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?

UPDATE ON SEQRA/CEQR
In the last Juniper Berry I detailed a plan by Governor Hochul to eliminate 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 – to continue to take away the ability of the residents and property owners of New York to have the ability to challenge BAD DEVELOPMENT.

The State Senate and Assembly have caved regarding State Environmental Quality Review Act and passed rollback legislation in late May. On May 27, Governor Hochul proceeded to sign “SEQRA reform” into law. Once SEQRA goes, the City’s process known as CEQR, or City Environmental Quality Review, goes as well because Mayor Mamdani is also in favor of loosening the rules.

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 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.

UPDATE ON AIRBNB BILL
As we predicted, over at the City Council, the Airbnb bill has been resurrected by Council Member 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.

Along with Narcisse, Council Members 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.