Adams' recovery plan promises to build more, expanding access "to high-quality, low-cost housing options in neighborhoods across the city"
A 3/10/22 press release, Mayor Adams to "Rebuild, Renew, Reinvent," Unveils Blueprint for NYC's Economic Recovery, includes quotes from numerous city agency leaders, and a 3/11/22 follow-up, What They Are Saying: New Yorkers Support Mayor Adams' Blueprint for NYC's Economic Recovery, includes praise from numerous entities, including the Real Estate Board of New York and YIMBY group Open New York.
Ensure all neighborhoods are meeting the need for housing opportunities
The City will identify strategies to create a wider range of housing types for all New Yorkers, including those with the lowest incomes, in neighborhoods throughout the city, from high-density areas to lowerscale neighborhoods. Strategies include allowing a wider range of unit sizes to meet different household needs, broadening existing density allowances for affordable housing, easing alterations or the addition of accessory units, and reevaluating existing parking requirements. This effort builds on past planning and outreach for fair housing and equitable growth and will lead to proposals for a range of zoning changes.
News coverage included:
- New York Daily News, Mayor Adams unveils NYC economic recovery plan, includes $140 million for Hunts Point
- New York Post, Mayor Adams unveils plan to ‘reboot’ NYC’s post-pandemic economy
- The City, Slightly Brighter Jobs Numbers Show Eric Adams Economic Plan Has Work to Do
- amNewYork, Mayor outlines plan to give New York City’s economy a much-needed boost
- Streetsblog, Adams’s Blueprint for Recovery is Vague on Public Space, Trash, Parking Reduction and Other Key Initiatives
NY PDeputy Mayor Torres-Springer details city’s new economic recovery planDeputy Mayor Torres-Springer details city’s new economic recovery planDeputy Mayor Torres-Springer details city’s new economic recovery planDeputy Mayor Torres-Springer details city’s new economic recovery planDeputy Mayor Torres-Springer details city’s new economic recovery plan
While the plan includes an array of strategies, including redevelopment of the Hunts Point Produce Market, relief for small businesses, reforms of M/WBE program, a new green education and research institution on Governors Island and cultural district there, a game development curriculum at The City University of New York, new labor standards for gig workers, and expanded financial empowerment centers, I want to focus on:
Leverage zoning and land use tools to foster innovation and support emerging industries, expand access to high-quality, low-cost housing options in neighborhoods across the city, and facilitate green projects;
Excerpts and comments
Some excerpts from Rebuild, Renew, Reinvent: A Blueprint for New York City’s Economic Recovery, in full at bottom. The plans are, obviously, not yet flushed out, but should be seen as setting guidelines for building more. I've added a few comments below the excerpts.
Accelerate and find efficiencies in the processes for building in New York City
Government that runs smoothly is central to recovery, equity, and the economic vibrancy of New York City. This administration will ensure that projects that generate desperately needed opportunities for family-sustaining jobs or affordable housing aren’t getting held up in inefficient processes that and we are seizing every opportunity for efficiency in getting things done.
So affordable housing projects may move faster.
Launch an interagency task force to identify key efficiencies across agencies
The Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development and the Chief Efficiency Officer will chair the Building and Land use Approval Streamlining Taskforce (BLAST), a coordinated effort of over a dozen agencies involved in the planning and building process. The taskforce will release a set of short-term and long-term recommendations within three months.
So it should get faster to build.
Advance agency-specific efforts to expedite existing pipeline projects
Agencies will advance efforts to expedite internal processes, benefiting existing and future projects. These efforts will include streamlining land use applications at the Department of City Planning (DCP), expediting the design review process at the Public Design Commission (PDC), and the permit application e-Filing portal at the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), to name a few.
It should get faster to build. This also could affect infrastructure projects such as the long-delayed Times Plaza open space.
Re-envision the city’s jobs hubs in response to shifting trends in living and working
The pandemic has changed how we live and work—commuting patterns, office space needs, and employer and employee preferences have all been altered. Building an inclusive recovery means addressing the evolving needs of the city’s longtime Central Business Districts, its established and now-growing downtowns outside of Manhattan, and the next generation of borough commercial hubs with the potential to bring jobs closer to New Yorkers who need them.
This could mean change in Downtown Brooklyn, as well as places like Broadway Junction.
Accelerate and find efficiencies in the processes for building in New York City
Government that runs smoothly is central to recovery, equity, and the economic vibrancy of New York City. This administration will ensure that projects that generate desperately needed opportunities for family-sustaining jobs or affordable housing aren’t getting held up in inefficient processes that and we are seizing every opportunity for efficiency in getting things done.
