CITY OF YES/ CHARTER BALLOT QUESTIONS LEGAL APPEALS – NEW CHALLENGE GRANT $10,000 MATCH IS CLOSE!5/29/2026
Once again, I would like to thank all of the civic and homeowner associations as well as individuals who donated to our new $10,000 challenge grant. We are more than 75% to our goal. If we are successful, we will only have about $10,000 more to raise until we are up to date on paying for all of our incurred costs!
As many of you know, as of Monday April 13, the Charter Ballot Question Appeal was filed, with a court date most likely happening in September. On Monday May 11, the City of Yes Appeal was filed as well and our court date should happen in December. If we are successful with the Charter appeal, it will vacate the decision made by Judge Jeffrey Pearlman, who erroneously (and I believe purposefully so) categorized the Charter Ballot Question lawsuit as ELECTION law, not ENVIRONMENTAL law under the jurisdiction of SEQRA, which it so clearly is. If we are successful with the City of Yes appeal, it will reverse or mitigate the rules that are already causing chaos across the city. Let’s face it: the City of Yes has NOTHING TO DO WITH CREATING AFFORDABLE HOUSING. This was a plan by developers for developers to deregulate our entire system of zoning for one benefit: so that they can make more money. Our city’s population continues to decline – as does the population across the country, which most Americans are unaware of – so the question remains: who is this market rate and luxury housing being built for? Again, I want to personally thank all of the organizations and individuals that have already contributed to the appeals actions funding. If you haven’t donated, please do so this week. The GoFundMe link is active and you can always send a check to the Queens Civic Congress. Send checks to: Queens Civic Congress P.O. Box 604957 Bayside, NY 11360 Indicate "City of Yes Legal Fund/Appeals" on memo line We NEED your fundraising help to pay off legal expenses. Note: These donations are not tax deductible.  As we predicted, the Airbnb bill has been resurrected by Mercedes Narcisse (the main sponsor). Now called Intro. 879 (previously Intro 1107 and Intro 948-A last year) and introduced on April 30, the bill will allow Airbnb to once again be used for short-term rentals, specifically and only in one and two-family homes. Each unit could rent out up to four rooms to different parties – and the owner would not have to be present! This would set the stage for real estate companies, hedge funds and other commercial players to start buying up one and two-family homes and turning them into full-service permanent Airbnb hotels – something that we believe would have disastrous results for our communities.
Now, Mercedes Narcisse (the prime sponsor), Kevin Riley, Selvena Brooks-Powers and Farah Louis (all co-sponsors) will continue to try to tie this to the upcoming World Cup event starting in June. Indeed, there has already been a push to create a “temporary exemption” carve out to the current rules to allow Airbnb short-term rentals in one and two-family homes; so far, this has gone nowhere, as even the most cynical elected officials understand that this would set the stage for full legalization in the future. As our communities across New York City and beyond have been under constant assault by our own government when it comes to land use issues, there are exactly four people who have been – and remain – responsible as the ringleaders: Governor Kathy Hochul; Mayor Zohran Mamdani; Former Mayor Eric Adams; and Former Council Speaker / now Lieutenant Governor candidate Adrienne Adams.
