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Along the Shore, A Turning Point


Nearly 400 years ago Henry Hudson sailed into New York Harbor. In the centuries that followed, the harbor and waterways of New York and New Jersey were the front door through which settlers and millions thereafter came and created our metropolitan area. Over time, however, the waterfront became our back door. Filled with commerce and industry, the water's edge was where we relegated our most noxious and undesirable land uses. Now, however, with changes in industry and a rediscovery of the commercial and recreational potential of our waterfront, the New York and New Jersey Harbor has become our front door one again.

There are over 700 miles of waterfront in the harbor estuary. Much of that waterfront is now "in play" and over the next generation will be transformed. This is a matter of land use, development and planning for the City of New York and for the towns and cities on the Jersey side. But more than that it is also a matter of equity for the 20 million citizens who live on the series of islands and peninsulas that comprise the New York metropolitan region. As reflected in the $1,200 per square foot waterfront condos and in the hundreds of millions of dollars that the city and state governments on both sides of the Hudson are investing in new parks, our waterfront has become a very valuable and precious resource.

Development decisions made today will affect how generations of New Yorkers and New Jersey residents relate and enjoy the water around them. We are living at a time when we will decide whether we to exchange highways, abandoned factories and fences for a sterile wall of condominiums that will effectively once again lock our waterfront away from the people or whether we will create an accessible waterfront.

A luxury condominium, 15 feet of walkway, a wrought iron fence and a bulkhead do not make for an inviting waterfront. Instead, a variety of uses and destinations will make a waterfront that New Yorkers will flock to. We can create town docks in waterfront neighborhoods such as those found on the North Shore of Long Island. We can build museums, theaters and restaurants like those that have revitalized the south side of the Thames in London. We can enjoy and connect our harbor and riverside parks as they have done in San Francisco with Golden Gate Park and the Presidio.

The creative and entrepreneurial spirit that is so central to the character of New York and New Jersey should be reflected on our waterfront. Our waterfront can be as diverse and the vital as the neighborhoods that borders it. The sterile "Esplanadia" that has been built on too much of our waterfront is the least we can do. The best way we can commemorate Hudson's arrival to these shores 400 years ago is to creatively imagine and implement much more.

The Waterfront Alliance has convened thinkers, practitioners and activists working in and around the waterfront to come up with an action agenda for change for our harbor and waterways. In the coming months Gotham Gazette will feature a series of articles from the alliance that will outline critical waterfront issues. Topics discussed will include creating swimmable and fishable waters, harbor education, waterfront recreation, water mass transit, strengthening the waterfront labor force and AquaTecture, waterfront and water design.

Stay tuned to Gotham Gazette in the months ahead for more in this series.

Roland Lewis is president and CEO of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance. Carter Craft, an urban planner, is program director of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance. 

Taking Stock of New York's Housing


Every year, the Furman Center at NYU peruses 1,800 types of data from more than a dozen different sources to compile its report on the State of New York City Housing and Neighborhoods, filled with fascinating data about where we live and how we live in New York.

In the recently released report for 2006, the center focused on homeownership and found that only a third of all New Yorkers own their homes, compared with two thirds of all Americans.

The report also found an increase in the production of new housing—but not enough. The new homes, it said, still “fall short of what is necessary to keep up with the population growth of the 1990s.”

The Furman Center, like other researchers, also saw signs of the foreclosure crisis. While some parts of the city have escaped the rise in the number of foreclosures, its report found high rates of foreclosures in some areas.

Perhaps most ominously, the report saw a dramatic increase in sub-prime lending with these loans — made to people with problematic credit records and often charging very high interest --- accounting for more than a fifth of all mortgages issued in the city in 2005. Because of their often onerous terms, the report noted, these mortgages are far more vulnerable to foreclosure.”

Last week, two of the report’s authors sat down for an online chat, answering questions from Gotham Gazette staff and readers. Vicki Been is the director of the Furman Center and professor at the NYU School of Law. Ingrid Gould Ellen, co-director of the Furman Center, is an associate professor at NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Gotham Gazette: To start, maybe you could briefly describe a few of the key trends you found in this year’s report.

Ingrid Gould Ellen: One: Dramatic declines in affordability of housing, both among owner-occupied and rental stock, due to combination of rising prices and rents on the one hand, and stagnant incomes on the other.

Two: The jump in the rate of sub-prime lending -- from 6.5 percent in 2002 to 22.9 percent in 2005.

Three: The sharp racial and ethnic disparities in homeownership rates in New York City. We found the low homeownership rates among Hispanic New Yorkers the most striking. Only 16 percent of Hispanic New Yorkers owned their homes in 2005, as compared to 43.8 percent of non-Hispanic white New Yorkers.

Gotham Gazette: Your report describes a housing squeeze both for renters and for people buying their own homes. But there also is a lot of new construction. Can you describe what type of construction is taking place and what effects it is having on peoples’ ability to find and afford a place to live.

