[Directions for using this template: Everything in brackets and bolded, like this, is a blank you can fill in, or text you can delete. Contact or (718) 316-6092 to work on it together. Use the parts you like, ignore the rest, and innovate as you see fit!]

Testimony for [date of hearing] Public Hearing on Disposition of Public Lots

[Your contact information]

My name is [NAME]. I live/work [ADDRESS, NEIGHBORHOOD, BOROUGH].

I am here to give testimony about the transfer of City land facilitated by HPD to a private developer. I am directing my testimony particularly at the disposition of [address of lot or lots, cross street] ([Borough block lot number/s]). [Describe your relationship to lots in more detail. For example, you can say something like “I live across the street from these city-owned lots my whole life and have seen them abandoned by NYC, until now; these lots were part of the X Urban Renewal Area Plan, where the city planned to create open space but instead abandoned them for 20 years,” or whatever the truth of your particular situation is.]

[Then, you can talk about any of the following things, or less, or more:]

I think the land could be better used either as a community garden or open space. With a group of neighbors, we have been planning for [what are some milestones of your advocacy like how many signatures collected or did you get approval from the community board? What has been your group’s vision and mission for the lots?]

Or, if the land is going to become housing, and the City is going to give free land to a developer for that purpose, that housing should be (1) permanently affordable, (2) affordable to the people who live here now and (3) serving as many people as possible.

For (1), the City could require the use of a community land trust or some other mechanism for permanent affordability standards. Instead, the proposed program will allow the buildings to become market rate after [see onedollarlots.org for affordability limits]. Then they will be able to be sold or rented for any amount.

For (2), if there is going to be housing built here, it should be for people who live here now, whose incomes are the same as the average in the area. The median household income for the community district is [insert from onedollarlots.org]. Units for rent and ownership built here will be marketed to people who make between [insert range from onedollarlots.org].That isn't affordable to people in the neighborhood.

For (3), this land is zoned [insert zoning information from ZOLA]. This would allow [how many housing units would that zoning allow]. Instead, the developer is proposing building [how many units they have proposed.] This is not maximizing meeting as many NYers needs for housing as possible with our public resources.

Finally, the process that led to this proposed land give away has not been transparent or accessible to the public. The proposed buildings neatly fit the City Charter’s exception for the City being able to give these publicly owned lots away without following the City’s mandatory Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). ULURP ensures notice to local community boards, hearings in the impacted area and in the borough, as well as City Council. The abridged process the Administration has designed this project to qualify for has not included any such hearings or required such approvals.

Further, there has never been any public review of this program within the housing plan; particularly, the income levels for which housing through the program is marketed warrants public scrutiny of its impact on the neighborhoods where such housing is. Of course, all New Yorkers need housing, but when the City provides free land to house people who make much more money than those who live in the neighborhoods where that land is located, it appears to be City-sponsored gentrification. We can do better.