Good piece on the CUNY center that will study Jamaica Bay.  There is a conference coming up on this that will be at Brooklyn College in October.  And we will also discuss thus at out Philosophy of the City conference to be held at BC Dec5-7.
http://www.adaptny.org/2013/08/20/jamaica-bay-to-serve-as-lab-for-studying-climate-change/

GOOD JOBS, AFFORDABLE HOUSING, SUSTAINABLE ENERGY. COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION.

These are the four demands articulated in the Alliance for a Just Rebuilding’s report, TURNING THE TIDE; HOW OUR NEXT MAYOR SHOULD TACKLE SANDY REBUILDING.”  (go to www.rebuildajustny.org and click “solutions”)  

I wonder how these demands resonate amidst the economically and racially divided publics of NYC: Mundane and Impossible?  Naive and Necessary?  Under Bloomberg there has been a moderate commitment to sustainable energy both in terms of reduction of energy use and efficiency as well as use of renewables.  The number of affordable housing units, however, has continued to decrease, as housing becomes less affordable in general.  Indeed, last month the NY Times did yet another story on how bad the conditions are in public housing (mold, leaky roofs) and on the repair backlog see this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/nyregion/tenants-sue-new-yorks-housing-authority-over-repair-delays.html?_r=0

and some Mayoral candidates accepted a challenge from housing advocates and slept in tenants apartments (hold all the Weiner jokes, thankfully he’s descended into irrelevancy).  Then the Times did another story on public housing: about the number of people on the waiting lost: 227,000!!!  There are more people on the waiting list than ARE IN PUBLIC HOUSING!  This despite the conditions of the buildings:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/24/nyregion/for-many-seeking-public-housing-the-wait-can-be-endless.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

I wonder how any mayor’s term could be considered successful if such a sizeable section of the city lives in such an precarious and/or untenable situation.  And the 500,000+ we are talking about doesn’t even include all the substandard rental situations, much less the homeless!  

What does it mean to demand “affordable housing”?  Is this merely a plea for more government regulation or movement for a new kind of ownership?  AJR is exploring both.  There has been a lot of work done on the second route, on a different model of ownership.  One type is called ”community land trusts” or CLTs.    Check out a short essay on this by NYC planner Tom Angotti here:

http://www.citylimits.org/conversations/topic.cfm?topic_id=201

and a longer academic study here:

http://www.lincolninst.edu/pubs/1272_Community-Land-Trusts-and-Low-Income-Multifamily-Rental-Housing

This is one (crucial) element in the transformation of the existing economy into a solidarity economy or what Gar Alperovitz calls the “pluralist commonwealth.”  More on that in the next post. 

New Top-Tier Research Institute, Conservancy Coming to Jamaica Bay - Rockaway Beach - DNAinfo.com New York

Big news for NYC's pursuit of urban resilience and CUNY!  Not only will there be a research institute run by CUNY, and first housed at Brooklyn College (!), but a Jamaica Bay conservancy has been founded (ala Central Park conservancy) and there is an "ideas competition" being run by the Dept of Interior (Federal) which is a new twist because they other idea competitions are run bu the city (NYC EDC or HPD).  Although maybe HUD Is running one as well now.  In any case, i only found out recently the Bloomberg's vision for Jamaica Bay is not to "develop" it but to make it into a tourist destination/preserve/research site.  More comments to come, but for now, I am very proud of my BC and CUNY colleagues for working over the last two years or so to pull this together--twas amazingly complictadd because of all the organizations and juridisdictions involved, especially state, local and federal, and parks.

New Top-Tier Research Institute, Conservancy Coming to Jamaica Bay - Rockaway Beach - DNAinfo.com New York

Prototype Sponge Park Planned for NYC's Gowanus Canal » The Epoch Times

Havent seen enough coverage of this: great example of soft infrastructure that benefits environment and commununity and is relatively low cost.


Prototype Sponge Park Planned for NYC's Gowanus Canal » The Epoch Times

a great march!

What a great march!.  A couple hundred people showed up at South Ferry--from tenants fighting incredibly unfair rent hikes to day laborers who cleaned up flooded basements in unsafe conditions and were never paid for their work; from homeowners to public housing residents, construction workers to students, environmental artists and democracy advocates all concerned about the future of NYC and its people.  And wondering about all that money coming in!  Just a few of the org's who walked from South ferry to Zucotti park for a teach in to City hall for the press conference: 

350.org, ALIGN, Arts & Democracy, CVH, El Centro del Inmigrante, Faith in NY, Good Jobs NY, Greater NY Labor-Religion Coalition, Hunger Action Network, LiUNA Local 10 and 78, NDLON, NYCC, NYSNA, Occupy Sandy, Participatory Budgeting Project, Physicians for a National Health Program – NY Metro, Red Hook Initiative, SEIU 32BJ, Solidarity NYC, VOCAL, and the Workers Justice Project...