Bloomberg Has Done More (Damage) Than He's Given Credit For

Today's edition of AM New York has a mostly glowing piece on how Michael Bloomberg has transformed our city for the better despite high publicity losses such as the West Side Stadium and the congestion pricing initiative that just fell last week. The real win for Bloomberg according to AMNY was the series of rezoning laws that has spurred a tremendous amount of growth all over the city (except for the Bronx of course).

The article's major focus is that thanks to the Mayor, new neighborhoods have sprung up almost overnight, businesses are staying in Manhattan after threatening to leave the city post 9/11 and areas thought to be no-man lands are the hippest new thing.

Of course, that is all true. Yet there is only one paragraph in the middle and three at the end that show the other side of things. New York has been changing alright, but at what cost to New Yorkers? Prices have gone sky high due to all the luxury building. Many long time residents are being priced out of the city, giving their newly more expensive space in order to gentrify the city and purge it of the character it is world-famous for. The Big Apple, Gotham and the hundreds of other names were not pulled off of a Starbucks menu. Of course Bloomberg doesn't care as long as big business is making big money here in Manhattan.

I know, New York is always changing. Yet what it is changing into now is only palatable for the very rich....and not for the rest of us.

Where Will All The New Yorkers Go?

No this isn't a story about I Am Legend, the eight million plus people here aren't going to disappear or turn into zombies. The problem here is more financial than Hollywood sci-fi. With all of the gentrification going on here in the city and out in the boroughs, New Yorkers are finding it harder to find decent places to live as the rents and real estate prices keep rising. We're not even talking about those in the lower income brackets, these are "middle class" families that are making $80 to $150K a year.

From Crain's New York:

Living in the city is becoming more unaffordable for the middle class, and not just in trendy Manhattan neighborhoods, where a two-bedroom apartment can cost about $1.5 million or rent for $3,500. Gentrification in parts of Brooklyn, Queens, Harlem and upper Manhattan is putting former middle- and working-class neighborhoods out of reach for many people.

Add a city and state tax burden that can approach 12% of income, and New Yorkers are being priced out of the city, which they don't want to leave.

"For middle- and working-class families, [the city] is unaffordable—increasingly unaffordable," says Vicki Been, director of NYU's Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy.

Living in New York City has always been expensive, and that's the price people pay for its opportunities and vibrancy. But over the past decade, the cost of housing—the largest budget item for most middle- and working-class households—has been rising more steeply than ever. New developments are targeted primarily at the high end of the market, and the mayor's affordable housing program doesn't include a large segment of middle-income households. At the same time, rezoning has limited development in many middle-class neighborhoods.

So while the Mayor isn't doing much in the way of assistance, people are looking towards 2009 and the next Mayor who could possibly solve the real estate woes. Rent stabilization is being eroded by landlords desperately looking to cash in on the real estate boom. Those coveted apartments below market rate are disappearing at a rate that is higher than ever. So Comptroller William Thompson and Congressman Anthony Weiner are already using this issue as their central theme. What they'll do about it once in office, is yet to be seen though.

A Soulless City?

First off, I love living in New York, there is nothing out there like this city. On my street, I live across the street from an SRO and there a few local shops across the way as well. The neighborhood (Kips Bay)has its own character for sure, but you can definitely see things are changing. The 99c store on the corner went out of business and now there's a Chase Bank branch coming, even though it is only a five minute walk to one that is already open. Is it really necessary? What the hell is going on?

From AM New York:

"It used to be a badge of honor to live in New York City, and we used to laugh at the people in the suburbs," said Jerilou Hammett, co-editor of the book "The Suburbanization of New York."

"Urban areas were all about diversity and the struggle of the creative individuals ... Now, other than little monikers like SoHo and NoHo, where is the uniqueness of most neighborhoods?"

Indeed, with the seemingly epidemic-scale disappearance of the longtime small shops and low-scale residential buildings that give neighborhoods texture, some are wondering whether the feel of New York has forever changed.

The Municipal Art Society is examining these issues with a new exhibit on the legendary city urbanist Jane Jacobs, who successfully blocked a highway from cutting through Greenwich Village in the 1960s and argued that a neighborhood's character is its most valuable asset. The exhibit and accompanying panel discussions look at the numbing qualities of gentrification, chain stores, and an influx of people who move to the city without a sense of its history.

The only difference between bank branches and Starbucks in New York as compared to burbs' is that there are generally ten to forty stories of offices and/or apartments above the stores. Even in my place of refuge in the city (Greenwich Village) you can see the crushing forces of gentrification on the horizon. The East Village is a shell of what it used to be and although I like Max Brenner's, there is nothing wrong with keeping stores like it out of our unique nabes.

The uniqueness of New York is one of its largest gems. Having a Starbucks and a bank on every corner while eventually erode the character of our city.

Say Goodbye To SoHo

SoHo is about to change along with a lot of the city, another victim of the gentrification and real estate wars. The city struck down an attempt to stop Donald Trump from building a 46-story residential tower by the Holland Tunnel because of a loophole. Once it is finished being built, many are afraid that the area South of Houston will be spotted with these thirty, forty or more story buildings, towering over what we know of the neighborhood now. The Donald obviously does not care, taking his conquest of the city to new heights (no pun intended).

