City of Yes, Drop Dead

 

Queens Chronicle

A family feud over a notable property in Hollis has escalated into a community issue over protecting historical homes in Southeast Queens.

Marie Ashley, who was once the resident at the old Ketcham Farmhouse, a historical home that is at least 180 years old, was evicted from the residence, located at 190-21 Hollis Ave. on Wednesday.

Ashley told the Chronicle that when her parents retired in the 1990s she took responsibility for a home that her mother bought with her eldest sibling and has paid for everything from the mortgage to property taxes to landscaping, maintenance and repairs.

Since living in the home Ashley said she has helped out relatives and friends and friends of friends who faced homelessness and offered them a room at the historical house that her older sister Grace would later also assume responsibility for.

For the past few years she has been trying to landmark the property with its Italianate exterior, which is believed to be one of the two first homes to be built in Hollis. She held a rally to draw awareness about the property on Monday.

The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission said that the David and Mary Oakley Ketcham House may merit consideration as an individual city landmark in a letter dated Oct. 2, 2023 to Ashley.

Despite her and her sister’s efforts, her family wants to demolish the home to build six two-family houses.

“You can’t replace this history,” said Ashley at the rally.

The Ketcham family was a prominent family in Queens that helped to develop much of the borough from the 17th to the 20th centuries, according to Ashley, who is also the head of the Hollis Preservation Association.

May Callahan Flores, the original “Gibson Girl” in artist Dana Gibson’s illustrations of the feminine ideal, and her husband, Frederic Flores, are believed to have also lived in the home as early as 1924, added Ashley, who believes the home may also have been a passage on the Underground Railroad.

Paul Graziano, a land preservation expert, said the house is the progenitor for the entire community.

“Architecturally, it is very important, historically it is very important,” said Graziano at the protest. “That it could be demolished tomorrow is extremely concerning.”

Community Board 12 also supports preserving the house, which Ashley says has brought business to the neighborhood via her efforts in working with location scouts who helped get the home featured in commercials, TV shows and movies.

“Community Board 12 ... absolutely supports the designation of the Ketcham Farmhouse,” Graziano said in a letter sent to LPC. “In the 60-year history of the commission, we have 18 individual landmarks and one historic district — Addisleigh Park.”

Members of the Queens County Farm Museum and the Bayside Historical Society were also at the rally.

Ashley told the Chronicle that a review of her and her sister’s financials shows they invested about $1.8 million in the home.

Ashley said she has been pushed out of the home because a different older brother and her father, who obtained a majority share in the house in the 2010s, took her to landlord tenant court over the property due to their desire to make money off it.

She said a developer, which created an LLC with her family members, would create the six two-family homes in exchange for one of the homes later being given to the developer.

Graziano said that under the City of Yes housing directive, the property could end up being a building for about 20 housing units because of the huge lot size and its falling within a transit-oriented development zone.

Ashley said she was not a tenant in the home, that her mother gave her power of attorney for any transactions regarding the home before passing in 2021 and she didn’t learn about the LLC until some time after the funeral when the family was still grieving.

Graziano said he looked into the property records of the home and it appears that Ashley’s father also refinanced the home about three times. He could not be reached.

Ashley said she and her sister were unaware of the refinancing and received no money from it.

 

The fugliest apartment building in the City Of Yes.

I like to call this the Felix The Cat building, because it looks like his magic bag of tricks made it.

The case against Yes

 

 

Queens Chronicle

Residents, elected officials and community groups on Wednesday gathered outside City Hall to announce a lawsuit against the zoning changes under the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity plan, which passed in December.

The Article 78 complaint, filed on Tuesday night, argues that the plan violates the State Environmental Quality Review Act and the City Environmental Quality Review.

Quoted in a press release from the office of Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park), the suit alleges in part that the city failed to properly examine “significant areas of environmental concern.” According to the release, the City Planning Commission concluded that new development under the plan would have no significant negative impact on communities, even though many neighborhoods face issues such as flooding, pollution and overcrowded schools.