Vicki Been: Residential construction activity has risen dramatically in recent years. In 2005, new building permits were issued for 31,599 units. That is more than four times as many units as the average of 7,020 that were authorized by permits each year during the 1990s.

But even that level of construction has not been sufficient to erase the gap created by low levels of construction in the 1990s, and by the swelling population and demand for housing.

Ken Dircks: Do the goals of the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Marketplace Plan align with the needs/trends you found?

Vicki Been: Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ambitious affordable housing plan targets more than two thirds of the rental units to households earning $50,240 or less. It is certainly appropriate to target the lowest income groups, but also necessary to try to help keep New York City affordable for middle class families.

Dave Hanzel: With rising construction costs, lack of land suitable for building, and a flat capital budget, how will the mayor meet the production targets he set forth in the New Housing Marketplace plan?

Vicki Been: The mayor is going to have to "create" buildable land through rezonings, innovative programs to identify underused development capacity and pressure on government agencies to be more efficient in their own use of land. He'll also have to push the envelope in terms of creative financing options. It's a huge challenge to be sure, but we certainly hope the mayor will rise to the task!

Gotham Gazette: There has been a lot of talk about improvement in the Bronx. But the statistics still show that Bronx neighborhoods have the highest levels of poverty, unemployment and asthma, for example, and the lowest educational levels. What, if any, signs of progress do you see?

Vicki Been: The Bronx saw considerable improvements in at least the following areas:

Certificates of occupancy moved from 1,220 in 2002 to 1,755 in 2004 and 1,434 in 2005, and new building permits increased from 2,626 in 2002 to 4,937 in 2005.

The percent of students performing at grade level in reading increased from 28 percent to 39.6 percent between 2002 and 2005

The percent of students performing at grade level in math increased from 24 percent to 41.5 percent during that time.

Felony crime dropped from 32.8 per 1,000 residents in 2002 to 29.4 per 1,000 residents in 2005

Elevated lead blood levels fell from 11.6 per 1000 children tested to 8.3 during those three years.

Lauren Harrison: Luxury condos seem to be everywhere in Central Harlem. How does this affect the rates of rent in the areas? Do renters have a valid fear of being pushed out by $1.5 million 2 bedrooms?

Ingrid Gould Ellen: While dramatic changes are clearly taking place in Central Harlem, they seem to be mostly affecting the market for owner-occupied units. Rents still remain relatively low (the median monthly rent in 2005 was $600, one of the lowest in the city), and 70 percent of all the rental units in the neighborhood are rent-regulated.

Sara Stuart: Downtown Brooklyn is changing very rapidly as luxury apartments are being built opposite the jail and construction is rampant. How does this compare to other neighborhoods and other periods of time?

Ingrid Gould Ellen: There were more units authorized by new residential building permits in Brooklyn than in any other borough in 2005 and nearly double the number authorized in 2002. So there has been a dramatic increase in construction in the borough as a whole. In terms of downtown Brooklyn in particular, we didn't see that much construction activity being completed in 2005, but we expect we will see more in our data this year.

Gotham Gazette: Perhaps this is a question for would be real-estate speculators. Looking at the neighborhoods where housing prices have appreciated the most since 1994, do they share any characteristics? And does that provide any clue as to where the next ”hot” neighborhoods will be?

Ingrid Gould Ellen: This is a question we are interested in and currently researching. We're examining what characteristics of neighborhoods tend to be correlated with subsequent change, and we're most interested in learning how various public and private investments can shape a neighborhood's trajectory.

Carlos: Given the current less-than-favorable fiscal condition of the New York City Housing Authority and considering that the authority is an important segment of New York City's affordable housing market, this area of urban policy seems to be a timely opportunity for the scholarly community to inform policy. This might be best pursued by taking stock of comparable public housing strategies that are occurring nationally.

What is the academic/scholarly community doing to explore options for the city to enhance the viability and sustainability of this vital housing resource? What would such options include, such as public-private partnership opportunities, etc.

Ingrid Gould Ellen: Good question. Unfortunately, the academic community has not paid as much attention to the public housing program as one might like. Some researchers are now working to examine how the public housing program as a whole is structured and whether providing additional flexibility to local housing authorities -- including allowing them to refinance existing developments to get an infusion of equity for capital improvements -- would help them manage their housing more effectively.

Others have explored the efficacy of using federal HOPE VI funding to rehabilitate public housing developments and convert them to mixed income developments. One challenge with HOPE VI is ensuring that existing residents are all placed in alternative, affordable housing. Researchers have also found these efforts to be very expensive.

Jane: How will growing numbers of foreclosures among sub-prime mortgage holders affect the market for affordable housing in the city, including supply, demand and government support?

Ingrid Gould Ellen: We're not seeing as many foreclosed homes sitting vacant in New York as elsewhere in the country. There still seems to be substantial demand. It is also possible that the growing foreclosure crisis and the tightening of credit markets will push households to the rental market. But we are doing further research right now on the impact of foreclosures on local neighborhoods.

