Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Here's my 2019 preview . As I like to say, there's usually a surprise every year with Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. In 2018, there was more than one, and the first--and largest--came in January, as the project continued a curious stall, with no new building starting since mid-2015. (Infrastructure work has continued.) Forest City New York CEO Maryanne Gilmartin, Bruce Ratner's designated successor, saw the writing on the wall and/or followed her dream, leaving (with four lieutenants) to co-found a new firm, L&L MAG. That was coupled with the the decision, after a year of negotiations, by Forest City to pull back from Pacific Park and further lower its risk, selling all but 5% (of its previous 30% share going forward) to Greenland USA, which fully controls Greenland Forest City Partners. Cuomo boosts Belmont Some other surprises, though smaller, were significant. The New York Islanders and the Barclays Center mutually opted out of their purported 25-year deal ...

The down escalator at the Barclays Center was supposed to be up and running by Dec. 14, after an outage lasting about three weeks. Now that deadline is on its third extension . Though the photo shows that the deadline has been extended until Jan. 9, 2019, I don't think anyone should bet on that deadline.

According to Empire State Development, the next Atlantic Yards Project Quality of Life Meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 22, 2019. The projected bi-monthly 2019 meeting schedule is below. Of course, meetings can be rescheduled. (We're still waiting to learn about a meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation, which is supposed to meet quarterly, but last met in March 2018.) Project-related questions, concerns, or suggested agenda items may be sent to atlanticyards@esd.ny.gov. The details: Tuesday, January 22, 2019 @ 6:00 PM Shirley A. Chisholm State Office Building 55 Hanson Place 1st Floor Conference Room Brooklyn, NY 11217

OK, it's clear that the poorest New Yorkers have the greatest housing needs, as the Community Service Society pointed out in a report last month . At the same time, Comptroller Scott Stringer--a likely candidate for mayor in 2021-- proposed a "fundamental realignment" in the city's housing plan to both focus on those most in need and to raise new money for it. His plan--which involves raising transaction taxes to the level of some other cities faced with a flood of real estate investors--was endorsed by progressive groups like the Community Service Society, the Legal Aid Society, New York Communities for Change, and Community Voices Heard. Some 515,000 extremely and very low-income households "live precariously close to homelessness," paying over 50% of their income, and facing overcrowding. Nearly 90% of them have incomes under than $47,000 per year for a family of three. But less than 25% of the city’s current affordable housing plan is being bu...

The reason we have to ask "Affordable for whom?" so often is that the main housing subsidy tools in New York and everywhere are structurally designed to help people who make $40,000 a year and up. New rent assistance/operating subsidy tools are the way out of this box. https://t.co/F1EIOXsr9k — Tom Waters (@slowboring) November 29, 2018 In late November, the Community Service Society (CSS) released a new report, MAKING THE RENT TRULY AFFORDABLE: Why Operating Subsidies Belong in New York City’s Affordable Housing Toolkit , by Nancy Rankin and Oksana Mironova. The report ( in PDF , and at bottom) cites widespread "housing hardships among low-income New Yorkers—like falling behind in the rent, doubling up with other households, and facing threats of eviction—that force families to make difficult trade-offs and can be precursors of homelessness." The solution, according to CSS, is to refocus the city's affordable housing plan. While Mayor Bill de Blasio...