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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

Newsweek contributor Kotkin: Bloomberg needs to make a public policy shift away from projects like AY

Well, someone's responded to Jimmy Breslin's call to be tough on Mayor Mike Bloomberg, but it's not the local daily newspapers. Writes Newsweek contributor Joel Kotkin:
But as Bloomberg begins his new term, New York needs to reexamine its core economic strategy.

...Nurturing these neighborhoods will require a distinct shift in public policy. During the Bloomberg years the big subsidies have gone to luxury condo megadevelopments, sports stadiums, or huge office complexes. Consider the 22-acre Atlantic Yards project in downtown Brooklyn, which will include luxury housing and a new arena for the NBA's Nets; one recent report by the city's Independent Budget Office put the total subsidies provided by the city, New York state, and the transit authority at $726 million and estimated the project will hurt, not help, the city's economy over time.
Of course, AY is promoted as including more than luxury housing; the questions are how much of the subsidized affordable housing would be available to members of ACORN, which signed an agreement with Forest City Ratner, and how much the housing would cost relative to subsidized housing elsewhere.

Comments

  1. "Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff has said that the Queens West units would be built for approximately $54,000 each in city funds."

    http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2006/11/queens-west-less-dense-than-ay-and.html

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  2. Though I doubt that's an apples-to-apples comparison.

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  3. Anonymous2:06 PM

    I believe that the key is that the land was not privately owned and hence never appreciated abnormally, plus there was no need for financing. Take away the cost of land and the cost of borrowing, keep the housing out of the marketplace and, voila, you have affordable housing in perpetuity (e.g. public housing or social housing). Teach that, Mitchell Moss!

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