CM Krishnan Q&A: Mangin on BSA's role in holistic planning for variances

Thank you very much for those questions.

I want to wholeheartedly agree that I see that false binary out there as well, that pits supply folks.

against tenant protection folks when, you know, I remember meeting with Dina Levy for Beers at China Chalet, you know, almost 10 years ago, talking about how these two things go together.

Right, exactly.

I've talked to her about that, too.

You know, Dina coming from the tenant protection side, me coming from the, you know, more from the supply side, and just seeing why are people...

Setting these up in opposition when they are so obviously complementary.

Exactly right.

That, of course, you need to have tenant-specific measures to prevent displacement.

This urgent issue that's happening today, while at the same time you work to address those longer-term underlying conditions.

I mean, a colleague of mine, who I think has also been a colleague of Councilmember Epstein's at Urban Justice Center, had a tweet that one time hit me like a lightning bolt, which was, there are no tenants'rights at 1.4% vacancy.

Now, that's an exaggeration.

Of course, there are tenants'rights.

We have to fight for them as hard as we can, regardless of what the broader situation is.

But it just makes it so much harder to do the type of work that you are doing.

Under conditions of extreme housing shortage as well.

So there's that.

There's that false binary.

And then there you asked about housing plus a broader view of what it takes in a community to make that housing appropriate from a land use perspective.

And you saw one poll, you know, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, you saw a neighborhood.

It was a strategy where let's put.

as much housing as we can in one place that has pretty significant consequences for a neighborhood.

And it has costs for individual folks who may have been there before.

It wasn't just an underutilized manufacturing zone.

It was also a place where people lived.

And I've seen just tremendous evolution on that front and that set of concerns over the last 10 years where we've moved from, you know, just putting a ton of new housing in one part of the city to

a broader approach that looks to create a lot of housing, yes, but over a much broader geography so that we can respect things like neighborhood, that we hear from neighborhoods about concerns about neighborhood character and rapid change,

so that we can monitor and ensure.

That the infrastructure in those places is ready for additional housing.

And so that, you know, if infrastructure needs to be augmented, if neighborhoods need investment, that that can come along with those actions as well.

And so I see City of Yes for Housing Opportunity almost as like the opposite pole.

Instead of a ton of housing in one place, a little bit of housing everywhere.

With the infrastructure improvements in order to support that over time.

So I, you know, you worked in a time and in a place that definitely looms really large in, I think, policymakers'minds in New York City.

And I think that we have learned from that.

And I appreciate your perspective on that.

I also appreciate you flagging that it's a false binary.

And I think, you know, that's a great way to put it, too, because I do feel that we as a city have to break out of that false binary.

I'm so glad we're talking much more about housing now.

And I think, you know, you and I, many others in the housing movement have been calling attention to these issues for so long.

But now we've reached the point where everyone agrees we have to address it.

And I think that sometimes the conversation, not only in the city, but really nationally, in abundance conversations, while all great, can lead us towards this false binary.

And I don't think that we can subscribe to that.

It's more complex and nuanced, and I think makes for better development to ultimately solve the crisis.

So I appreciate your view there and your sharing that perspective, too.

And so another question I have is, you know, how do you now, you know, were you to lead BSA as well, there's a class of decisions that will come to you.

You know, one example, right, you know, there are variances that will come in front of you, too, that

sort of sidestep the rezoning process, which can be lengthy, and no doubt I understand the sentiments of we have to make our processes more efficient and cut out a lot of the bureaucracy in there.

But, you know, there's a lot of value in those processes, too, that we have to preserve as well for better development.

If you have things that come in front of you at BSA, be it a variant decision,

That doesn't go through those standard planning processes.

How do you think about incorporating this view that we share about planning holistically, about not getting caught in the false binary?

How do you think about that in your role as BSA chair?

When you have decisions that come in front of you,

It could be a straightforward variance application, but I do believe there are ways in there to think more creatively about how we bring in these larger values that we share.

And I'm just wondering if you've given thought to how BSA could do more of that, since it is a separate process from what normally happens through rezonings or the land use processes.

Thank you for that question.

Yes, BSA does represent a dramatic shift away from big citywide planning initiatives towards a humbler but still crucial

role of making individual projects work for, yes, for the landowner, but also for the neighborhood and also in line with our values as a city.

And while it's received much less attention, I think one of the true joys of my time at City Planning has been, you know, the person that you can call who can address your problem.

And that includes, you know, calls from City Hall.

It includes calls from individual homeowners in, you know, low-density neighborhoods and parts of New York.

That I am some

somebody you can call and I will do my best to talk to the folks I need to talk to in order to answer your question or try to address that problem.

And, you know, I see BSA as a wonderful opportunity to be the person who can actually provide assistance, can provide help directly in those instances rather than trying to convince other people to go along with it.

And yes, I bring my values to the table as BSA chair.

You know, in many applications, those won't necessarily come to bear.

You know, again, it's a very legally constrained entity.

When others do, I'll...

Do my best to incorporate input from the community, from council members and others in order to reach a resolution that works for the applicant and for the community at large.