So, does a housing lottery that gives local preference --allotting half the units to residents of the local community district(s) in which a building or project sites--perpetuate segregation? Is it necessary to overcome local resistance to projects? That's been the subject to an ongoing lawsuit and fierce debates, with very little hard evidence regarding whether the locals taking advantage of the lottery are long-term residents or newcomers. In other words, does local preference help recent gentrifiers? On 8/1/17, Daily News columnist Errol Louis called community preference a defective concept, given that those eligible might have very shallow roots, while others, more deeply rooted, might live a little bit outside the boundary. Given historic segregation, that leaves black and brown New Yorkers at a disadvantage, he argued. A better solution? In Missing the Target on Segregation , a 8/15/18 City Limits essay, Harry DeRienzo, s president of ...
This watchdog blog, by journalist Norman Oder, concerns the $6B project to build the Barclays Center arena & 15-16 towers at a crucial site in Brooklyn. Dubbed Atlantic Yards by developer Forest City Ratner in 2003, it was rebranded Pacific Park Brooklyn in 2014 after the Chinese government-owned Greenland USA bought a 70% stake going forward. In 2018, once the arena & four towers were built, Greenland bought out most of Forest City's stake, then sold three leases to other companies.