Atlanta is making way for new public housing

ATLANTA — In 1936, Atlanta built Techwood Homes, the nation’s first housing project. By the 1990s, a greater percentage of the city’s residents were living in housing projects — sprawling red-brick barracks that pockmarked the skyline — than in any other city in America.

Now, Atlanta is nearing a very different record: becoming the first major city to knock them all down. By next June, officials here plan to demolish the city’s last remaining housing project, fulfilling a long and divisive campaign to reduce poverty by decentralizing it.

Coop fees go through the roof

CO-OPS across the city have raised their maintenance charges by as much as 15 percent in recent months, and one of the main causes is rising property taxes.

Board members and building managers say that while maintenance increases averaged only about 5 percent last year, many co-op buildings are now dealing with double-digit increases.

Reinventing America's Cities: The Time is Now

HE country has fallen on hard times, but those of us who love cities know we have been living in the dark ages for a while now. We know that turning things around will take more than just pouring money into shovel-ready projects, regardless of how they might boost the economy. Windmills won’t do it either. We long for a bold urban vision.

In Staten Island, Harnessing the Wind

STAND for a moment by the shores of Arthur Kill, on the southwestern coast of Staten Island, and look past the choppy waves at the fuel storage tanks of Sewaren, N.J.

Harnessing the Sun, with Help from Cities

PALM DESERT, Calif. — Rick Clark’s garage is loaded with fast toys for playing in the sun. He has a buggy for racing on sand dunes, two sleek power boats for pulling water skiers, and a new favorite: 48 solar panels that send his energy meter whirring backward.

NY Court deals landlords huge setback

This is such good news... I'm looking forward to seeing some major speculators declare bankruptcy in the next year or two......

Judges say Tishman Speyer must keep units rent regulated as long as they get tax breaks, derailing building owners' plans to deregulate units to pay off their mortgages.

Tishman Speyer Properties and other owners of rent-regulated buildings suffered an enormous blow Thursday when the Appellate Division of New York’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled buildings receiving certain tax benefits could not deregulate apartments.

Joining the Car Pool, in the Internet Age

ALMOST two years ago, Marc Alston began to look around for a way to share the 50-mile daily commute between his home in Wappingers Falls and his job in White Plains. He found the solution on the Internet through a Web site that allows commuters — or people who want to share a ride anywhere — to find others going their way.

Bike... Walk... Public Transportation... Carpool

The data table link in this article shows that 3.6% of NYC residents work from home as of 2005, ranking 20th among US cities. Given that 54.6% take public transportation to work, and 9.4% walk to work, 0.5% bike to work, this leaves 31.9% of NYC workers who take a car to work. Of these, it's not clear what percent car pool. I recall reading that it was about 8% (but the writer didn't say if this is the percent of all commuters or the percent of people who travel by car). So it's either 8% of all commuters or 25% of all commuters... a big difference.

Either way, there's room for improvement, and with the advent of more social networking sites, it is likely to keep growing.

New Yorkers are top transit users

It's no surprise that NYC tops the list of top transit using cities. 54.6% of NYC residents take public transportation to work every day. 4 out of the top 5 transit using cities are in the northeast corridor.

WHEN THE ROOF CAVES IN:

Leaders from the battalions of New York's foreclosure-fighters came together recently to talk about bad lending, good new laws, and the kind of bailout local folks would appreciate. > By Jarrett Murphy and Karen Loew

The recent collapse of some of the nation's largest financial institutions is understood as the crashing of a wave set in motion by years of poor lending practices, corrupt securities schemes and lax oversight. But for thousands of New Yorkers, the wave is still crashing – as they confront untenable mortgages, potential loan defaults, and even the loss of their dwellings. In 2007, there were 15,000 foreclosure filings citywide. And experts say that in New York City, the foreclosure crisis has not even crested.

How the crash will reshape America

Richard Florida's essay about the geography of our economic meltdown makes the case that the recovery, when it comes, will not be distributed evenly throughout the U.S. Some regions and cities are better positioned to rebound than others. Same may never recover because the core industries based in the rust belt, for example, cannot compete in the global economy and will be wiped out.

He sees the need for a more mobile, skilled, creative workforce, the kind that only flourishes in densely populated areas, "high metabolism areas", where thought leaders gravitate together. He also challenges the assumptions about the importance of home ownership, arguing that it traps people in places that don't always suit their skills and interests, such as during our current downturn. A stimulating read.

Quinn Urges Higher Taxes on High Incomes

Striking a populist tone, the City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, used her annual State of the City address on Thursday to call for an increase in the city’s personal income tax for households making more than $297,000 a year — a step that officials estimate could raise $1 billion a year but would probably face opposition from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and state lawmakers in Albany.

Stimulus Funds Offer Relief to City and State

New York State and New York City officials expressed a measured sense of relief on Thursday as they began totaling the vast sums of money for Medicaid, education, transportation and housing that could soon begin flowing here as part of the federal stimulus package.

Manhattan Borough Chief Pushes for Better Nutrition in City

Food and nutrition have been favorite issues for the Bloomberg administration. Now, adding to those efforts, Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, is proposing his own plan for residents to eat better.

NYC Middle Class Blues

New York City’s middle class has fled from the dense, overcrowded inner city before.
Back when Queens still consisted mostly of open farmland and saltwater marshes, they took the 5-cent IRT train and settled down in two-family houses like the ones being built in Forest Hills Gardens or Sunnyside Gardens in the first half of the last century. And when those filled up, they moved farther afield to the new tract home developments being built all over Long Island and eastern New Jersey.

What Does It Take to Be Middle Class?