Let’s talk a little bit about Adrienne Adams. Adrienne Adams spent her entire career as Speaker working against her own communities in Jamaica, South Jamaica and South Ozone Park – and southeast Queens in general, not to mention the rest of the city. Her connections with developers, including those in “non-profit” health care, created the mess that we are in today. Adrienne Adams embraced more than 95% of the City of Yes agenda. In the end, besides some minor changes to 3,000 pages of zoning text and rebranding it (unsuccessfully, I would add) “City for All” she bought off enough Councilmembers who were wavering to pass it. And, as predicted, the $5 billion that was supposed to come with it to allay concerns of infrastructure and affordable housing…well, we just saw how that worked out with the massive flash flooding last week and a curious interview two days ago on Fox News where she stated that she “did not see this budget deficit coming” even though she was still the Speaker 5 months ago when the projections were already coming out. In other words: that money, which was so central to her pitch, isn’t coming anytime soon if ever. Last summer, our legal team spoke directly with the Speaker’s office and the attorneys for the City Council (who she effectively controlled). They REFUSED to sue Mayor Adams against the Charter Ballot Proposals. I was on the call, so I know this firsthand. Adrienne Adams had “other ideas” on how to fight the Charter Ballot Proposals: first, she threatened the New York City Board of Elections members with removal if they take the proposals off the ballot, which failed miserably; then she spent millions of dollars sending ineffective mailers telling people not to vote for the proposals – something that she had done in 2024 as well, which also failed miserably (almost all of those ballot questions passed as well). Adrienne Adams was also a big proponent of the Airbnb bills at the end of last year. She tried very hard to bring this to a vote in December, but too many Council Members were in complete opposition to the bill. Subsequently, it died with little fanfare and never made it out of Committee. I also heard from a number of Councilmembers – and union officials – over the years while she was Speaker that Adrienne Adams was extremely vengeful if you didn’t follow her agenda or do what she wanted, creating sprawling dysfunction in the City Council in general on a daily basis and giving Eric Adams essentially full control of the city on any given day. They “deeply regretted” supporting her as the “compromise” candidate in 2021. ADRIENNE ADAMS IS NOT FIT TO BE IN ANY ELECTED POSITION EVER AGAIN, MUCH LESS LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR. SHE ENABLED THE MOST CORRUPT MAYOR IN A CENTURY TO GET EXACTLY WHAT HE WANTED – AND PURPOSEFULLY DESTROYED OUR COMMUNITIES IN THE PROCESS. SHE IS IN LOCKSTEP WITH KATHY HOCHUL AS WELL AND WILL BRING THE SAME AGENDA ACROSS THE ENTIRE STATE IF ELECTED. Here's the link to Adrienne Adams being interviewed on FOX: - around 8:30 where she claims ignorance about the budget. It's worth watching the entire interview because of her arrogance and promotion of Hochul's agenda. Last week, Kathy Hochul had a big meeting with housing groups and developers where she once again started talking about passing new legislation to increase density around ALL train stations across New York State to allow for Transit-Oriented Development (TODs). As you know, TODs were made legal in New York City in all R3 through R5 zones within a ½ mile of a subway or commuter rail station within the city limits (R1 and R2 zones were carved out at the last minute – one of the few changes that the Council made before passing City of Yes in December of 2024).
If Hochul succeeds in pushing for this at a Statewide level, it will once again violate the New York State Constitution by imposing land use regulations on local municipalities against what is known as Home Rule. The continuous pandering to developers and the YIMBY lobby is clear and transparent. Hochul’s goal is to allow high-density development everywhere across the city and state.  As many of you already know, the State Budget continues to be late in historical fashion, for the fourth year in a row. The blame sits squarely on Governor Kathy Hochul and her continued attempts to legislate through omnibus budget bill. Like her previous attempt to destroy New York State with her housing madness AKA the “Housing Compact” – which we defeated Statewide only to have the City of Yes and Ballot Questions get passed in the City – she has not given up one bit.
In her latest salvo, the Governor has proposed to get rid of SEQRA specifically as it relates to housing under her “LET THEM BUILD” agenda. Remember, this is the very law that we are using to sue on both the City of Yes and Charter Ballot Question lawsuits! Following both former Mayor Adams, current Mayor Mamdani and former Speaker Adrienne Adams – who is now HOCHUL’S LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR PICK (!), Hochul has insisted that we MUST get rid of SEQRA for housing so that development can be unleashed across New York State. Former Mayor Adams had already passed “Green Fast Track” two years ago which takes away review for “small projects” – meaning *175* units or less (NOT A SMALL PROJECT!) in the city. Now the Governor wants to stop all environmental review for new housing developments of *500* units or less! In addition, she wants review to end for all non-residential development – meaning commercial or industrial – of 50,000 square feet or less. And, Mamdani wants to track all of this with CEQR – the City’s version of SEQRA – to continue to take away the ability of the residents and property owners of New York City to have the ability to challenge BAD DEVELOPMENT. AS OF LAST WEEK, THE STATE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY HAVE NOW ROLLED OVER. THAT’S RIGHT: NO CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE TO HOCHUL’S DESTRUCTION OF SEQRA. I have already spoken at length with our attorney, Jack Lester, about what Hochul and the State