THE BALLOT PROPOSALS AND COMMUNITY CONTROL

The December 12th Movement asks voters to vote NO to ballot proposals 2-6 in next Tuesday’s election. Our organization grew out of and is rooted in the concept of community control. Ballot Proposals 2-6 are misleadingly promoted under the guise of streamlining the provision of Affordable Housing while, in fact, they undermine the body which is most capable of assuring affordable housing, i.e. the City Council.

The issue facing New York City’s residents is not “affordable housing” but “affordable housing for whom.” City Council members are best situated to know the demographics of their community and to ensure that the local, real AMI is the determinant of “affordability” for their community. And while most New York City residents don’t get to meet with their Borough President or City Mayor, they all have access to their City Council members.

A “Yes” vote for proposals 2-6 will unleash a Wild West burst of building even more unaffordable housing, mind-boggling profiteering by developers and the forced removal, the “ethnic cleansing” of Black people, as well as other people of color from New York City. New York City does not lack housing. It lacks housing that its current and non-billionaire future residents can afford. A “Yes” vote is a vote to destroy the demographic diversity of New York City, its culture and its fire.

Vote NO to Ballot Proposals 2-6