(Feb. 7) - Enjoying a comfortable life in New York City comes with a much higher price tag than it does in any other American city -- In fact, Big Apple residents need to have salaries well into the six figures to even be considered "middle class," a new study finds.

The study released by the Center for an Urban Future compares the cost of living in Manhattan to other major cities -- and the results are staggering.

Taking into consideration expenses like rent, phone bills and commutes, New Yorkers need to pull down $123,000 in annual salaries to have the same standard of living as someone making $50,000 in Houston. The Big Apple may be the worst -- but the price of middle class living in other cities might surprise you.

Off Broadway Takes Center Stage

NYC & Company announced a new promotion to boost ticket sales at 30 off-Broadway productions throughout the city that includes various incentives.

One statistic stands out in this article: More than 25% of the once two hundred off-off-Broadway theaters have closed in the last five years, and theater executives estimated that another 25% will disappear within the next 16 months because of the economic crisis.

I hope City leaders are giving some thought to whether NYC can remain a cultural mecca if it loses more than half of it's Off Off Broadway heaters, which are afterall incubators of talent and new productions, some of which actually end up on Broadway.

Broadway Sets Stage for a Comeback

A total of 40 new plays and musicals will open on the Great White Way during the 2008-09 season, the greatest number of productions to open since 1986-87.
Contrary to popular belief, the curtain is far from falling on Broadway.

In fact, if all scheduled shows open as planned over the next few months, the Great White Way will have more new productions than any season in the last two decades. A whopping 22 new shows are opening this spring, bringing the total of new plays and musicals to 40 for the 2008-09 season.

Though the number is just one more than last season, it still marks the most openings since 1986-87 when 43 shows opened, according to Bloomberg News.

“Despite the fact that like Chicken Little said, ‘the sky is falling,’ there are a lot of new productions,” said Daryl Roth, producer of the new Tovah Feldshuh play, Irena’s Vow, which opens March 29. “Of course everyone is a bit anxious to be sure that all the new plays and musicals find their audiences, but people are feeling optimistic.”

NYC Fears a Return to the 1970s

NEW YORK (Reuters) - While many U.S. cities worry that their economies are deteriorating to the level of the 1930s Great Depression, New York City fears reliving a more recent decade that features strongly in city lore.

The 1970s were a low point in city history as a fiscal crisis almost pushed it into bankruptcy, crime rates soared, and homeless people crowded sidewalks as public services crumbled.

Almost a million people fled New York's Mean Streets during the decade for the safer, more stable suburbs, a population decline that took more than 20 years to reverse.

Hudson Yards Could Be In Jeopardy

January 21, 2009 3:51 PM

If negotiations fall through between the MTA and the Related Cos., the project may never be built.
If the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Related Cos. cannot reach a deal on Hudson Yards in 10 days, the $15 billion project could end up being postponed indefinitely or never being built.

The authority and the developer have until Jan. 31 to sign a contract, which would trigger a schedule of payments that could ultimately bring close to $1 billion into MTA coffers. But the sinking economy and a paucity of financing are pressuring both sides

Atlantic Yards still just an artist's rendering

Project stalls amid lawsuits, recession and credit crunch
Talk about an unhappy anniversary.

Five years ago last month, Forest City Ratner announced its plan for Atlantic Yards, a massive 22-acre development in Brooklyn that would include 8 million square feet of retail, residential and office space along with an arena for the Nets basketball team. Building the Frank Gehry-designed complex would cost $2.5 billion and take about 10 years.

As Economy Weakens, NYC's Budget Gaps Swell

After several years of amassing large surpluses, New York City now faces swelling budget gaps as long and deep recession erodes jobs and tax revenue.

To Avert Blight, NYC Will Repair and Resell Vacant Homes

New York City will spend $24 million in federal financing to rehabilitate and resell 115 foreclosed homes, one of the most aggressive steps city officials have taken in years to prevent vacant foreclosed properties from becoming a blight on neighborhoods, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Wednesday.

Miami is Fattest US City, Magazine Finds

Miami residents aren't all following the South Beach Diet.

It is the fattest city in the USA and Salt Lake City is the most fit, according to Men's Fitness magazine, which has been doing the annual analysis for 11 years. The results appear in the February issue.

Gulf Oil States Seeking a Lead in Clean Energy

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — With one of the highest per capita carbon footprints in the world, these oil-rich emirates would seem an unlikely place for a green revolution.

Recession Rocks Manhattan Office Market

Leasing activity in Manhattan hit a seven-year low last year, as rents tumbled and sales dried up, even as the wilting economy sent prices lower.

Frances Goldin receives JFREJ Risk Taker Award

Frances Goldin, a founder of the Cooper Square Committee, and a literary agent accepts an award from Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.

Future of NYC: No Quick Cure for Wall Street's Hangover

As the financial industry's profits dried up, so did the city’s most lucrative jobs. It could be a while before the finance sector bounces back.

New York Housing Plan Is Delayed

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s plan to create or preserve 165,000 units of housing for low- and moderate-income families by 2013 has been pushed back one year because the economic recession has stifled the financing of low-cost housing.

The one-year extension is the first major setback

Residential permits fall 74%

The decline mirrored a national one that saw housing starts fall across the country; tight credit and slack sales are cited as reasons for the decline in the city.
New residential construction in the city continued to plummet in November as developers grappled with tight credit markets and dwindling sales.

Permits for new residential buildings fell 74% to 63 in November compared with a year earlier, while the units authorized by those permits dropped 48% to 1,235, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The scarcity of new residential projects drove the value of construction associated with permits more than four times lower than November 2007, to just over $51 million.