WEBVTT - NYC Comptroller Mark Levine Talks Affordability

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>The city's relationship with its wealthiest residents' most profitable corporations

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<v Speaker 2>also has to change so that we can bring this

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<v Speaker 2>city back to firm financial footing. You know, as the mayor,

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<v Speaker 2>I am legally required to balance the budget of this

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<v Speaker 2>fiscal year and the next. That is something we are

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<v Speaker 2>fully going to do. In order to do so, we

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<v Speaker 2>have to deal with these structural problems.

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<v Speaker 3>That was New York City Marizona and mom Donnie speaking

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<v Speaker 3>with Bloomberg just a few weeks ago, warning of the

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<v Speaker 3>city's twelve point six billion dollar budget gap over the

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<v Speaker 3>next two years. Mark Levin he is New York City Control,

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<v Speaker 3>where he joins us now on set to discuss market's.

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<v Speaker 1>Great to see you, Great to see both of you.

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you.

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<v Speaker 3>So let's start exactly there, the budget gap. I mean,

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<v Speaker 3>when you take a look at how that possibly could

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<v Speaker 3>be fixed, is there any hope of fixing that from

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<v Speaker 3>the revenue side or is it going to be cutting costs?

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<v Speaker 1>You know, our revenues are pretty good right now, partly

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<v Speaker 1>because the finance industry is doing so well, but more

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<v Speaker 1>than that, commercial real estate's doing the best it's been

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<v Speaker 1>for twenty years. The problem is that we have some

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<v Speaker 1>expenses that are growing very fast that have not been

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<v Speaker 1>accounted for in the budget. And when we took a

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<v Speaker 1>look at the books, what we've seen is a very

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<v Speaker 1>big gap, which is something we haven't seen in New

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<v Speaker 1>York City since at this scale, since the financial crisis.

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<v Speaker 1>How are we going to solve it? It's going to

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<v Speaker 1>require help on many fronts. We're going to definitely need

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<v Speaker 1>to find efficiencies within the city government. We're going to

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<v Speaker 1>need some help from Albany. I hope I'll be going

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<v Speaker 1>there Wednesday to plead that case. I think we can

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<v Speaker 1>get through this, But this is beyond what we have

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<v Speaker 1>seen in a budget cycle in probably fifteen years.

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<v Speaker 3>Let's talk about what you're seeing when it comes to

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<v Speaker 3>cost because taking a look at some of them, it

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<v Speaker 3>seems like there's sources that are constantly under budget, and

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<v Speaker 3>if you want to call it that, over time for

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<v Speaker 3>uniform officers for example, comes to mind. But where are

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<v Speaker 3>you seeing the biggest growth when it comes to that

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<v Speaker 3>side of the ledger?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so that we have an equivalent of a Section

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<v Speaker 1>eight housing voucher in New York City. It's got a

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<v Speaker 1>weird acronym. It's called City Steps. We're one of the

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<v Speaker 1>only places in the country that has a local version

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<v Speaker 1>of this great program. Guys, is growing by four percent

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<v Speaker 1>a month, and I think your audience understands exponentials, and

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<v Speaker 1>so it's doubling every eighteen months, and we projected it'll

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<v Speaker 1>be over three billion dollars next year.

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<v Speaker 4>Butiam, I'm back up. Section eight to me means something

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<v Speaker 4>different than I'm sure what you're talking about, because I

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<v Speaker 4>think of mash and corporal Clinger. Right, you're talking about

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<v Speaker 4>housing value, money that we pay people to afford to

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<v Speaker 4>be able to live here.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, this is a voucher you can use to rent

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<v Speaker 1>housing in a private building, right, so not public housing.

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<v Speaker 1>You can go to a home you can find throughout

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<v Speaker 1>New York City. Section eights a limited supply from the

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<v Speaker 1>federal government. We have a local version. Great program. It's

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<v Speaker 1>growing out an astounding pace.

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<v Speaker 4>What we just give we give out more and more.

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<v Speaker 1>You're saying, yes, we've expanded the qualifications. It's designed for

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<v Speaker 1>people who are in homeless shelters or in danger of homelessness,

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<v Speaker 1>to help them get out of the shelter.

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<v Speaker 4>Who wants them to get out of New York City.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, why have.

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<v Speaker 4>In the most expensive city in America? Why are we

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<v Speaker 4>putting people up here? Why not move them to places

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<v Speaker 4>that are cheaper to live.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, we want them to be New Yorkers. This is

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<v Speaker 1>part of our city, in our community, and they have

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<v Speaker 1>family ties here and more. And we can do this,

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<v Speaker 1>but we're not budgeting for it, and it's blown a

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<v Speaker 1>hole in our budget. That is billions of dollars. Raining

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<v Speaker 1>in or updating programs like that is going to be

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<v Speaker 1>key to getting out of this hole.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, you mentioned, for example, the performance of Wall Street.