“How, with a straight face, can the city of New York say that what they’re doing is not going to have an effect on these things, which are already overburdened and overtaxed, at capacity or beyond capacity, today?” urban planning consultant Paul Graziano said at the press conference.

The City of Yes will fix this

 

Day after the City Of Yes got ratified by a criminally indicted mayor, the City Of Crap is still thriving. Here's one of the jewels of South Ozone Park on the corner of 130th ave and the Van Wyck.

There's sure a lot of hoarding going on here, makes you wonder if there's more trash under the fallen leaves, but the potential for a little more housing is pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good thanks to our brilliant leaders in the city planning department and all their real estate lobbyist friends who actually wrote the blueprint for the most invasive and counterproductive housing program in the nation.

 

 

It's unbelievable that this house once looked like this. Even though the owner was operating a chop shop in his backyard and garage according to neighbor's complaints that spanned three decades.

And so it goes...

Caption Indicted Mayor Adams and the People Of Yes

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We're fucked.

The City of Yes, Mess and Less Affordable Housing is complete

 

AMNY 

A compromise version of Mayor Eric Adams’ zoning overhaul aimed at easing the city’s dire housing crisis squeaked through the City Council on Thursday, clearing its final hurdle to become law.

The mayor’s “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” plan, a suite of proposals that promises to allow for “a little more housing in every neighborhood,” passed the 51-member chamber by a slim 31-20 votes on Dec. 5. The city estimates the plan will spur the construction of 82,000 new housing units over the next 15 years, down from the 109,000 homes it was projected to produce before the council’s modifications were made.

All that remains is for Adams to sign what will likely be his greatest signature accomplishment as mayor thus far into law.

Adams, during a City Hall rally on the heels of the vote, compared his administration to the 1986 Mets team that won the World Series.

“We’re gonna argue in the locker room, we’re gonna get in debates, we’re going to do all sorts of things, but you know what? We’re gonna bring home the championship ring,” Adams said. “That’s what we did…You’re seeing the most comprehensive housing reform in the history of the city.”

 

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, following several council members’ impassioned speeches for and against the plan, said the body “cannot do nothing” about the city’s dire housing crisis. She also emphasized that the modified version of the zoning text amendment hashed out by the council is far better than what the mayor initially proposed.

“This council cannot be the body that says ‘no’ to people that need a place to live,” Speaker Adams said in an emotional speech. “This cannot be the council that turns their back on homeless; this cannot be the council that continues to say ‘scrap it, let’s move ahead and do something else,’ because I tell you that will never happen.”

 

The plan consists of a series of updates to city zoning rules that have not been changed in over half a century. It’s designed to expand the amount of housing that can be built in parts of the Big Apple that typically do not see much development.

The zoning changes only narrowly passed the city legislature even after they were altered last month to assuage many council members’ concerns about them potentially altering the character of the neighborhoods they represent. The final deal between City Hall and the council also includes a $5 billion commitment from Adams’ office and Gov. Kathy Hochul to fund affordable housing construction, housing affordability programs, infrastructure improvements, and more staff for city housing agencies.

Several council members acknowledged that the modifications addressed their concerns and got them to a “yes.” 

 

The lawmakers who voted against the City of Yes included every member of the chamber’s conservative Common Sense Caucus, some Democratic members representing low-rise outer-borough neighborhoods, and one progressive who saw the plan as a giveaway to developers.

City Council Member Joann Ariola (R-Queens) said her “no” vote was driven by her constituents’ concerns that City of Yes would change the character of their neighborhoods. She also expressed concerns that the infrastructure in her district, which covers coastal areas in the Rockaways, will not be able to support the added housing that would come with the plan.

