by Marcus Ramos
Yiatin Chu (far left), Michael O’Reilly (center left), Paul King (center right), Dwayne Moore (second from right), and Curtis Sliwa (far right) gather in Rosedale to voice their opposition for “City of Yes”. Photo by Marcus Ramos
As part of his congressional campaign, Paul King held a joint press conference in Rosedale, Queens, where he, alongside fellow public office candidates Michael O’ Reilly, Dwayne Moore, Yiatin Chu, and Curtis Sliwa voiced their opposition for Mayor Adams’ “City of Yes” housing plan. The event, which was attended by around 15-20 of the area’s local residents, brought to light concerns about the plan’s impact on the local community and the broader Queens borough.
Held at the intersection of 149th Avenue and Hook Creek Boulevard, the press conference drew local residents interested in understanding the potential consequences of “City of Yes.”
The “City of Yes” plan, established by the NYC Department of City Planning, is an effort to solve the current housing crisis through rezoning and policy reforms. The goal is to build approximately 108,850 new housing units over the next 15 years across the city, creating new rentals for New Yorkers while driving down rent prices. The plan includes measures to streamline the development process, encourage mixed-use developments, and increase the availability of affordable housing units across the city.
Members of the Adams administration have argued that implementing the plan would create more inclusive and sustainable neighborhoods.
“The diversity of our neighborhoods makes New York City remarkable, but without truly affordable housing in every corner, we risk losing families, working people, and our defining vibrancy,” New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr said at a press conference on April 29. “It’s time for bold action to ensure housing equity across all neighborhoods.”
Despite these assurances, the GOP candidates in attendance oppose the plan, citing concerns of the potential negative impact it could have on the community at large.
Local resident and mother of Dwayne Moore, Kangela Moore, expressed her opinion on “City of Yes” before the speeches began.
“I mean, they’re creating these little areas where you have high rise buildings and things of that nature,” Moore said. “And as you see, we’re like two family homes, one family homes, and that would be devastating in regards to the structure of the community. So I’m not in favor of it, and it needs to be voted down.”
The first to speak was candidate for New York State Senate District 10, Michael O’ Reilly, stating that the housing plan is a counterintuitive plan of action that will only add on to the existing problem instead of providing a solution.
“Now, let’s be clear, this whole ‘City of Yes’ notion came about when Mayor Adams realized that we have a housing shortage.” O’Reilly said. “On the other hand, he entices tens of thousands of people to come up and make our community their new home, tens of thousands of illegal aliens to come up here and make our community their new home. So we have his realization that we have a housing shortage, he’s inviting all these people up here.”
Following this speech was Dwayne Moore, New York State Assembly candidate for District 29. He criticized the plan for increasing neighborhood congestion and overburdening local infrastructure.
“Who would want our neighborhood to be more congested? If a house across the street was to get knocked down, they’d be able to build a 16-unit apartment with no parking mandate, with no studies done to improve the schools for the upgraded density that we’ll be having,” Moore said. “There’s no plan to improve the sewage, the flooding, but yet they’re trying to cram this down our throat. Why? What is the purpose behind this?”
Next to speak was Yiatin Chu, candidate for New York’s 11th Senate District. She argued that Adams’ efforts to alter New York’s suburban communities should be redirected towards strengthening support for the city’s infrastructure and essential services.
“We need major investments in sewer lines, electrical capacity, road work, schools and more,” Chu said. “With Albany’s new class size law, we cannot even accommodate kids in our local schools today. How will we support more families moving in? Over the weekend, the mayor and the city council agreed on a budget that’s $6 billion more than last year, yet there were no provisions for infrastructure or essential services like additional police precincts or fire stations.”
Afterwards, congressional candidate Paul King then took to the podium, expressing his discontent for “City of Yes”, painting it the antithesis to the American dream.
“Now, let’s face it, more than any other place in America, Queens, New York represents the American dream, whether your family’s been here for generations, or whether you’re first generation, or whether you’re legal immigrants.” King said. “The developers know when this comes down, if it gets passed, it’s going to be the Wild West. They could scoop up a property like mine, knock down my 100-year-old two-family house and put up eight, nine, 12 units in that same space, which will ruin quality of life for the neighbors. It’ll take my neighbor’s property values down and great, the developers can scoop them up too and make even more money . . . This YIMBY movement is an unholy alliance between activists who don’t believe in the American dream and developers who want to get rich destroying our American dream.”
Former mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa concluded the array of speeches with a call to action to fight against “City of Yes” to maintain the identity of New York.
“Manhattan is Manhattan, we don’t need Manhattan in the Bronx,” Sliwa argued. ”We don’t need Manhattan in Queens, in Brooklyn and Staten Island . . . I believe we improve, we don’t move. We fight the powers to be at City Hall. We fight the realtors. We fight the developers because they don’t give a damn about us. They give a damn about one thing, money, profit and screw you. We’ll give you money for your home and get the hell out of here too. So we either fight for where we grew up, our birthright, what our parents brought us here to do, and grandparents or we just pack up and move out to a place where you can have a home with a front yard and a backyard.”
