May 16, 2012 · www.gothamgazette.com |
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- David Howard King on Senate Dems Look to Nat'l Issues
- David Howard King on Gov Cuomo Proposes New Agency
- Jonathan Camhi on Indiscretion
- Jonathan Camhi on The Power of Money
- Igor Kossov on Lines Drawn on Minimum Wage
Community Development Archive
Communities Drowned Out (August 2009) As planners and developers eye the water's edge, are grassroots and community advocates losing their say?
Closing the Landmarks Loophole (July 2009) The city's preservation law essentially allows the buildings departments and landmarks commission to ignore -- and even contradict -- one another. Several bills in City Council seek to change that.
Gold from the Faucet (May 2009) The city's Water Board could increase rates another 14 percent this Friday. But why is our water getting so expensive?
Small Business: Suffering in Good Times and Bad (March 2009) With 'for rent' signs popping up on storefronts around the city, is it time for commercial rent regulation? Some City Council members think so.
Offering New Businesses a Place to Grow (February 2009) To help rescue displaced Wall Streeters, Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to create spaces where entrepreneurs can set up and nurture new businesses. The city already is home to number of such incubators. How do they work and how successful are they?
Working for a Greener Harlem (November 2008) A Harlem activist group seeks to use the mayor's sustainability plan to improve health and the environment in northern Manhattan
Bringing 'Green Collar' Jobs to the South Bronx (August 2008) Residents of one of New York's poorest areas would like to see the city work with local groups to promote sustainable neighborhoods, a cleaner environment and "green collar" jobs.
Can Co-ops Help Close the 'Grocery Gap'? (May 2008) With fresh, healthy food hard to come by in many city neighborhoods, many residents view an old idea-- food co-cops -- as a way to bridge the "grocery gap."
As the Economy Worsens: Helping People Find Jobs (April 2008) The city's workforce development system has helped meet business' needs and placed thousands of workers in jobs. But it sill does not address the needs of many struggling New Yorkers.
The City Responds to the Foreclosure Crisis (March 2008) With the number of housing foreclosures in the country having hit an all-time high, a new center here hopes to keep New Yorkers in their homes and change the system that created the current crisis.
Harnessing Change in Bed-Stuy (November 2007) As Bedford-Stuyvesant confronts the promise and the peril of being the next hot Brooklyn neighborhood, community groups hope to shape the change that has irrevocably altered so many city communities.
Taking Stock of New York’s Housing (October 2007) Directors of the Furman Center at NYU discuss the latest information on the city’s communities and homes.
Bigger Media, Less Local Democracy (February 2007) “Just as Starbucks knocked out independent coffee shops and Wal-Mart killed the corner store, media conglomerates have devastated locally produced newspapers, television stations, and radio programs throughout the country.” A talk with Eric Klinenberg, who explains how this has affected New York.
Tax Breaks For Affordable Housing (December 2006) Developers in many parts of Manhattan and the Brooklyn would get a property tax exemption only if one fifth of the apartments in a new project are affordable, according to a bill passed by the City Council this month and awaiting the mayor's signature, and approval by the state legislature. The law would also create a fund to finance affordable housing.
New Bills – The 421-a and Affordable Housing Debate (December 2006)
Stuyvesant Town, Queens West And The Debate Over Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses (November 2006) A closer look at both Stuyvesant Town and Queens West suggests the complications in using the usual arguments in the debate over Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses, says Brad Lander of the Pratt Center for Community Development
Business Improvement Districts (October 2006) There are 55 business improvement districts, or BIDs, in New York City, more than any other municipality in the world. What they promise is a revitalized area at little cost to City Hall. But critics see them differently.
Can Small Stores Survive in New York? (October 2006) With many New York streets increasingly resembling suburban shopping malls, the developer of Chelsea Market and an architect offer ideas on how small, locally owned businesses can still thrive in New York City.
Immigrant Organizing (April 2006) A growing number of community-based organizations for immigrants in New York City are both providing services (such as English classes) and spurring political engagement (such as the recent demonstrations).
Redefining Economic Development (February 2006) Mark Winston Griffith details the first efforts of a fledgling coalition to create an alternative vision of economic development in New York City, one in which the city's prosperity is shared more broadly.
Community Development Television (November 2005) Public access television is not all Wayne's World; much of it "furthers community development agendas," writes Mark Winston Griffith, who explains that this access is threatened by pending legislation.
Campaign 2005: Real Estate Boom; Corporate Developments; Immigrant Entrepreneurs. (September 2005) Community Development. Mark Winston Griffith looks at three issues related to community development that are on the minds of neighbors throughout the city: the real estate boom, large-scale corporate developments; immigrant entrepreneurs.
Block Parties, Street Fairs, Street Festivals (August 2005) The graffiti block party in Chelsea was different from most of the city’s street fairs not just because a federal judge ordered it to proceed but also because “there was not a single sign-up table for a credit card, not one van with slabs of sweaty sausages on its mobile grill, not even tables full of underwear and socks for sale,” writes Marcus Banks, who explains why so many street fairs are nearly identical to one another.
