymous said...

Are the Sheeple not happy with their choice at the ballot box ?

Anonymous said...

#TDS is real ...

Anonymous said...

Great Comment of the day!
"I have a huge problem with trying to understand these Democrats"