Legislature are doing. He is confident that they are VIOLATING THE STATE CONSTITUTION and the recently-enacted GREEN AMENDMENT that guarantees clean air, water and the environment for every New Yorker. A Statewide coalition is needed to challenge this beyond Save1FamilyNY and it needs to be put together NOW. Make sure you know the positions of everyone running for office, including GOVERNOR and LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, when it comes to this and other issues that you care about in both the Primary Elections coming up in June and the November ballot. Greetings, Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse than City of Yes, the Charter Commission released a report that threatens to upend every neighborhood in NYC, even if we prevail in our lawsuit. Back in December, four days after the City of Yes was passed with modifications by the City Council, the Mayor convened this Charter Revision Commission to craft ballot proposals that includes everything he wanted – and then some. You can read the full report here. Check out what they are considering putting up for a vote this year:
Language supporting Ballot Question #2: "In low-density districts (zoned R1 through R5), ELURP would be available only for zoning map changes to another low- density district, enabling modest multifamily housing with a standard height limit of not more than 45 feet and a maximum residential FAR of not more than 2.0" In a nutshell, this means apartment buildings will be allowed in current low-density zones - EVERYWHERE. For reference, 45 feet tall apartment buildings at a 2.0 FAR is the equivalent of an R5D zone. This would allow, for example, a four-story apartment building with six units and no parking replacing a typical one-family house on a 40’ x 100’ lot in an R2 zone. "In medium- and high-density areas (zoned R6 and above), ELURP would enable a type of gentle increase in density that ULURP effectively prohibits. Specifically, zoning map changes that result in an increase in standard residential capacity of 30% or less would be eligible for ELURP." This means that every current zone in this category would allow the height and density of the next highest zone - EVERYWHERE. Tall and dense buildings will become taller and denser.  Language supporting Ballot Question #3: "To strike a better balance between local, boroughwide, and citywide voices in the land use review process, this proposal would replace the mayoral veto with a new three-person body: an Appeals Board with representation from the Borough President of the affected borough, the Speaker, and the Mayor, or their designees. If two-thirds of the Appeals Board agrees, a City Council disapproval of a land use action, or individual modifications made by the Council, could be reversed." This basically brings back the old Board of Estimate - which was abolished in 1989 for being unconstitutional and brought about our current form of government - in a slightly different version and eliminates Councilmember deference, or the idea that if there’s a project or rezoning in a Councilmember’s district that constituents are opposed to and that Councilmember states opposition, the rest of the Council will respect that and vote against it. This would allow for this new “Appeals Board” to reverse the Council’s decision. In reality, a developer wouldn't have to care as much about pleasing and negotiating with the local Councilmember who reports directly to the affected constituents under this Appeals Board.  Language supporting Ballot Question #1: "The Affordable Housing Fast Track is a targeted effort to promote more equitable development of affordable housing while preserving the ordinary process of land use review in most of the city. Under this proposal, the Affordable Housing Fast Track would only come into play in the 12 community districts that permit the least affordable housing — that is, the bottom fifth of all districts. By design, this proposal would affect only outlier districts: the few that produce the lowest affordable housing.” This will mean that there will be increased targeted development steered to 20% of Community Boards on top of all of the regular development that we will see over that time. This is an idea that was part of Corey Johnson’s Planning Together abomination that we killed in early 2022. It was a terrible idea then and remains one today. This directly targets most of the outer boroughs, especially those considered transit deserts. ---- Folks – this Mayor remains laser-focused on destroying our neighborhoods to help “his developers” as he has called them repeatedly. And, just for your edification, at a Town Hall meeting last week, he was asked directly about the Charter Revision Commission by no other than Chair of Community Board 11, Paul DiBenedetto. You can watch the exchange for yourself here.  Paul DiBenedetto: “Exactly 4 days after the vote for City of Yes, you convened the City Charter Commission to take away the recommendation-only, non-binding power of Community Boards, through their all-important participation in the ULURP process, which stands for Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. If you want to do a zoning change or you want to do the City of Yes, which is a zoning change, it’s got to go Community Board first – so we can all hear it, the public hears it – then it goes to the Borough President, City Planning Commission and then it goes to City Council. And you appointed the head of the City Planning Commission, so City of Yes is yours. But most importantly, the City Charter Commission that you called for also looks to take away Councilmember deference on local land issues – and tell me if I’m wrong: Community Boards are a city agency filled with civic members from the local community who know their neighborhoods better than anyone else. Local Councilmembers are elected by that same community and, again, know their community best. Why would you want to reduce the democratic representation that the people in this room gathered tonight have relied upon to protect our homes, businesses and quality of life since the 1970s?”