“The city of yes will only add to the heavy burden that residents face every day,” Ariola said. “We don’t have the infrastructure and I know the mayor has promised money for infrastructure. But why are we putting the cart before the horse? Why are we putting the housing up and then worrying about the infrastructure?”

David Carr, a Republican council member representing Staten Island, who also voted “no,” said he believes the plan is “incredibly vulnerable to legal action” and “will not survive” such action, which could be forthcoming.

Progressive Council Member Christopher Marte (D-Manhattan) said he voted against the plan because it is a “yes to only the real estate developers.”

Update:

The lawsuit against the City Of Yes is about to begin. Donate to their gofundme to put a stop to this real estate land and air grab.

 

We need your support to cover legal fees, compliance costs, and expert consultations as we oppose the City of Yes rezoning plan. This sweeping proposal threatens to undermine our neighborhoods, eliminate public input on critical land use decisions, and promote unchecked overdevelopment and excessive density.

The City of Yes is a giveaway to developers at the expense of our communities’ character, livability, and long-term sustainability. With your help, we can push back and ensure responsible urban planning that prioritizes people, not profits.

Your donation will empower us to make our voices heard and protect the future of our neighborhoods. Join us in this fight—every contribution counts!

 

 

Judgement day coming for the City Of Yes

 

Queens Chronicle 

 

Queens residents and presidents of local civic associations gathered with activist Paul Graziano outside the office of Councilwoman Nantasha Williams (D-St. Albans) on Monday to protest next Thursday’s City of Yes vote and announce their intentions to sue the city should it go through.

The City Council is expected to vote on Dec. 5 to approve the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity text amendment, the last third of the City of Yes agenda. The amendment would ease regulations to allow accessory dwelling units, more high-density housing, greater building heights and much more, detailed in the 1,400 pages of text.

Warren Schreiber, the president of the Queens Civic Congress, told the Queens Chronicle that the civic associations would file an Article 78 class action lawsuit against the city to stop it from implementing the rezoning program on the basis that the action would be “arbitrary and capricious.”

“An Article 78 [is] what you bring against a government entity when you think that they’ve made a wrong decision,” Schreiber said.

Schreiber added that the opponents have yet to decide who would be the plaintiffs, although the Queens Civic Congress would certainly be one, and they have yet to contact a lawyer. When asked how it would be funded, he said they were looking at a GoFundMe. Schreiber said they would at least be looking for the judge to issue an injunction while the suit plays out.

“Everybody seems to understand the importance and they understand that it’s urgent that we move forward as soon as possible,” Schreiber said.

During Monday’s rally, Schreiber and others took shots at city officials for making supposed backroom deals to get the City of Yes through the Council.

“When the City Council plays ‘Let’s Make a Deal,’ they do it behind closed doors, in secret,” Schreiber joked.

“Speaker [Adrienne] Adams and [Chair of the City Planning Commission] Dan Garodnick, both attended the Somos lobbyist convention in Puerto Rico and they met behind closed doors,” Schreiber added, referring to the tropical getaway attended by many in the New York political scene every year. “Nobody knows what they said to each other.”

Claudia Valentino, a magazine editor and Forest Hills resident of 40 years, told the Queens Chronicle that overdevelopment that could happen under City of Yes would do “nothing but cause damage and take community review away.”

“The moment you start digging up driveways to try to put ADUs in backyards, garages and so on, you will endanger the foundations of the houses,” Valentino said. “It will cause a whole world of problems with our ancient sewer and electrical grid.”

For Aracelia Cook, the president of the 149th South Ozone Park Civic Association, infrastructure was also a top concern, citing the catastrophic 2019 Southeast Queens sewer pipe collapse.

“Now all of a sudden they throw in, ‘Oh, we’re going to give X amount of billions of dollars for infrastructure,’” Cook said. “Where did that come from? You should give that to people anyway, regardless of whether they are going to vote for the City of Yes or not.”

