Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
"The mayor announced on Tuesday that the city would also invest $36 million in legal services for tenants in newly rezoned neighborhoods to help them fight landlord harassment."
"The mayor announced on Tuesday that the city would also invest $36 million in legal services for tenants in newly rezoned neighborhoods to help them fight landlord harassment."
Anyone else shocked by that?...
He is the poor people champion, I am surprise he doesn't just wire the money to Al Sharpton for legal defense of the people. Get all the haters in this forum railed up.
The key, like someone had mentioned earlier, is to let loose on what developers can build in most of Manhattan. It's because current zoning FAR's (how much space can be built) is too conservative in many areas of Manhattan that caused a domino effect (people priced out of Manhattan goes to Williamsburg, displacing people there. These people then have to go to another area a bit further away and displacing those people there and so on) throughout the rest of the city in terms of gentrification and skyrocketing housing costs.
Letting loose in a crazy way of what developers can build in Manhattan could overwhelm infrastructure like sewers and public transportation.
Also it's in the city's interest to do things the way they have done things, and ditto the developers. A lot of money is being made off gentrifying East River Brooklyn and East River Queens. The real estate industry, the banks, the state government, and the city government work closely on this and all have a stake in the way things are currently.
Job training would be a better focus for funds IMHO. Vocational training and job placement would produce much better long term results than more free/low cost housing.
Break the cycle of un/underemployment.
Letting loose in a crazy way of what developers can build in Manhattan could overwhelm infrastructure like sewers and public transportation.
Manhattan's current population is not even close to the capacity the infrastructure that was designed can handle. Leave the sewer worrying to those that are in charge of those things.
My point is that the city should up the zoning allowances in many areas of Manhattan and other parts of the city, where there are good transportation. It's ridiculous that you can only build ten stories a five minute walk from Penn Station.
Quote:
Also it's in the city's interest to do things the way they have done things, and ditto the developers. A lot of money is being made off gentrifying East River Brooklyn and East River Queens. The real estate industry, the banks, the state government, and the city government work closely on this and all have a stake in the way things are currently.
Obviously doing "things the way they have done things" isn't working or else they wouldn't be proposing this new housing and zoning plan now would they?
Job training would be a better focus for funds IMHO. Vocational training and job placement would produce much better long term results than more free/low cost housing.
Break the cycle of un/underemployment.
This.
Also better labor laws and more unionization could help.
Manhattan's current population is not even close to the capacity the infrastructure that was designed can handle. Leave the sewer worrying to those that are in charge of those things.
My point is that the city should up the zoning allowances in many areas of Manhattan and other parts of the city, where there are good transportation. It's ridiculous that you can only build ten stories a five minute walk from Penn Station.
Obviously doing "things the way they have done things" isn't working or else they wouldn't be proposing this new housing and zoning plan now would they?
Sure they would. It's de Blasio's campaign promise, and notice he is focusing on neighborhoods that have considerable underutilized real estate, or that are really poor. East Harlem has a lot of boarded up buildings and LIC has a lot of vacant industrial buildings (though it is rapidly developing, just look at the areas around Court Square and Queens Plaza).
In short de Blasio's plan preserves the status quo of these Manhattan neighborhoods that are powerful enough to block the development of any new high rises. Some of the nicer parts of Queens and Brooklyn can similarly block high rises. New ones get built mainly on empty lots, where vacant buildings or torn down or on former industrial sites. This isn't going to change no matter who the mayor is.
Community opposition towards developments they don't like is very powerful,and it's communities who have fought hard to put in restrictions towards new development. No mayor wants hold neighborhoods to come out against him and ditto the city council.
In fact, that's what I've been saying all along. Just like Bloomberg, he's choosing the path of least resistance, i.e. industrial areas where there are few residents to fight upzonings or poorer areas where residents aren't as affluent or as concerned with zoning matters.
But unfortunately, that does not address the need for more housing supply (than what is currently allowed) where the demand is greatest and that is most of Manhattan.
Also better labor laws and more unionization could help.
That's some crazy talk. This state and this city already is one of the most unionized in the country. In fact, many if the problems we are facing in this city is because we've gone overboard with these things. We've become so expensive that we are no longer competitive with many right-to-work states. Companies and jobs are leaving the state for cheaper pastures, particular states in the Southeast and people are going with them.
People also complain why the only things that are built are luxury condos. Well, guess why? With the cost of land (another problem we just discussed) and cost of union labor, as a developer you just about have to market all new housing developments as luxury just to get a return on your investment.
We need to move away from unions and become competitive again and be more like the southern states.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