Harold Shultz: Do you think the sub-prime lending meltdown will have an impact on affordable/rent stabilized multifamily buildings? Will it lead to increased neighborhood deterioration or reduced availability of funding for rehabilitation?

Vicki Been: The sub-prime lending (and broader mortgage) meltdown may impact affordable/stabilized multifamily housing in several ways:

Evidence suggests that mortgage foreclosures have a negative effect on the surrounding properties and lead neighborhoods to decline. It's not clear that New York City will follow the same path as other cities because the evidence so far on the foreclosure effect comes from cities with weak housing market in which foreclosures lead to vacancies. Foreclosures may not result in vacancies here.

A tightening of credit may cause sales prices to drop because fewer buyers will be able to bid for the units. Also, a credit squeeze will reduce the ability of people to maintain their buildings and homes.

Real Estate Investment Trusts, or REITs, were buying up many of these buildings. To the extent that credit becomes tighter, and/or values drop, REITS may be less interested.

Gotham Gazette: At the beginning, your report has these lists of highest and lowest ranked neighborhoods by category. Some of them are fairly predictable. But a few are startling. One is the ranking for felony crime where the highest felony neighborhoods are high-end areas of Manhattan, along with Brooklyn Heights. What explains that?

Ingrid Gould Ellen: I think the high crime rates in some of these affluent neighborhoods are driven by the fact that they include commercial areas. The crime rate is based on the resident population; but clearly these neighborhoods have much larger daytime populations.

For more information:

Gotham Gazette’s Housing Topic

Feeling the Effects of a Housing Bust (September 2007)

The Real Foreclosure Crisis (Sept.10, 2006)

Will the Sub-prime Crisis Reach Manhattan? (Sept.10, 2006)

Housing in New York: Figuring Out the Big (and Little) Picture (Sept. 18, 2006)

Stated Meeting: Replacing Street Signs to Taking Recyclables


At its stated meeting on September 25, the City Council cracked down on the lax replacement of missing and damaged street signs as well as the unauthorized removal of curbside recycling.

Stopping the Abundance of Missing Street Signs

The council unanimously approved legislation (Intro 581-A), which requires the Department of Transportation to replace damaged or missing traffic signs within three business days. Currently the Department of Transportation aims to replace signs within nine days.

Signs that must be replaced within three days include stop signs, yield signs and do not enter signs. The legislation also mandates a stricter deadline for one-way signs. Because those signs are often installed on city streets in pairs, the council approved a seven-business day deadline for them.

" We are significantly cutting that back and I think sending an important message to New Yorkers that when you call 311 we take your call seriously," said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. "When you say there is missing sign in your neighborhood we're going to respond to it as quickly as we possibly can to make sure we keep traffic as safe as we can in all five boroughs."

According to city estimates, 39 percent of all signs take longer than three business days to replace.

Introduced by Councilmember Joseph Addabbo, the legislation also requires the Department of Transportation to monitor and record when they receive a complaint and when the actual replacement is made. The record will allow the City Council to monitor the department's compliance with the legislation.

Protecting the City's Recyclables

To address a growing black market for the city's recyclables, the council unanimously approved legislation (Intro 582-A) that drastically increases fines for the unauthorized removal of curbside materials.

Introduced by Councilmember Michael McMahon, the bill boosts the Department of Sanitation's current maximum $25 fine to $2,000 for a first offense and $5,000 for a second offense. The fines would only apply to those who remove recyclable materials using a motor vehicle and thus not apply to the sporadic garbage pillager. If found in violation of the legislation, the vehicle used to take the recyclables would also be impounded.

Trash, whether recyclable or not, may not seem like a lucrative commodity. But according to McMahon, trucks not authorized by the Department of Transportation have been reaping the financial benefits of the city's recycling. According to city estimates, Manhattan alone has lost a minimum of 15,000 tons of paper worth $150,000 annually.

" Five years ago the administration was saying we should end recycling," said McMahon prior to the council vote. Now, he added, "There is gold in our containers."

Decaling Commuter Vans

In order to identify commuter vans, the council unanimously approved legislation (Intro 430-A) that requires the Taxi and Limousine Commission to issue them special decals.

Commuter vans carry at least nine passengers, but no more than 20 within a certain area. The service is prearranged, and the vans are not authorized to accept passengers who hail them from the street.

Introduced by Councilmember John Liu, the bill is intended to help both law enforcement and commuters who utilize the commuter vehicles. In Queens and Brooklyn especially, the use of unauthorized vans have grown.

The decals must be on the front, back and sides of the vehicle.

Rezoning the Upper West Side

The council also unanimously approved a rezoning on the Upper West Side between 97th and 110th streets and Riverside Drive and Central Park West. The rezoning is meant to preserve the character of the neighborhood, and reduce out of scale building that has recently increased.

The rezoning imposes numerous height restrictions, said Land Use Committee Chair Melinda Katz, capping buildings at 10 to 11 stories on the avenues, six to seven stories within mid-blocks and approximately 14 stories along Broadway. The rezoning will also preserve affordable housing and small businesses.  



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