Graziano, an urban planning consultant who has been making his rounds across the city rallying against the City of Yes, compared the newest amendments to the housing opportunity section of the program to treating a gunshot patient.

“When you have a patient that’s been shot by six bullets — it doesn’t matter if they got shot by five, the patient is still gonna die,” Graziano said, referring to the Council’s modifications to the bill.

Graziano was particularly peeved by the $5 billion City for All budget, which has been set aside “to address the city’s housing crisis,” according to City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Jamaica).

“This is not $5 billion in a bank account that they’re waiting to tap to give to all of these things,” Graziano said. “This is our tax dollars.”

 

 QNS

As the City Council’s voting deadline on the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity steadily approaches, residents, civic groups, and local elected officials throughout Queens have voiced their stance on the monumental rezoning proposal. 

The City Council is expected to hold a final vote on Dec. 5 regarding the City of Yes, which was approved with modifications by two influential council committees on Nov. 21 following a hearing. 

The changes included modifying the proposed elimination of parking mandates for new residential developments and adding restrictions on where accessory dwelling units can be built. Additionally, Mayor Adams’ administration announced a $5 billion commitment to fund the City Council’s housing plan, City for All, earlier this month. 

The City for All Housing Plan’s points include mandating affordable housing in large transit-oriented and town-centered developments, allocating increased funding to the city’s housing programs, and increasing support for tenants’ rights.

In Southeast Queens, a steady coalition of residents and civic leaders have protested for months against the rezoning initiative, which aims to bring a little more housing in every neighborhood. 

The organizing against the plan started earlier this year. In May, Alicia Spears, a Cambria Heights homeowner, held a packed town hall meeting at Cambria Heights Library. More than 500 Southeast Queens residents came together, voicing concerns that their single-family and two-family zoned neighborhoods would become unrecognizable in the near future if higher-density housing developments—as well as accessory dwelling units—are permitted. 

Other vocal nay-sayers include Paul Graziano, a Flushing resident and urban planner who has long opposed the City of Yes for Housing initiative, and Reverend Carlene Thorbs, Chair of Community Board 12 and organizer of recent ‘Say No to City of Yes’ rallies held in South Jamaica. Two weeks ago, Graziano, Thorbs, and Spears hosted another rally in St. Albans, urging their elected officials to vote no this December.

The organizers led their most recent rally on Monday, Nov. 25, in front of Council Member Nantasha William’s office, located at 172-12 Linden Blvd.  Much of Monday’s rally centered around homeowners reiterating concerns about the City of Yes.

Graziano and Warren Schreiber, president of the Queens Civic Congress, said that if the plan passes on Dec. 5, they would pursue legal action. ” We will be filing a lawsuit… it’s happening,” Graziano said.

Schreiber expanded more, sharing that they would file the lawsuit under Article 78, which allows citizens to appeal decisions made by government agencies or officials to the New York State Supreme Court. “The first step would be an injunction until the Article 78, the lawsuit, could be heard,” Schreiber said.  Schreiber said that he wants to ask the court for an injunction as soon as possible. “We’re still working on its logistics and how it’s going to be funded,” Schreiber said.

 

Caption the queen and king of the City Of Yes

 

The City of Mess for predatory land and air grabbing opportunity gets approved by City Council fauxgressives

 

NY YIMBY

Sorry, NIMBYs: Your opposition to New York housing creation has just been drowned out by a resounding $5 billion of “Yes.”

A City Council subcommittee on Thursday approved Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to build 80,000 new homes over the next 15 years, lowering the cost of rent for New Yorkers amid one of the worst housing crises in city history. Dubbed “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity,” the rezoning proposal aims to spur the creation of affordable housing in all five boroughs, along with upgrades to critical infrastructure. The approval by the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and Committee on Land Use was secured following a $5 billion pledge from the city and state.

According to the city, the proposal exceeds the housing creation total of all rezonings pushed out by the administrations of Michael Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio.

