Remarks by Matt O’Malley
19 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 1
No questions, Madam Chair, just a comment. I wanted to thank the team for this work and just how important this is and what an inspiration Tina Cherry is. Tina, as many of you know, is Louis T. Brown's mother. Many of us can remember vividly when he lost his life. It struck with me. We were the same age. I think he was a couple months older than I was. And Tina has channeled, I think, that unimaginable loss and just made it such, helped countless lives in his honor and her son's honor. So it's wonderful to see this work continue nearly 40 years after the fact.
Thank you, Madam Chair. often easy in government to do nothing. It's seldom the right policy or the right thing to do, but it's typically easy. So I really appreciate this administration and this team that has engaged in a process where we're talking about change, we're talking about development. And I believe this is our third Squares and Streets project that we're voting on. It seems like the process gets better and better with each iteration. There have been some dramatic changes from St. Patrick's Day when the first map came out, and that's a direct feedback of good, engaged citizens and…
So, Madam Chair, if we were to vote no, then Chief Shen could not sign a letter, and what would happen to the restaurant?
Well, I will be voting yes. But perhaps this could be when the department is doing such a great job cleaning up some of the antiquated language and codes. Maybe this is worthy of a discussion going forward because it seems needlessly onerous. But I will happily support yes so that Chief Shen can sign off.
Thank you, Madam Chair, and Ruben, thank you. This is, as Chief Shen is always interested to know, this series of votes are my favorite things to vote on today. I'm an enthusiastic yes. And it's for one very, very simple reason. And that is this. The Venn diagram of economic growth and public benefits is a circle. They go hand in hand. And right now, we are facing unimaginable challenges. Every city is. We feel it. You've talked about the rising construction costs, high interest rates, other financing challenges, tariffs, uncertainty at the federal level. You're seeing projects that have,…
Thank you, Madam Chair. Did you say, it was unclear, did you say that you are looking at photovoltaics for the roof?
So part of the design is you have to sort of see if it's ready. I would just argue, I mean, it's a project that because of the sort of lower energy intensity compared to other projects, comparable buildings of that square footage, there could be an opportunity. It looked like in the overhead shots that there was a neighboring building that had photovoltaics. You could actually be flirting with net carbon negative, which is a standard that is quite impressive. So I would urge you to do more than exploring. And if you can make that work, you'll generate revenue. I mean, it seems to me it's a…
Thank you Madam Chair. I always knew that Pat Capogreco was an environmentalist, but I am particularly impressed with some of these milestones in the sustainability front. It's not always easy in the commercial and manufacturing industry to hit these things, so I think it's great. On-site solar, you know, I ask this question at most meetings and you beat me to the punch, so appreciate the work there. I also want to talk a little bit about the community process that you folks have clearly done. The incredibly talented BPDA staff provides all of us with these very exhaustive, you'll see us on…
Excuse me, Madam Chair, I'll be recusing myself from item number two.
Yeah, yes, Madam Chair. Thank you. So obviously, I have no issues extending the designation. Know this area well, it's right in the heart of Nubian Square. Things have changed, obviously, due to external factors. Can you talk a little bit about how the financing is coming along with this new iteration?
Thank you, Madam Chair. Not so much a question, but a comment, and then I'll preface it by saying that this Director Shen is my favorite vote. I will cast today. It's not a project. It is on this very, very important zoning amendment. It is my fervent hope that a year from now we vote on these projects as often as we do on residential conversions. This is so needed. Obviously, I don't need to tell folks watching the importance of permitting more solar and wind. but also transition lines in terms of delivering reliability and supporting electrification. I want to zero in on the battery…
Thank you, Madam Chair. Jeff, this is a great project. You can tell, obviously, the support that's gone in. It looks great. It's a great part of the neighborhood. Fully supported. Curious, and you may have said this, I'd just step out for a moment. Does the proximity to the wetlands provide any additional mitigation that has to be done on site?
No. Oh, no? Oh, sorry. Sorry. I must be on the wrong. Is it?
A couple, Madam Chair, first of all, congratulations. Looks like a great project. Love the design. I love the two-tone. I especially love that fifth bullet point under sustainability. So you are going to do rooftop PV array? Yes.
Okay, that is great. We see the bullets that say rooftop, you know, ready, which it has to be. So how many kilowatts or how many megawatts are you going to have?
Just to be clear, I mean, you wouldn't be able to cover the entire because of other needs, but even a significant amount, given that height, given the fact that there's not the same sort of tree canopy surrounding or other large buildings, you could probably have a pretty decent amount that could then, to my earlier point, help power some of the common areas and certainly reduce utility costs for
Great. Well, thank you for doing that. Again, it's proving that we ought not put sustainability and affordability in competition with one another. They should be serving on the same track, and that's precisely what you folks are doing. So well done.
Thank you Madam Chair. Obviously, I always appreciate adaptive reuse, especially in this building, which I know well. Given the height, has there been exploration about rooftop solar?
Yeah. Okay. Well, given the earlier text zoning amendment, which we passed, and we'll then go to the zoning commission, perhaps there's some opportunity for us to make you guys a test case with that going forward. So we appreciate the exploration and hope it pencils. Thank you.