Like controversial rezoning proposals before it, the $2 billion Innovation QNS project could be scuttled by a relatively obscure City Council practice known as “member deference,” which allows the Council member representing the district in question to put the kibosh on a development merely by giving it the thumbs down.
Typically when that happens, the Council member’s colleagues also follow suit with a deferential “no” vote.
Innovation QNS would bring nearly 3,000 apartments and 2 acres of green space to Astoria if approved. The project is supported by Mayor Adams, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and several powerful labor unions. But Councilwoman Julie Won, who reps the district, has voiced opposition to the proposal, contending it offers up too little in the way of affordable housing.
However, Won (D-Astoria) has also offered mixed messages on where she stands on member deference, raising questions about whether it will be observed in this case.
In her 2021 Council run, Won said in a Queens Post candidate questionnaire that “I do not believe in member deference.”
Last month, she again waxed critical on the practice during the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development annual conference, saying that “we cannot have comprehensive planning as long as we continue to have a structure that puts the power within the individual Council member per district.”
“There’s no standardization of what that means of how they vote and how they act because their values are not aligned as a city,” she continued.
Despite those criticisms, Won more recently suggested on NY1 that she might be in favor of member deference in this particular instance.
“If we are being honest, we have to realize, is it member deference or are we going to have real estate deference in City Council? If there is no more member deference, my main question back to the city — the mayor as well as the [Council] speaker — would be, then who is the lead negotiator for land use items?” she said.
“If it’s not me, then who will it be?” she asked rhetorically. “Is it going to be a random person?”
Council insiders have said the conflicting language has muddied the debate and could be interpreted as a signal that member deference could be bypassed in the case of Innovation QNS.
“It’s been hard to tell what she is committed to beyond engaging in performative acts and the rhetoric of progressivism when she is disingenuously tying it to misinformation, which feels more like an effort to distract us than negotiate toward a solution for her district and affordable housing,” said a Council source who was not authorized to speak on the record. “The lack of consistency or substance in her position is confusing and disheartening when she has a major opportunity to deliver for those she claims to be prioritizing.”
One Council member described anger over Won’s resistance given the need for affordable housing and recent projections that the development in Queens would bring 1,100 new affordable units to the neighborhood.
“I don’t see how one member will prevent the creation of 1,100 affordable units, 500 of which are deeply affordable,” the Council member said. “I don’t see the Council as a whole being able to swallow that poison pill.”
Another Council member predicted that ultimately the Council would approve the project — even if Won does invoke member deference.
“I don’t think people really respect her view on this,” the member said. “I don’t think she’s going to get a lot of support.”
Jenna Laing, a Won spokeswoman, said that her boss’ “priority remains in ensuring that the production of luxury high-end development does not continue to outpace the production of affordable units in our city.”
“We must ensure that there is equitable distribution of development throughout our boroughs and our cities at large,” she continued. “But writing out the people who live there is not the answer.”
It’s rare that Council members bypass the practice of member deference, but it has happened in the recent past. Last year, the Council approved a land-use change on the Upper East Side over the objections of former Councilman Ben Kallos, who represented the district at the time.
Aside from her stances on member deference, that source and others alluded to her inconsistent positions on the nitty-gritty of the project as well.
In emails provided to the Daily News, the source pointed to one Oct. 13 missive in which Won claims that Innovation QNS is “not a union project,” claiming that unions would not be “paid their A-rate.” But the project has broad union support and would be paid the highest prevailing rate. In a subsequent email sent later that day, Won requests that the Council members and staff who received the first email disregard that portion of it.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards also suggested recently that Won was moving the “goal posts” too much in negotiations.
Publicly, Won has said the project should be 50% affordable, but she’s also said it must be 55% affordable apartments.
“This is just what’s public,” the Council source said. “In private, she is even more all over the place.”