“Thanks to our shared commitment in building critically needed housing, we have reached an agreement on a historic plan that could open the doors to a little more housing in every neighborhood in our city,” Adams said in a statement on Thursday. “If passed, New York City will once again serve as a model to the nation on government’s infinite ability to take challenges head on, set forth a bold agenda, and get the job done.”

The plan, first announced in April, originally sought to facilitate more than 100,000 new housing units. It also included provisions for lifting the parking space requirement for new residential construction, which developers claim adds an undue cost burden, and for unrestricting property owners’ ability to create accessory dwelling units in spaces like basements, attics, and garages.

Thursday’s amended proposal involved concessions on all three points. Rather than dropping the parking requirement wholesale, it will instead divide it into three zones, preserving the mandate in boroughs like Staten Island and Queens where local lawmakers deemed it necessary. Further, accessory dwelling creation will remain restricted in many areas, particularly in historic districts and flood zones, but will be permitted in transit-proximate areas.

People against the City Of Mess and the indicted mayor who's leading it.

Southeast Queens residents unite against the City of Mess

The people, the lies and the conspiracy of the City of Yes

 

 

With the City of Yes of Housing Opportunity about to get heard by City Council and New Yorkers the next two days, Intrepid City Planner Paul Graziano dropped a report on the sneaky tactics at the previous zoom hearing and sneaky people trying to get the worst housing plan in New York City history approved in spite of majority rejection by community boards and residents.

Here are the best parts on Paul's X account.

T

The video above happens to be from this farcical rally with everyone from Paul's COY list. They can't even answer housing related questions and defend their agendas without their YIMBY scripts and talking points. And they refuse to answer the most important question no one is asking these dopes, who is going to build this City of Yes?

City of Yes there's corruption in this housing plan

 

 Queens Chronicle

Shortly after Mayor Adams was indicted last week on federal corruption charges, Councilman Bob Holden (D-Maspeth) made a request via letter to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York to look into potential wrongdoing surrounding the Housing Opportunity initiative from the City of Yes proposals.

Holden also asked the city’s Department of Investigation to probe the matter last Friday, because he believes there may possibly be special interests at play.

The unsealed federal charges against Adams allege that he accepted bribes from Turkish officials and pressured FDNY members to ignore safety violations to push through the opening of a 36-story tower called the Turkish House in Manhattan in exchange for luxury first-class travel and other accommodations to Turkey.

Since taking office, Adams has touted his efforts to take steps to cut the red tape and streamline the environmental review process in order to create new housing throughout the Big Apple to combat the city’s growing homelessness problem. His Housing Opportunity proposal would change zoning regulations to further accomplish that goal, but many Queens community board members have noted that there is no language in the text amendment guaranteeing affordable housing, which they say could result in developers having carte blanche.

Last Wednesday, the City Planning Commission voted 10-3 to approve the proposal, according to City Hall. The Department of City Planning is formally transmitting the proposal to the Council, which will have 50 days to hold a hearing and vote. If the Council modifies the proposal in committee, it will have another 15 days for the full body to vote.

In Queens, 12 of 14 community boards voted against it.

“The overwhelming opposition to the City of Yes, evidenced by the majority of community boards rejecting it and numerous civic associations voicing their concerns, raises significant questions about the motivations behind the Mayor’s decision to proceed with a plan that grants developers broad authority to overdevelop our city,” said Holden in his letter.

“I urge you to consider these factors and investigate whether any improprieties or conflicts of interest exist regarding the City of Yes proposals, or worse, any potential pay-to-play or quid pro quo may be involved. The integrity of our city governance must be upheld, and it is essential to ensure that the interests of our communities are prioritized over those of potential special interests.”

CB 13 is among the strongest opponents of the housing initiative.

