The City Council and Mayor Adams have had disputes that have seen veto overrides on housing vouchers, solitary confinement and police stops. They have argued over the Council’s desire for more confirmation authority and his nominee for corporation counsel. And they have split on the Charter Revision Commission proposals. But however heated these disagreements seem, in the long run they are minor. What matters far more significantly and is of historical importance, are the plans before Council’s 51 members today: The most consequential rezoning of New York City in more than half a century, all focusing on producing more housing for a growing city. Lawmakers don’t have to like the name, City of Yes, but they have to advance the proposals into law. Only twice before has the city’s zoning rules had such major changes. The first was on July 25, 1916, when the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, pushed by President of the Board of Aldermen George McAneny, adopted the first zoning of any city in the country, based on the report of the Heights of Buildings Commission. We don’t know if McAneny was at odds with his fellow board members: the mayor, comptroller and five borough presidents. We do know that the zoning was adopted. It was four decades later, when a change was needed. The name shortened Board of Estimate voted in a new zoning resolution on Dec. 15, 1960, led this time by Mayor Robert Wagner. Again, any squabbles among the personalities on the Board of Estimate are lost to history. The Board of Estimate is gone, unanimously declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1989 and those powers are now held by the Council. Speaker Adrienne Adams and her 50 colleagues, mostly Democrats and a handful of Republicans, have the future of the city in their hands. Under a very unhelpful Council tradition, they each hold a local veto, fancily called “member deference,” to block individual development projects in their district. But this is far more important. While some Community Boards said no to the zoning plan, the duty of these responsible elected officials is much more serious. New York City needs more housing. We desperately need more housing. We need more market rate housing and we need more subsidized affordable housing. We need more of every kind or housing like converting garages or attics or basements. We need housing produced by a new phenomena of converting unused office spaces and by an old solution of single room occupancy units. We need housing in every neighborhood, on a large scale where appropriate and on a smaller scale where fitting. Many on the Council have expressed desires for additional affordable units, which are understandable and which we share. But those units still need to be paid for. The Albany Legislature did a great disservice letting lapse the prior affordable housing program, 421-a. Two former councilmen, Dan Garodnick, chairman of the City Planning Commission, and Adolfo Carrion, commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, will be at today’s Council hearing presenting the plan, which was crafted by nonpartisan career experts in their agencies. The Council can modify the plan and make adjustments and amendments. But the goal of more housing, spread across the city, must remain the goal. We are confident that Speaker Adams and her members will rise to the occasion like their predecessors did in 1916 and 1960. Then, in 50 or 100 years from now, the people of New York will look back at 2024 and say “thank you.”