Restler on community impact and acknowledgments — Speaker, chairs, and land use team
Restler thanks Speaker Menon, Chair Lewis, Land Use Chair Riley, and the Council Land Use Team for their support through the difficult negotiation.
And I also want to thank the Monitor Museum for partnering with the applicant to make this happen.
And this project will yield a new 18,000 square foot museum.
And I want to thank George and Janet for helping in that regard as well.
But look, most importantly to me, in a neighborhood where we have seen rents skyrocket, where we've lost 15,000 Latino residents in the last
15 years, where we've seen rents increase by 60% in just the last six years, this development will finally add desperately needed affordable housing that our community can actually afford.
And it will help some of our most vulnerable neighbors access housing as our city suffers from a historic affordability crisis.
I know that many of my neighbors will be disappointed in this outcome.
But I believe this is ultimately a positive project for our community, and that's why I'm supporting it.
This was far and away the hardest negotiation I've had to be a part of in my five years in the council, and I just want to say a handful of thank yous.
First and foremost to Speaker Menon.
She had my back every single step of the way on this project.
We discussed what I could support.
She said she agreed with me and then supported me, and her and her team were phenomenal.
We would not have gotten to this outcome without her help.
I really want to thank the chair of this committee, Chair Lewis, for leading a great hearing and for her support, and especially want to thank the land use chair, Kevin Riley, for coming out with me to tour Monitor Point, to see the site, to understand why this was so important to me, and for helping us get to the right place.
I know his commitment to affordable housing is deep, and I know he wanted us to get here, and I'm thankful for his help in getting us there.
The Council Land Use Team was superb.
Ann, Lena, Omar were all deeply involved and did a terrific job, and I especially want to thank Brian Paul and William Vidal, who just offered exceptional advice and counsel at all hours of the day and night over a very long period of time to help us get here.