“Community Board 13 objects to City of Yes imposing as-of-right zoning to insert new housing whether or not local neighborhoods have the infrastructure in place first to support it,” CB 13 Land Use Subcommittee City of Yes Chair Corey Bearak, Land Use Chair Michael Mallia and Board Chair Bryan Block said via email. “That said the current situation at City Hall introduces uncertainty about who will be driving this attempt to eviscerate the City Charter’s community review provisions known as [Uniform Land Use Review Procedure] as the City Council begins its consideration of these misguided zoning changes to permit greater scales of development — increased density — on blocks and in neighborhoods without community input and without any guarantee of affordability especially for working families and the middle class.”

 

Donnie and the City Of Yes gets fed their brunch

Today, I testified before the Queens Borough President to make it clear that I am totally opposed to the City of Yes Housing Opportunity proposal. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/2WMeFNnwb2

— Robert Holden (@BobHoldenNYC) August 8, 2024

Donnie Rich made sure an elected official would not be seen making a case against the most dangerous housing plan ever concocted in New York City. But the woman here made the most of her opportunity to describe what a obligatory ruse this hearing was and what these officials are.

I listened to the ⁦@QnsBPRichards⁩’ public hearing today for the City of Yes. A solid 80%+ speakers are opposed to this plan. I hope ⁦@NYCMayor⁩ ⁦@NYCCouncil⁩ ⁦⁦@NYCPlanning⁩ are taking note and reading the room.#NoToCityOfYes pic.twitter.com/rrwZprVvU4

— Jean (@queens_parents) August 8, 2024

City Of Yes time again

That process is running through Queens this week, as my office will be hosting a public hearing on City of Yes for Housing Opportunity on Thursday at 10am at Borough Hall — all are welcome to come testify.

You can also testify via Zoom by clicking here: https://t.co/UQaGWeFruj https://t.co/ehfQ1BvSF7

— Queens Borough President Donovan Richards (@QnsBPRichards) August 5, 2024

QBP Donnie Richards (and all the yimby moles in his staff) decided to have his City of Yes public hearing at 10 a.m. when most of his constituents who are homeonwers like him will be at work. But you can make it on zoom via this link. Hope it gets lit up like the last one with NYC Planing Dirty Dan Garodnick. Maybe Don will allow clapping at this one.

11 hours of stories of the City of Mess and here's a few of them

City Planner Paul Graziano makes NYC Planning Commissioner and Developer Mascot Dan Garodnick uncomfortable with dire warnings of the desecration of towns from the one size fits all plan to build a little more affordable housing in every neighborhood. Because it really is just a little that won't end the infinite housing crisis the city has made. Jackson Chabot from the public streets usurping 501 c 3 lobby cult Open Plans rambles on about removing parking mandates from buildings and towns and gets laughed at, but not before he trashes Graziano for how he got his house and remained in his neighborhood. But wouldn't you know the best take about the City Of Yes/Mess literally came from the street from the ubiquitous NYC political media gadfly Christopher Leon Johnson who remarked that this will do nothing to help people who make less than 60% of the AMI to qualify for the prospective tall and dense luxury public housing towers to end the housing crisis NYC Planning created and now they want a do-over. CLJ also blows the whistle on lobbyist infiltration of community boards that were placed there by borough presidents.

 Update:

 Well, it looks like Dirty Danny and the City Of Yes people at NYC Planning is censoring the public from isolating clips and embedding the whole video of the public hearing. Paul comes around the 3:45, Jacko around 4:37 and CLJ around 5:08.  

Watch how Danny tells people not to clap for people against City Of Yes because it would "take up valuable time" but he allows extended time for borough presidents Mark Levine and Vanessa Gibson to shill for the overdevelopment apocalypse program. He also spends time interrogating council members who announced they will vote no against it and gave nearly an hour to an architect to describe and justify the plan.

No No No

 Queens Chronicle

Apples to oranges.

That is what one Community Board 13 resident called Mayor Adams’ City of Yes housing proposal versus the possible reality of the actual plan, which promises a “little bit more housing in every neighborhood,” before the board’s Land Use Committee unanimously voted no on the scheme on Monday.

