February 12, 2012 · www.gothamgazette.com

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A New Day for Community Based Planning?
December 21st, 2007

One City/One Future – a collaboration between New York Jobs with Justice, the Pratt Center for Community Development, and the Brennan Center for Justice – organized over 150 advocates, planners, scholars, organizers and concerned citizens last month, all in an attempt to develop a set of economic development principles to guide the city. The six principles they came up with are: Strengthen neighborhood character and diversity; Give all communities a stake and a chance; Tie public actions to public benefits; Create good jobs for a strong economy; Make and keep housing affordable; and Grow the city greener. These principles will lay the ground for a blueprint for development in the city, which they plan to release in 2008.

Also, the Municipal Arts Society has created a new blog called The Campaign for Community Based Planning. One of the more interesting pieces from the blog is a post on the budget cuts that community boards are facing. It says that the boards have been directed by the Office of Management and Budget to cut $5,000 from their budget this year, and another $5,000 next year. In response, the society sent a letter to elected officials, stating that “the future ability of community boards to perform their charter-mandated responsibilities will be thrown into serious jeopardy if these cuts are allowed to go forward.”

By Mike Muller on December 21, 2007, 7:58 am
In category: Community Development, Land Use | 4 Comments »

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4 Responses to “A New Day for Community Based Planning?”

  1. The Campaign for Community-Based Planning Says:
    December 21st, 2007 at 8:32 am

    Thank you for highlighting the Campaign’s new blog! I just wanted to note that, though MAS has a role, the Campaign is really run by a Task Force – a coalition of community boards, community groups, elected officials, architects, planners, and individuals, which was organized in 2000. I urge those interested to visit the “About,” “Platform,” and “Task Force” sections of the site to find out more about who we are and what we do.

    Thanks again for highlighting this issue specifically. These budget cuts seem to have flown under the radar! We encourage everyone to write similar letters to the OMB supporting their local community board.

  2. Larry Littlefield Says:
    December 21st, 2007 at 8:44 am

    Most “community based” plans have come down to “more for us and less for someone else” when it comes to public benefits, and the reverse when it comes to public burdens.

    It will be interesting to see if advocates for this approach can confront difficult choices if all grouped together, rather than just produce platitudes.

  3. Carolyn Konheim Says:
    December 31st, 2007 at 9:43 pm

    The admirable principles won’t do much unless community leaders have technical and planning resources to even the playing field. A new source for such funds would be to establish Parking Benefit Districts in each community board (or neighborhood) that would price ALL curb space in an area at a price which would be sufficient, in that neighborhood, to assure one (or one on each side of the street), assuring that there is always about 15% of spaces on a block for arriving cars to park and eliminate circulating traffic. The price would vary by the effect of time and location on demand for parking in any area and the per sq ft value of adjacent real estate. The resulting net revenues would be divided perhaps three ways: 1) road maintenance by the city. 2) planning and community development by the community board and staff and 3)construction of selected projects, e.g., traffic calming, street scape beautification and open space improvements. It’s working in lots communities across the country and will soon be in place on the upper west side.

  4. Streetsblog » Today’s Headlines Says:
    January 3rd, 2008 at 10:22 am

    [...] a Candidate but the Candidates Have Failed (Daily Politics)A New Day for Community-Based Planning? (Wonkster) A Tribute to George Warrington (MTR)  Filed by Aaron Naparstek under Today’s [...]

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