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The time has come for New York City’s community board members to tackle serious challenges around housing and business regulation or step aside to make way for leaders who don’t offer a hardline “no” to any suggestion of change.
Many of the city’s 59 community boards have so far offered a buzzsaw of opposition to Mayor Eric Adams’ common-sense and much-needed City of Yes initiatives and are expected to make a big stink in the coming weeks about the plan’s third component, which would relax zoning rules to permit new residential construction across the city.
Board members must be willing to approach these proposals with an open mind and an appreciation of the severity of the problem. Fewer than 5% of city apartments were affordable for the average worker last year, according to a new report by StreetEasy and Tech:NYC, and new housing development has slowed to a glacial pace.
Those responsible for appointing the boards, which for years have been notorious for an anti-development mindset, should follow the lead of Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, who has been screening out candidates who reflexively oppose adding housing.
Levine appoints half of the volunteer members of the borough’s 12 community boards — and starting last year, he added a new question about housing to the boards’ application. Two years in, he said the effort is showing promise: 81% of 111 new members ranked housing as either their first or second priority.
There’s still a lot of work to do. Most community boards voted against the latest phase of the City of Yes plan, which includes business-related updates to the city’s 1961 zoning rules, in a public review that began last fall, showing staunch opposition to more mixing of residential and commercial activities. Among other changes, the rules would allow “clean” manufacturing in commercial districts, micro-distribution centers in storefronts and permit dancing in venues where music and standup comedy are already allowed.
The plan enjoys support from business improvement districts, chambers of commerce, and other industry groups like the New York City Hospitality Alliance and the Real Estate Board of New York.
Despite the intransigence of community boards, which wield influence over lawmakers but ultimately do not have legislative power, the City Council is expected to approve most elements of the plan to loosen zoning rules that discourage business growth, with a few exceptions to pacify outer-borough lawmakers. The fight is likely to pale in comparison, though, to the battle later this year over proposed changes to zoning for housing.
That’s all the more reason for civic-minded New Yorkers who aren’t content to freeze in place a 1960s vision of the city to step up and serve on community boards.
Join Crain’s on June 5 for a live interview with all five borough presidents about the biggest issues facing the city. Get your ticket here.
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The Editors , 2024-05-28 12:03:03
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