The purpose of the initiative is to create 100,000 units of housing citywide for 250,000 people by allowing new apartment complexes on properties such as church parking lots and the reconstruction of office buildings, garden apartments, commercial buildings and accessory dwelling units in both commercial and residential areas to make them affordable in the future. Residents at the meeting pointed out that there is no actual language in the mayor’s plan that guarantees low-cost homes for those who need it most.

“I’m looking at the numbers associated with increasing the housing stock and reducing homelessness,” Jax Dolly, a CB 13 resident, said during the meeting, held online.

“I’m seeing that 17 percent of the population make $20,000 and below — this is in New York City — and 45 percent make $50,000 and below. When you look at the average rent across the boroughs, it ranges from $3,000 to $5,000 in average rent.”

Dolly went on to say that if 3.9 million, or 45 percent of people in the Big Apple, can’t afford to live in the city, how will upending zoning laws to house 250,000 people address the housing crisis in 15 years?

“It makes no sense,” she said. “It feels like three-card Monte here. You are going to essentially be handing a gift to developers to come and do a land grab where they can build all of these new units, but they don’t have to offer below market rate to anyone or if they initially do they can eventually put it at market rate or above at some point. So how is this going to address the housing crisis long-term?”

Scott Solomon from the Department of City Planning said it’s understandable to have healthy skepticism about 100,000 units putting a dent in the housing crisis, but there is a lack of homes, and the hope is that with more housing stock, prices would go down.

Jackie Wilson, a CB 13 member, said she does not see the benefit of the plan for people who live in Queens or within the board’s area.

 “You’re going to pile a bunch of people [together], you’re going to pile on a bunch of traffic and there’s going to be fewer resources,” Wilson said. “What’s the benefit for us?

“What’s the benefit to homeowners here?”

The idea is that housing would be more affordable because there will be more options and there can’t be more housing options without more housing production, said Solomon.

“The goal is, primarily, to facilitate incremental housing growth so that housing prices can stabilize,” Solomon said.

Wilson said that people in residential areas in Eastern Queens already have homes, so why should the character of their neighborhoods change to benefit others while her neighbors potentially lose parking spots due to the housing development mandate making parking optional wherever any new housing is created?

“There are thousands of people who do live here who are leaving often,” Solomon said. “They are leaving the city because they can’t afford it so they sell their home because they can’t afford living here anymore, or they live in the area, don’t own a home, they want to buy a home, they leave the area, the city, the region, the state.”

Queens Chronicle 

 

Community Board 9 voted against City of Yes for Housing Opportunity at its monthly meeting Tuesday.

Prior to the vote, during the public forum, residents expressed opposition to the mayor’s sweeping proposal to update zoning laws, citing overdevelopment concerns, quality of life and overcrowded schools. The opinions echoed those of many at a Zoom meeting held a few weeks prior, where residents living in Community District 9 largely spoke against the proposal.

The group’s Land Use and Housing Committee, led by members Sylvia Hack and Andrew Taranto, introduced a resolution against the zoning text amendment.

When the resolution was brought before the board, almost all in attendance voted in favor of the decision to not support the proposal. There were only two abstentions and no dissent.

Queens Chronicle 

 

Residents of Community District 10 largely do not support City of Yes for Housing Opportunity — and they’re making it clear to their community board.

At Board 10’s meeting last week, the community turned out to make its opposition heard, alongside written notice of residents’ opinions.

The Howard Beach Lindenwood Civic, led by Phyllis Inserillo and Barbara McNamara, had spread the word for weeks about the board’s June 6 meeting, where the Department of City Planning presented the mayor’s zoning text amendment that aims to loosen restrictions and address the housing crisis.