Eric Adams: “It’s so important that the Charter Commission…I don’t give them their directives. They meet. They hold hearings, like the Community Boards when they do. They hear what comes from the body of the people and their recommendations. Then they put it to a vote. So, it’s not what Eric wants – it goes to a vote, and then the people of this city would vote on the Charter Commission ballot amendments. Based on what the people of this city, the majority votes – it’s not three-fourths, one-fourth – it’s the majority of the people, they will make the determination. If what those experts and other community residents determine to be these changes. That’s going to be solely up to the people of the city if they want them or they don’t want them. Paul DiBenedetto: “But were you involved in putting that together? And, is this something that you believe in too? Do you think that Community Boards should not be involved in ULURP and do you think that Councilmembers should not have deference, local deference?” Eric Adams: “I believe in whatever the people of their community vote on. That’s what I believe. You know, I’m not going to walk into a pre-determined decision if the people of this community and other communities, they’re all on Community Boards. If they believe that Councilmembers should have local deference, they believe that Community Boards should be part of the ULURP process, they’re going to vote and whatever way that vote goes, I’m going to follow the law.” Mayor Adams is acting like an innocent bystander in what may become one of the most egregious power grabs in the history of New York City. Charter Revision Commissions are created and empowered to push the agenda of those that create it, whether it is the Mayor or the City Council. The rogue’s gallery that makes up this particular Charter Revision Commission is stacked with many of the same people and groups that were directly behind the original City of Yes before the City Council modifications (which are still awful and why we are going to court on July 16th). This commission is Eric Adams incarnate. He is not incidental; he is its progenitor. Make no mistake: Eric Adams has been and continues to be directly responsible for the dismemberment and destruction of our city for the sole benefit of “his developers” – and himself. If you can attend the hearing tomorrow (Monday, July 7) in person or by Zoom, please sign up here. If you can’t attend, please write testimony in opposition and email it here before July 15th. Also, contact your Councilmember. My guess is that they are not amused by this plan to take away a huge amount of their power and influence. Step up your game, Council- members; if you don’t, you only have yourself to blame.
 All - This is it. The City of Yes for Housing Opportunity City Council hearing is less than two weeks away. We must stop this disastrous proposal from becoming law in any way shape or form. Our coalition – made up of civic, homeowner, cooperative, tenant associations and umbrella organizations – throughout the city has a new name: S. T. O. P. the City of Yes. STOP THIS OVERDEVELOPMENT PLAN – Say NO to the City of Yes! From October 15th through the 22nd, we will be having a series of meetings, events, rallies & press conferences and ending with testimony at the City Council. Here’s the calendar: Tuesday, October 15th, 2024, 7:30pm: Queens Civic Congress Zoom meeting/City of Yes strategy session. All civics across the city are invited to attend – link at the bottom of this email: Wednesday, October 16th, 2024, 11am: WBAI (99.5 FM) show Living For the City with host Michael G. Haskins will interview Paul Graziano on the dangers to our communities of Mayor Adams’s City of Yes for Housing Opportunity if adopted. Wednesday, October 16th, 2024, 4pm: Brooklyn Rally and Press Conference – 3000 Fillmore Street at Marine Park Thursday, October 17th, 2024, 3pm: Bronx Rally and Press Conference – 778 Castle Hill Avenue in front of CM Farias’s District Office Thursday, October 17th, 2024, 5pm: Queens Rally and Press Conference – Southern Field at North Conduit Avenue & 115th Street Saturday, October 19th, 2024, 12pm: Staten Island Rally and Press Conference – Hylan Blvd & Tysens Lane in front of Bank of America Monday, October 21st, 2024, 1pm: Rally and Press Conference at the south end of City Hall Park Tuesday, October 22nd, 2024, 9:30am Start Time: Testify at City Council Hearing on the City of Yes! Those testifying in person will go first; those testifying by Zoom or phone will start testifying at 1pm at the earliest As I’ve said before – let’s kill this thing. Hope to see you all over the next 10 days! Best, Paul Save1familyny.org Queens Civic Congress Zoom meeting links: Topic: QCC General Meeting Time: Oct 15, 2024 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84858258357?pwd=H5bLrF7Hu9Ox0BjOFEE8sOlA3Hrcnp.1 Meeting ID: 848 5825 8357 Passcode: 771500 One tap mobile +16469313860,,84858258357#,,,,*771500# US +16468769923,,84858258357#,,,,*771500# US (New York) Dial by your location • +1 646 931 3860 US • +1 646 876 9923 US (New York) Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kc1DdaSFEa    
City of Yes is a plan BY developers and FOR developers. That sums it up. Let's kill this thing.
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