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Will be a long shot, but the office of public advocate needs to go.
It is nothing but another refuge for members of the political machines and or other elected officials to keep themselves in public office. More so since term limits were enacted which pushes council members out after two terms.
Case in point look at the short list of those seeking to take the James woman's place when she gets kicked upstairs to Albany in 2019:
Office of public advocate has no clearly defined duties, but does come with powers of investigation and gives the holder exposure to run their mouths. Something the James woman used to her advantage and look how well things turned out.
And the community boards. Let's not forget them. Unelected and useless.
CB's are nothing but a way for neighborhood NIMBYs to obstruct development. There is never a development that they like. If left up to them, nothing taller than 5 stories would ever get built.
NYC's zoning has been molded by community input. The restrictive zoning is what is causing gentrification all over the city. It's funny that Mr.Retired thinks that public opinion or lack of it is the reason for gentrification when in fact, it is the main contributor to it.
Ok. Im all ears.
I'll willing to take your subtle attempt at mockery. Never to old to learn.
Now explain to me your take on restrictive zoning and gentrification
You can start with the controversies surrounding ZQA and MIH and opposition if its not to difficult a subject to tackle.................................
Last edited by Mr.Retired; 11-13-2018 at 07:02 PM..
CB's are nothing but a way for neighborhood NIMBYs to obstruct development. There is never a development that they like. If left up to them, nothing taller than 5 stories would ever get built.
and what's wrong with that? I like sunshine. Most people do.
I know what it like being among a clump of cement towers where you have to time the suns rays to your watch
just to catch a glimpse of it for about 15 minutes a day otherwise its a continuous shadow on the street from sun up to sundown.................
Ok. Im all ears. Never to old to learn.
Explain to me your take on restrictive zoning and gentrification.................................
This will be long but if you say you are willing to listen, then I will try my best to put lay it out for you. When you put restrictions on the supply of housing, especially in desirable areas (like Manhattan) then the demand will be forced to go to other places.
Have you looked at the skyline of Manhattan? You have the peaks of Midtown and Downtown but a valley in between. That is a huge chunk of land right in the heart of Manhattan with all types of mass transit running through it but for the most part you can't build up too high. West Village, East Village, Meatpacking District, Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea, SoHo, Tribeca all with tight zoning and/or height limits, and all enacted within the past 20 years or so.
Manhattan is a desirable area so of course demand to live there is going to be high. If supply meets that demand, then prices will stabilize. When demand exceeds supply, prices rise, which is the case. Since the mid to late 90's, city living began to get popular again. Prior to that, people were abandoning the city (white flight and all that) Young people from the suburbs began to flock to cities. With surging demand to live in the city, instead of making room for the growth, NYC (due to community pressure and NIMBY groups) decided to do just the opposite and started downzoning and putting all kinds of restrictions, especially in the most desirable parts of Manhattan.
Think of the game musical chairs. There are more people than chairs. Someone will be forced out once the music stops. Now in the real world, housing units are like chairs. If you only have say 100 apartments but there are 101 people looking for apartments, then one person will be forced out. This person will then be forced to go elsewhere (like another nearby neighborhood) to look for an apartment. This person will then displace the person in that new area and that person will then be forced to go further out for an apartment and so on.
Multiply this scenario out many thousands of times repeatedly and you can see how displacement and thus gentrification works. It basically started out in Manhattan and just radiated out from there.
Last edited by antinimby; 11-13-2018 at 07:27 PM..
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