Mayor Eric Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul maintain a press convention following the New York Metropolis Council’s passage of the mayor’s signature housing proposal, “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity.” Metropolis Corridor. Thursday, December 5, 2024.
Credit score: Ed Reed/Mayoral Images Workplace
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Mayor Eric Adams’ controversial zoning reform plan, “City of Yes,” was permitted by the New York Metropolis Council on Thursday, Dec. 5, with a 31-20 vote.
The approval marks a major step within the metropolis’s efforts to handle its ongoing housing disaster, although it stays extremely contentious, significantly amongst many Queens lawmakers.
The plan, which had been beneath intense scrutiny for months, was barely modified after the Metropolis Planning Fee permitted it on Nov. 21. Initially projected to supply 100,000 new housing items over the subsequent 15 years, the plan now expects to yield 80,000 items. The administration additionally dedicated $5 billion in funding, aimed toward supporting the Metropolis Council’s personal housing initiative, “City for All.”
Whereas the plan goals to offer much-needed inexpensive housing, it has confronted fierce opposition from a number of Queens Council Members, who’ve voiced considerations over its potential to encourage overdevelopment and pressure native infrastructure. In response to the vote, Council Members Robert Holden, Joann Ariola, James Gennaro, Linda Lee, Vickie Paladino, Lynn Schulman, and Sandra Ung all voted in opposition to the plan.
These Council Members primarily characterize Central and Northeastern Queens the place a lot of the opposition is coming from. The members of Queens Group Board 5 voted overwhelmingly in opposition to the ‘City of Yes’ on June 12, 2024. This board covers neighborhoods similar to Ridgewood, Maspeth, Center Village and Glendale. They imagine that the proposed new housing items ‘should be achievable without significantly changing the character of communities and straining the local infrastructure more.’
Equally, Queens Group Board 7, which represents Bay Terrace, School Level, Beechhurst, Flushing, Malba, Queensboro Hill, Whitestone, and Willets Level voted virtually unanimously in opposition to the plan in a gathering on June 24.
The identical went for Group Board 9, consisting of Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Ozone Park and Kew Gardens, and Group Board 4, which covers Elmhurst, Corona and Corona Heights. All of those communities advisable voting in opposition to the plan which their Council Members listened to.
Important areas of concern within the ‘City of Yes’ plan surrounded Accent Dwelling Items, Small and Shared Housing, Transit Oriented Improvement and the lifting of parking mandates. The character of their communities being altered is a typical difficulty amongst many Queens residents.
“The City Council’s approval of the City of Yes marks a dark day for New York,” mentioned Holden. “This plan is a developer’s dream but a neighborhood’s nightmare, forcing overdevelopment onto communities already grappling with strained infrastructure.” He additional argued, “This isn’t about creating affordable housing—it’s about giving developers a blank check to reshape our city without accountability or safeguards. Today’s vote shows how far the Mayor and City Council are willing to go to prioritize profits over the needs of everyday New Yorkers.”
Council Members Joann Ariola and Robert Holden communicate on opposition to Metropolis of Sure on the Group Board 5 assembly in Could. Images by way of Group Board 5 Stay Stream on Youtube
Regardless of robust opposition, a number of Queens Council Members voted in favor of the plan, together with Tiffany Caban, Shekar Krishnan, Francisco Moya, Julie Gained, Nantasha Williams, Selvena Brooks-Powers and Adrienne Adams. Their assist helped safe the plan’s passage, though it’s clear that opposition stays vocal in components of the borough.
These Council Members primarily characterize Western Queens. Group Boards 1 and a couple of, which primarily cowl neighborhoods similar to Astoria, Lengthy Island Metropolis, Sunnyside, and Woodside, additionally in Western Queens, have been the one ones to advocate in favor of the plan in Queens.
Group Boards 12 and 13, which cowl neighborhoods in Southeast Queens similar to Jamaica, Springfield Gardens, St. Albans, Cambria Heights, Queens Village and Rosedale, voted unfavorably in direction of the plan. Nevertheless, Council Members Adrienne Adams, Selvena Brooks-Powers and Nantasha Williams, who characterize nearly all of these areas, voted ‘yes’ on Dec.5.
The plan’s approval comes after months of pushback from Queens communities, the place rallies have been held and 12 out of 14 neighborhood boards voiced opposition. Critics have been significantly involved concerning the elimination of parking mandates, which required builders to construct a sure variety of parking areas alongside new housing. In response to this criticism, the plan was modified to protect parking necessities in most components of the borough, except for Group Districts 1 and a couple of, the place parking mandates can be totally eradicated.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr., a longtime supporter of the plan, expressed satisfaction with the Council’s vote. “With our borough and city in the throes of a generational housing crisis, it has never been clearer that the only feasible solution to this emergency is to build more affordable housing as quickly and as responsibly as possible,” Richards mentioned. “The City of Yes for Housing Opportunity allows us to do just that all across the five boroughs, and I applaud both the New York City Council for its bold vote this afternoon as well as the NYC Department of City Planning for its leadership in shepherding this plan from creation to passage.”
Richards emphasised the significance of guaranteeing that new housing is developed in a accountable method. “The City of Yes for Housing Opportunity is neither the magic bullet that eliminates the need to continue to rapidly build more housing nor is it the end of lower-density residential neighborhoods as some have feared. Quite simply, it is a good policy that will ensure tens of thousands of Queens residents facing housing insecurity have an affordable place to call home in the communities they love.”
He additionally harassed the urgency of addressing town’s housing wants. “New Yorkers living on the jagged edge of poverty and homelessness cannot wait any longer, and we must move with the urgency demanded of us as a city,” Richards added.
Whereas many supporters see the plan as a needed step in combating the housing disaster, opponents argue that it might trigger extra hurt than good for already struggling neighborhoods. The true affect of the plan will probably unfold within the coming years as new developments start to take form throughout town.
