The “City of Yes” is the mayor’s proposal but the legacy it defines will be the City Council speaker’s.
Various provisions of the Adams administration’s City of Yes for Housing Opportunity are popular in some neighborhoods and despised in others. The end of parking minimums, for example.
That raises the question of whether the controversial proposal can be tailored to individual neighborhoods, either exempting them from provisions they don’t like or just watering down those measures. Technically, the answer is yes.
But carve-outs would violate the premise of the plan, which is that every part of the city must do its part to ease the housing crisis. Whether that democratic notion falls victim to politics will be decided by City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams.
The housing component of the City of Yes will be the defining element of her speakership and an immense test of her political skills. Will Adams negotiate individually with the other 50 Council members to customize the mayor’s proposal for each of their districts? That would be a tedious and fraught exercise, a nightmare for the city planners who craft the documents, and a repudiation of the plan’s principle.
It would also maximize the number of votes. Speakers want measures to pass with margins like 46-5 or 50-1. They don’t want to scrape together 26 votes and upset most of their members, especially those who vote yes and catch hell from their constituents.
The best outcome for Adams would be to get the vast majority of her chamber to vote yes without diluting the plan. The first Council speaker, Peter Vallone, could do that because members were more afraid of him than of their constituents. But the Council has eroded speakers’ power every time it has elected a new one. She can’t punish them the way her predecessors could.
What we’re thinking about: Gov. Kathy Hochul keeps dropping hints about reviving congestion pricing with a fee lower than $15. Will she announce such a plan, and when? Email me at eengquist@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: The acronym for the Coalition to End Apartment Warehousing spells out tenant activist Cea Weaver’s first name and first initial of her last name. A reader pointed that out — and surmised that it was evidence of ego, rather than a coincidence. Weaver, who is with Housing Justice for All, tweeted a cryptic answer here.
Elsewhere…
— MTA chief Janno Lieber on the Crowdstrike outage’s impact on subways Friday: “As old New Yorkers know, the trains are coming. They’re coming on regular schedules, and you can count on it. You just may not have the countdown clock available. Otherwise, the tolls are being collected. Bad news for some people, I know.”
— The state’s new law targeting deed theft took effect today. The crime has been hard to stop because it often involves conning people into signing documents that transfer ownership without the victim realizing it, or at least understanding its implications. So the physical evidence shows a legal transaction. Deed thieves will often quickly re-sell the home to an ostensibly unrelated third party who is in on the scam. This second buyer can claim to have bought the property in good faith.
The new law, championed by Attorney General Letitia James, can actually void good-faith purchaser protections when prosecutors file a legal action on properties where deed theft has taken place or is suspected. The filing acts as a “red flag” for banks and insurance companies. It also helps duped owners stave off eviction if they can show evidence of deed theft. Some might call that legalized squatting, but it has been effective for some. Google “964 Park Place The Real Deal” for an example.
Closing time
Residential: The priciest residential sale Friday was $17.23 million for a co-op unit at 993 Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side.
Commercial: The largest commercial sale of the day was $6.1 million for two adjacent apartment buildings at 151-153 West 133rd Street in Central Harlem.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $8 million for a 2,100-square-foot condominium at 117 East 29th Street in NoMad. Frans Preidel of Brown Harris Stevens has the listing. — Matthew Elo