The proposal includes removing parking mandates, legalizing accessory dwelling units and more housing above businesses, adding transit-oriented development and a new Universal Affordability Preference, which would allow developers to add at least 20 percent more housing to buildings if the additional homes are affordable to households earning 60 percent of the area median income.

After the board voted “yes” with conditions to the economic portion of the City of Yes proposal, which passed the City Council last week, Inserillo, who is also the chief of staff for Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park) but recused herself from her duties for the meeting, cautioned against a similar type of vote.

She said she had not spoken to a single person within the confines of Board 10 that supported the text amendment. She also said that at a City Council Land Use Committee meeting in April, the chair of the DCP, Dan Garodnick, said a vote of yes from the community board with conditions is still a yes — even if those conditions are not met.

“You did that the last time in the economic portion but you cannot do that again,” Inserillo said. “Our community does not even want a ‘no’ vote with conditions. This plan will be a disaster for this community and the only vote we want to hear from this board is ‘no.’”

“We say no,” said McNamara during the public forum. “We live here because we want our suburban feeling while being close enough to go into the city to enjoy our theaters, museums, restaurants, etcetera. We do not want ADUs or basement dwellers or housing above our stores on Crossbay Boulevard or many apartment buildings in old Howard.”

Both Inserillo and McNamara received loud applause from the crowd following their words.

Other residents spoke on concerns that the new zoning would leave schools overcrowded and put too much pressure on the neighborhood’s firehouse on Cross Bay Boulevard, which would have more units to tend to.

The civic later posted a photo of the meeting turnout on social media, writing, “Howard Beach is saying NO to the City of Yes at the Community Board 10 meeting. We have a packed house with standing room only and there isn’t much more room to stand.

“Together, we have collected over 2,500 signatures on letters opposing the City of Yes and we will continue to collect up until the vote. Thank you to everyone who has signed and a huge thank to all those who have collected letters. Our voices are being heard loud and clear.”

 

Expressway Haunted Mansion

 

Riding along the Van Wyck Expressway while it's still under construction, I did a double take and saw this huge house on the corner of 105th ave.

 

Parking is forbidden by the entrance but it hasn't discourage this ricer car owner. Although it looks like this house had a steady occupation by squatters for some time.

A full dumpster indicates gut renovations.

 

Like every other abandoned house or vacant lot, the plywood fence is covered with numerous posters of festivals coming to town.

 

It kinda looks like the Bates Motel.

Mother?

 

Looked up the address on the Buildings Dept. website and there isn't much information about who is renovating this house. But it did have a record of multiple families living in this quasi-mansion from 30 years ago, which surely still continued considering the number of satellite dishes. But with the City Of Yes coming, the owner of this house can get away with building a little more housing for another 10 families and a dozen single men delivering food on motorcycles.

NYC Planning to hold a town hall on zoom for the Jamaica Neighboorhood Action Plan (but don't call it the City Of Yes)

📢 Attention Southeast Queens residents!

This is your chance to chime in on what should be included in the long-term vision to improve the downtown Jamaica area.

Join us at the Jamaica Neighborhood Plan Town Hall on Thursday, June 13th at 7PM!

RSVP: https://t.co/48u7DF7HhD pic.twitter.com/YtODxTbWI8

— Adrienne Adams (@NYCSpeakerAdams) June 10, 2024

 

Jamaica Plan  

Why wouldn't Natasha Williams and Dan Garodnick and all those urbanist plants from the NYC Planning office hold an in person town hall now that the weather is a lot warmer out. Maybe it's because everyone in Jamaica knows this is part of the notorious City Of Yes plan to rezone and upzone residential blocks and make driving and parking difficult for them. Here's another thing, the toxic lobbyist Cerebrus who supported the failed congestion pricing scheme-transportation alternatives, open plans and Open New York have heavily influenced the Jamaica Plan from the very beginning. This zoom town hall is going to be rigged with those lobbyist creeps and their cult supporters unless the people from Southeast Queens stops them.

Communities protest against the City Of Yes