City of Yes for Housing: Why a one-size-fits-all approach may not work for NYC boroughs

As we move into the second half of the summer, we can look both forward and back and find, you guessed it, tuxedos.

What did you think it was going to be?

Tuxedos are still go-to promwear — maybe even graduation wear — and, looking ahead to the fall wedding season, another wave of tux wearers have likely already been fitted for their vests and cummerbunds, assuming either of those is still a thing.

You RSVP’d, right? And you chose the chicken? Always the safest way to go.

Fit is going to be the operative word in this space this week because, as anyone who’s been fitted for a suit or tuxedo will tell you, sometimes it’s best to just go with separates.

Suit separates have enabled anyone of most any size or shape to end up looking squared-away and put-together for the affair of their obliga—er, choice, when even tailoring a standard-sized set won’t get the job entirely done.

So, sometimes, different sizes of the same things are better than one size fits all. Or even one.

With something as simple as a tuxedo in mind, it’s difficult not to wonder why Mayor Eric Adams’ City of Yes for Housing Opportunity appears to be a 44R for the entire Big Apple.

What if every area of every borough doesn’t need, or wouldn’t benefit from, “a little more housing” as the plan prescribes?

And what if the housing a neighborhood could use needs to actually be affordable, rather than the credulity-stretched version of that term seen in the City of Yes proposal?

At a recent public hearing soliciting feedback on the plan, several young Manhattanites applauded City of Yes for potentially doing away with the parking requirements for new construction. Undoubtedly concerned with environmental and congestion impacts, these folks see the elimination of parking requirements as a positive, as it’ll likely mean far fewer additional cars in Manhattan to go along with however many new units of housing City of Yes promises.

OK, but what about the Bronx?

Or Queens. Or Brooklyn?

Or, sure, even Staten Island. What about Staten Island?

As discussed in this space some weeks ago, there’s a continuing need for cars in the Bronx that Manhattan simply doesn’t have and is increasingly trying to mitigate. And that’s fine for them, but not everybody is a 44R.

In greater Riverdale, an end to the parking requirements for new construction would be catastrophic in areas in which the often-narrow streets are already premium places to park. If City of Yes for Housing Opportunity is enacted, developers won’t have to consider the added cost or space of a garage, nor will they need have any concern with making existing street parking an increasing scarcity.

Those conditions sound an awful lot like, dare it be said, separate situations suitable for different people.

And whereas Manhattan, which is already built on top of an entire other city — or parts of it — if you listen to subway historians, and is becoming ever more encrusted with buildings all the time, do we really expect, or want, developers to throw six or eight floors of luxury residential on top of the strip malls along Riverdale or Johnson avenues?

City of Yes says…not surprisingly, yes.

In this space, we try to speak mostly of the Bronx and, narrower still, mostly about the greater Riverdale neighborhoods, and they are certainly in the City of Yes crosshairs in a number of ways. As we saw and heard at that public hearing, what works for Manhattan won’t necessarily — and perhaps just doesn’t — work for the Bronx.

Or the other outliers, for that matter.

If we give Mayor Adams the benefit of the doubt for having his heart in the right place, his tape measure and chalk is certainly off. As currently construed, it does not appear City of Yes for Housing Opportunity will be a benefit to most of the places it’s meant to enhance.

And that’s because some of us need suit separates.

Like a lot of these clothing lines you see, City of Yes is good branding. With some additional thought, perhaps five Borough of Yes plans would actually be a good idea.