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<v Speaker 3>You think about how well Wall Street did, how well

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<v Speaker 3>the stock market did over the past year. Would you

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<v Speaker 3>expect that to shrink the deficit when we get those

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<v Speaker 3>updated numbers. Are some of the costs that you're talking

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<v Speaker 3>about that are growing exponentially going to just have that

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<v Speaker 3>come out in the wall?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think it was. New York City's economy on

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<v Speaker 1>the whole is doing very well. Also, real estate taxes

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<v Speaker 1>are producing more revenue than we expected, sales tax again,

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<v Speaker 1>personal income tax, and we do expect to further revise

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<v Speaker 1>those numbers because the bonus season we had. One Wall

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<v Speaker 1>Street person told me it's the second best they've seen

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<v Speaker 1>in their entire career this year for December of twenty

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<v Speaker 1>twenty five. But even factoring that in, we're going to

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<v Speaker 1>be left with a whole And so while we want

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<v Speaker 1>to keep the economy going, we want to grow New

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<v Speaker 1>York City's economy. That is the ultimate solution to our

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<v Speaker 1>budget problems, and I'm going to be a voice for

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<v Speaker 1>that as comptroller. We have a complete freeze on hiring

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<v Speaker 1>in New York and the private sector in New York.

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<v Speaker 1>In New York City, with the exception of home healthcare AIDS,

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<v Speaker 1>it's all come to a screeching halt over the past year.

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<v Speaker 1>We've got to get that going as well. So I'm

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<v Speaker 1>going to be a voice for getting jobs growing again.

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<v Speaker 1>Because it's going to drive tax revenue. That won't be enough.

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<v Speaker 1>We're also going to have to have some efficiencies in

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<v Speaker 1>government and a little helpful almoney.

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<v Speaker 3>There is the line of thinking out there that mayor

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<v Speaker 3>Mom Donnie might be exaggering the scope of the budget

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<v Speaker 3>problems to really make his case for tax hike, which

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<v Speaker 3>is popular which his base of supporters, and then very

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<v Speaker 3>unpopular with people outside his base. I mean, what do

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<v Speaker 3>you make of some of.

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<v Speaker 1>That we have a real gap, and I'd rather have

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<v Speaker 1>a mayor who embraces it so we can fix it

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<v Speaker 1>then a mayor who just tries to keep kicking the

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<v Speaker 1>can down the road. So I think this is good news. Look,

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<v Speaker 1>I think that we've got to get our fiscal house

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<v Speaker 1>in order. I do think we need more help from Albany.

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<v Speaker 1>Everything needs to be on the table. I would think

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<v Speaker 1>potentially including tax increases, but you hear me talking about

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<v Speaker 1>some other priorities. This is what I'm pushing for. I

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<v Speaker 1>think this is solvable. This is I don't use the

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<v Speaker 1>word crisis. I think this is a challenge that we

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<v Speaker 1>can solve with smart policy.

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<v Speaker 4>I just wonder, you know, even if you agree that

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<v Speaker 4>you know, pre K should be free and in a

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<v Speaker 4>good wealthy society, it probably should be. Even if you

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<v Speaker 4>agree that local transportation should be free, which is I

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<v Speaker 4>guess a nice to have, even if you want to

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<v Speaker 4>continue to pass out and ever growing at four percent

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<v Speaker 4>a month amount of housing vouchers for people to live here,

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<v Speaker 4>isn't it when you're in a budget deficit like this time,

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<v Speaker 4>to stop just giving away so much money.

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<v Speaker 1>Look, we are definitely going to need a little more

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<v Speaker 1>discipline in New York City's budget. You've heard me talk

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<v Speaker 1>about one of the programs, and there's many others. That

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't mean we can't do bold things. And in the

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<v Speaker 1>case of childcare, I really do think New York City

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<v Speaker 1>needs I think every place should have it. The Governor

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<v Speaker 1>put about a billion on the table to help us

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<v Speaker 1>start on that, and we can begin to phase in

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<v Speaker 1>a program like that. It's going to take several years

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<v Speaker 1>just building it out logistically, but this is going to

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<v Speaker 1>be a tougher budget, and I think we can confront

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<v Speaker 1>that still try to be creative on addressing affordability and more. Look,

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<v Speaker 1>some of what we need to do is not about

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<v Speaker 1>the budget. We got to build more housing. We need

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<v Speaker 1>a half million more units in New York City. That's

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<v Speaker 1>going to require, in part, unleashing private sector development as well.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not only about what the public sector can do.

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<v Speaker 4>We need a partnership and we also need probably better

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<v Speaker 4>transportation from outside in so that we don't build all

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<v Speaker 4>that housing on this tiny island right there is just

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<v Speaker 4>and has been a core case about building this new

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<v Speaker 4>tunnel project. Have you thought about just naming Penn Station

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<v Speaker 4>or the Empire State Building after President Trump and trying

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<v Speaker 4>to get money like that.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna be honest, I would take that trade because

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<v Speaker 1>we desperately need to invest in this infrastructure, and we

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<v Speaker 1>could also rename it after this guy's out of office,

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<v Speaker 1>whatever it takes. We need regional transportation infrastructure, and every

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<v Speaker 1>single commuter train stop should have residential density around it.

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<v Speaker 1>That would also help alleviate the housing affordability crisis within

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<v Speaker 1>the five brols of New York City.