Neighborhood Banking Is About To Change (June 2005) The concept of neighborhood banking is changing, thanks to the tumbling wall between traditional bank branches and check cashing stores. Mark Winston Griffith explains what’s going on.
Community Development Funding Cuts Under The New Bush Budget (March 2005) President Bush has an interesting way of supporting community development: cutting most of its funding.
Evicting The Vendors From The Bed-Stuy Market (January 2005) The impending eviction of the street vendors from the four-year-old Bedford-Stuyvesant Cooperative Market, while especially senseless, presents some questions with city-wide implications, Mark Winston Griffith writes. For example: Is gentrification the same as community development?
Community Development Under A Kerry Administration (October 2004) Mark Winston Griffith assesses where presidential candidate John Kerry stands on the neighborhood-based universe of concerns labeled community development ‚"housing, small business development, job development and social justice policy" and how he differs from Bush.
Opportunity Zones: An Empty OZ (September 2004) Mark Winston Griffith exposes the little (campaigning) man behind the curtain of OZ, or "Opportunity Zones," the Bush Administration's little-noticed new community development proposal, which are supposed to take up where Enterprise Zones leave off, but don't.
Community-Based Cooperatives (July 2004) Mark Winston Griffith looks at New York's community-based cooperatives -- not yuppie-owned units of real estate, but businesses owned by their employees or their customers "created to provide a quality, affordable service or product, rather than reap huge profits."
Mobilizing Community Concerns Against Mobile Phone Antennas (May 2004) Everybody likes their cell phones – there are an impressive 10.5 million wireless phone subscribers in the city. But Mark Winston Griffith looks at the growing community-based movement, which began in Astoria, against the thousands of rooftop antennae that enable these phones to operate.
Public Subsidies Flowing Up the West Side (April 2004) The proposal to use the profits from Battery Park City to help pay for the Jets Stadium and expansion of the convention center, Brad Lander writes, is just the latest in a 40-year battle that serves as a lesson in how community development and real estate development interact in New York City.
Grassroots Community Organizing Is Malnourished (February 2004) “In these days of deep philanthropic cutbacks, well-intentioned and well-managed organizations alike are having either to scale back or to shut down,” writes Mark Winston Griffith, who was disappointed to learn of the problems facing the Organizing Support Center
Is Washington Looking To Get Out Of Subsidizing Low-Income Housing In NYC? (January 2004) Is the federal government in effect changing its mind about subsidizing some 20,000 apartments for low-income families in New York City? Brad Lander reports some ominous recent events.
The “Food Justice” Movement: Trying To Break the Food Chains (December 2003) One of the great, often unspoken, forms of oppression that low- and moderate-income communities suffer through is the lack of access to healthy food. Mark Winston Griffith looks at issues of “food justice.”
(November 2003) Letitia James, who succeeds the assassinated James Davis in the City Council, faces a significant challenge in her district: how to deal with "development, development, development." Brad Lander highlights the major projects moving forward in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, and how to make sure the community benefits.
The Foundation Fundraising Blues (October 2003) Most philanthropic foundations, Mark Winston Griffith writes, are "highly cloistered, self-perpetuating, elite institutions that seem to answer to no one but themselves."
The Death of the Community Reinvestment Act (August 2003) Mark Winston Griffith writes the obituary for the Community Reinvestment Act, killed at the age of 26.
The Black Organizer Blues (July 2003) Mark Winston Griffith asks why it seems as if the best-funded and highest profile neighborhood-based organizing bodies that operate in black neighborhoods are not black-led. Part of the answer may lie in how the term “community organizing” has been defined.
Trade Union/Public Housing Alliance; Reaction to Rezoning Of Brooklyn Waterfront; New Neighborhood Planning (June 2003) Brad Lander looks at a productive alliance between trade unions and residents of NYC public housing. Also, the community reaction to the new rezoning plans for the Greenpoint/Williamsburg waterfront has been far more mixed than has been depicted in the commercial press. And: the city's housing agency will soon start focusing more on neighborhood planning.
Legislating NIMBY (May 2003) "All around the city there are neighborhood skirmishes and feelings of deep resentment flaring up between community residents and those who seek to develop facilities that address social needs," writes Mark Winston Griffith, who details proposed state legislation that would require communities to know in advance about such facilities, and looks at the debate it has sparked.
BAM And Its Cultural District (April 2003) In the debut of Gotham Gazette's new topic page, Community Development, Mark Winston Griffith explains the fear and mistrust by the Fort Greene community of the $700 million plan by the Brooklyn Academy of Music to create a 14-block cultural district in their neighborhood.
To read more about Fort Greene - and to contribute your own news and views, as well as reports of potholes - go to the Fort Greene Gazette, the first of our Community Gazettes.