So affordable housing projects may move faster.
Launch an interagency task force to identify key efficiencies across agencies
The Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development and the Chief Efficiency Officer will chair the Building and Land use Approval Streamlining Taskforce (BLAST), a coordinated effort of over a dozen agencies involved in the planning and building process. The taskforce will release a set of short-term and long-term recommendations within three months.
So it should get faster to build.
Advance agency-specific efforts to expedite existing pipeline projects
Agencies will advance efforts to expedite internal processes, benefiting existing and future projects. These efforts will include streamlining land use applications at the Department of City Planning (DCP), expediting the design review process at the Public Design Commission (PDC), and the permit application e-Filing portal at the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), to name a few.
It should get faster to build. This also could affect infrastructure projects such as the long-delayed Times Plaza open space.
Re-envision the city’s jobs hubs in response to shifting trends in living and working
The pandemic has changed how we live and work—commuting patterns, office space needs, and employer and employee preferences have all been altered. Building an inclusive recovery means addressing the evolving needs of the city’s longtime Central Business Districts, its established and now-growing downtowns outside of Manhattan, and the next generation of borough commercial hubs with the potential to bring jobs closer to New Yorkers who need them.
This could mean change in Downtown Brooklyn, as well as places like Broadway Junction.
Invest in growing downtowns and emerging job hubs across all five boroughs
The City will advance neighborhood planning with different approaches to engagement and investment based on local needs. For long-established Manhattan retail and office districts, we will support existing commercial corridors and major planned transit investments while exploring ways to allow outdated buildings to be adapted to other uses where appropriate, such as housing, lab space, or schools. For growing downtowns, such as Downtown Brooklyn and Long Island City, we will explore ways to support the development of additional space for jobs and commercial activity while addressing key infrastructure needs.
It's unclear if this means just conversions or an upzoning.
The City will advance neighborhood planning with different approaches to engagement and investment based on local needs. For long-established Manhattan retail and office districts, we will support existing commercial corridors and major planned transit investments while exploring ways to allow outdated buildings to be adapted to other uses where appropriate, such as housing, lab space, or schools. For growing downtowns, such as Downtown Brooklyn and Long Island City, we will explore ways to support the development of additional space for jobs and commercial activity while addressing key infrastructure needs.
It's unclear if this means just conversions or an upzoning.
We will work closely with communities to plan for the next generation of borough centers that can bring jobs closer to New Yorkers who have historically faced longer commutes, lower wages, and fewer economic opportunities. For example, neighborhood planning around the forthcoming Metro-North regional rail stations in the Bronx, such as at Morris Park, will focus on how to leverage new infrastructure investments with a robust workforce development strategy for nearby healthcare institutions. Holistic planning efforts in communities in Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island will similarly focus on how to build on community assets and existing transit connections to bring amenities and job opportunities closer to residents.
Strategically site City offices to support the growth of emergent jobs hubs across the five boroughs
The City will build on successful pilot programs to expand its efforts to use agency office relocations as anchors to grow jobs and commercial space in strategic locations. By relocating and investing in City office space in new buildings, this approach leverages long-term City spaceleases to catalyze new commercial development and bring jobs closer to where people live. We will identify new opportunities for these strategic relocations, building on the success of the first project in Broadway Junction, which led to more than $100 million of private investment.
Grow jobs and small businesses with more flexible zoning
Many zoning regulations are more than 60 years old and are too rigid for today’s dynamic economy. The City will advance proposals to enable the construction of flexible “modern loft” space that can be used by a range of industries, simplify rules to make them navigable for small businesses, and eliminate obsolete distinctions in zoning. These changes will better accommodate emerging business models, such as “maker retail,” 3D printing, and biotech, while also ensuring opportunities for neighborhood amenities ranging from childcare facilities to nightlife.
Does this mean attention to the long-delayed M-CROWN rezoning in Community District 8, which has lingered while private upzonings have passed?
Strategically site City offices to support the growth of emergent jobs hubs across the five boroughs
The City will build on successful pilot programs to expand its efforts to use agency office relocations as anchors to grow jobs and commercial space in strategic locations. By relocating and investing in City office space in new buildings, this approach leverages long-term City spaceleases to catalyze new commercial development and bring jobs closer to where people live. We will identify new opportunities for these strategic relocations, building on the success of the first project in Broadway Junction, which led to more than $100 million of private investment.
