Dem councilwoman rips Mamdanis affordable-housing fast-track plan: He doesnt know anything

Dem City Councilwoman Gale Brewer blasted Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday for not knowing “anything’’ about housing, as she and other pols weighed his nominees for the powerful local Planning Commission.“This is a fine mayor, but he doesn’t know anything about housing or development.He knows other things,” the Upper West Side rep said at the council session where Hizzoner’s five picks were pressed on whether they’d stand up to his affordable-housing policies.The city Planning Commission will get final say over affordable-housing rezonings in the 12 neighborhoods built with the least amount of it, after a November 2025 ballot measure stripped the City Council of its voting power in the approval process starting Jan.

1.The city’s typical seven-month rezoning review process for affordable-housing projects in the 12 neighborhoods also will be shortened to a 90 days as part of the new laws.Brewer, whose district is among the 12 targeted neighborhoods, has raged against both changes.“I’ve done about over 200 [proposed-rezoning reviews], and I have to say that in my experience, the City Council’s role is incredibly important,” the pol said Monday.“I was able to get a whole park, a new school, and I could go on and on,” she said.Anthony Crowell, one of two commission re-appointments proposed by the mayor, said he would continue to be independent under Mamdani.“I’ve always been given the space to do my independent analysis and to come down based on the totality of what I’ve seen.… And I will continue to do that,” the former Mayor Eric Adams-era nominee said.Mamdani named the Upper West Side as one of the 12 targeted neighborhoods in October — all part of his larger push to build 200,000 new affordable homes in the next decade.Brewer said she was “pissed” that her area made the list and would “love to go to court about it,” reiterating her previous threats to sue over “untenable requirements” placed on her district.The co...