Grow jobs and small businesses with more flexible zoning
Many zoning regulations are more than 60 years old and are too rigid for today’s dynamic economy. The City will advance proposals to enable the construction of flexible “modern loft” space that can be used by a range of industries, simplify rules to make them navigable for small businesses, and eliminate obsolete distinctions in zoning. These changes will better accommodate emerging business models, such as “maker retail,” 3D printing, and biotech, while also ensuring opportunities for neighborhood amenities ranging from childcare facilities to nightlife.
Does this mean attention to the long-delayed M-CROWN rezoning in Community District 8, which has lingered while private upzonings have passed?
Invest equitably in neighborhood infrastructure
Public infrastructure makes the New York City economy run. However, not all neighborhoods have seen equitable investments in parks, schools, healthcare resources, cultural amenities, and other assets that make New York City vibrant and livable. The City will plan and execute catalytic infrastructure projects to jumpstart economic recovery while also taking a holistic approach to equitable neighborhood investments.
Support community-driven efforts to further inclusive growth and close the racial wealth gap
The City will invest in communities across the city that are home to large percentages of BIPOC New Yorkers and where strategic investments can assure that historically underserved populations can participate in new economic opportunities. For example, the Restoration Innovation Campus, an initiative of Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, is envisioned as a business, programmatic, and policy hub for community asset building, financial health, social entrepreneurship, and arts and culture as part of a redesigned state-ofthe-art campus. With the goal of helping the Central Brooklyn community participate in the tech-driven and creative economies of the future, close the racial wealth gap, and build on the rich legacy of the Bedford Stuyvesant community, this project is a promising example of how to link development to community goals and policy outcomes.
Increase opportunities for low-cost housing in neighborhoods throughout New York City
Access to high-quality, low-cost housing improves economic security, health outcomes, employment opportunities, and more. However, too many neighborhoods have failed to add housing to meet rising need. New York City experienced its most rapid job growth on record from 2009 to 2019, but only added one new home for every three new jobs added. In collaboration with the Chief Housing Officer, we will take an inclusive, citywide approach to encouraging housing and equitable access to opportunity.
This suggests that neighborhoods that have not done their fair share must contribute. The graphic below, which should be delivered in more expandable form, suggests most neighborhoods, including some with good transit access, have not done their fair share--though Downtown Brooklyn and adjacent Prospect Heights, have done so.
Public infrastructure makes the New York City economy run. However, not all neighborhoods have seen equitable investments in parks, schools, healthcare resources, cultural amenities, and other assets that make New York City vibrant and livable. The City will plan and execute catalytic infrastructure projects to jumpstart economic recovery while also taking a holistic approach to equitable neighborhood investments.
Support community-driven efforts to further inclusive growth and close the racial wealth gap
The City will invest in communities across the city that are home to large percentages of BIPOC New Yorkers and where strategic investments can assure that historically underserved populations can participate in new economic opportunities. For example, the Restoration Innovation Campus, an initiative of Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, is envisioned as a business, programmatic, and policy hub for community asset building, financial health, social entrepreneurship, and arts and culture as part of a redesigned state-ofthe-art campus. With the goal of helping the Central Brooklyn community participate in the tech-driven and creative economies of the future, close the racial wealth gap, and build on the rich legacy of the Bedford Stuyvesant community, this project is a promising example of how to link development to community goals and policy outcomes.
Increase opportunities for low-cost housing in neighborhoods throughout New York City
Access to high-quality, low-cost housing improves economic security, health outcomes, employment opportunities, and more. However, too many neighborhoods have failed to add housing to meet rising need. New York City experienced its most rapid job growth on record from 2009 to 2019, but only added one new home for every three new jobs added. In collaboration with the Chief Housing Officer, we will take an inclusive, citywide approach to encouraging housing and equitable access to opportunity.
This suggests that neighborhoods that have not done their fair share must contribute. The graphic below, which should be delivered in more expandable form, suggests most neighborhoods, including some with good transit access, have not done their fair share--though Downtown Brooklyn and adjacent Prospect Heights, have done so.
Ensure all neighborhoods are meeting the need for housing opportunities
The City will identify strategies to create a wider range of housing types for all New Yorkers, including those with the lowest incomes, in neighborhoods throughout the city, from high-density areas to lowerscale neighborhoods. Strategies include allowing a wider range of unit sizes to meet different household needs, broadening existing density allowances for affordable housing, easing alterations or the addition of accessory units, and reevaluating existing parking requirements. This effort builds on past planning and outreach for fair housing and equitable growth and will lead to proposals for a range of zoning changes.
This promises an upzoning for affordable housing.
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