From The Daily News:

What is not permitted is a residential use, so the new Trump tower must be packaged as a hotel and not as a condo building. But in a deal negotiated by city officials, the hotel rooms will be bought like condos.

"He's calling it a hotel but it's really going to be a building primarily for residential use," Sweeney said Monday.

Under the project's so-called restrictive declaration, no owner will be able to occupy a unit for a continuous period of more than 29 days in any 36-day period or for more than 120 days in a calendar year.

SoHo Alliance attorney Stuart Klein asked the city Department of Buildings to revoke the building's permit in a July 24 letter.

Klein, formerly the top lawyer with the Department of Buildings, said the 29-out-of-36-days rule would be unenforceable.

"It sets up a mechanism that's simply not going to be followed," he said Monday.

Shopaholics shouldn't fear of course, the trendy boutiques will stay in their area, as long as their economic output stays high. What is worrisome is that the SoHo we know is under attack from the most devilish real estate tycoon out there. My fear is that the neighborhoods that make New York the greatest city in the country (if not the world) is slowly being stripped down to a hollow shell of expensive monstrosities of glass, steel and concrete. Who knows, in a generation or two they might even come after Greenwich Village. If that happens, I for one will be on the barricades, metaphorically speaking.

Fighting Gentrification In The Fashion District

The constant spread of expensive, gleaming high rises is undeniable in the city. New Yorkers are okay with this downtown and in midtown, but many locals hate to see it in neighborhoods such as the LES, Chelsea and even in my Kips Bay area. Well there is one group of fashionistas that want to see the Fashion District saved from gentrification.

From AM New York:

Even as fabric and trim suppliers, cut-and-sew contractors and fashion company showrooms lose their leases, the city is considering rezoning to allow offices, the coalition said.

The garment district today is a shadow of what it used to be 50 years ago, when the streets were clogged with European immigrants pulling racks cloaked with fabrics, embroideries and finished garments. Before the influx of offices and hotels, cheap imports and outsourcing to China and other countries had already significantly scaled back business.

But a small nucleus of fabric and button sellers, fashion studios and contracted sewing workers remain, Geffner said.

"It's about saving the community that exists," said Geffner. "It's the backbone of the fashion capital of the world. Without it the whole thing will come tumbling down."

The center of fashion in America will always be here in New York, but keeping the district intact is crucial to keeping our dominance. Those new offices drive up rental prices which put long time businesses out of commission.

The identity of New York is always changing, but there are many parts that need saving. This is definitely one of them.

Mayor Michael Poppins

At the exclusive black-tie Inner Circle event on Saturday night Mayor Bloomberg did his annual spoof on himself. It was actually somewhat funny, since this joke is rooted in a whole lot of truth. He displayed a video on a mock Broadway show called "Mayor Poppins" that included a slew of celebrities and theater-goers raving about the fake show.

As I watched this YouTube edition, two themes popped into my head. One was the delusional idea that he could run for President. You know that ain't gonna happen. Despite Giuliani's current popularity in the polls, that by no means translates into a credible race for Bloomberg. Dream on Michael!



The second theme is much more relevant to New Yorkers. As you know from "Mary Poppins" the famous nanny laid down strict rules for the children and had them whipped into shape, while loving her method as she did her business. The Mayor does not have the power to get New York's kids to do their homework, but he is trying to shape our lives in many different ways. Whether it be no trans-fats when we eat out or speeding the gentrification of the city, he is definitely trying to change our habits in so many ways. At least he is allowing us to keep metal baseball bats when we want to club his hopes to be President.

Gentrification In East Harlem Is No Laughing Matter

If you live in NYC and are or have friends that live east of the park and above a certain street you may have heard the joking term "The Upper-Upper East Side." It refers to the spread of high-rise and high cost apartments that are emerging above and beyond the old "border" of 96th street. Yet for many the change is no laughing matter. The lives of long term residents are being affected by the cost of food at the supermarket and the amount the landlords are charging for rent. Then there are the children, and those that go to St. Francis de Sales School that might not be open to them anymore.

The New York Times has more:

Ms. Velasquez and the other parents of almost 200 students in the school’s eight grades were abruptly told in early March that the school would close in June. But officials at the Archdiocese of New York, as well as other parents and clergy familiar with recent events, said they expected that the school would reopen in a year, possibly as a more expensive private academy or preschool.

“They just want us out to make room for the new and improved people,” Ms. Velasquez said. “There is a plan for this neighborhood. I mean, look at First Avenue. They got doormen! It’s all connected. Look at Second Avenue. Why do they want to finish the subway now? These are not different issues. It’s all connected.”

Ms. Velasquez is definitely on to something. The Second Avenue subway delays are probably more complex, but overall things are changing to accomodate and encourage the gentrification of East Harlem. Some may say that higher prices will drive out the crime and the way East Harlem has been known to be a dangerous area. Though there are other ways of dealing with crime than to kick out long-term residents by hitting them in the pocketbook.

With the bleak future for the school and its children, the church isn't being nice about the situation either. Father Muzzin has been there three years and in 2006 he laid the groundwork for the change, upsetting many in the community.

Check out this brotherly love:

A little over a year ago, Father Muzzin said as much in the Sunday bulletin distributed at Mass. In it, he described how the school — which parents said served primarily black and Latino students — needed to attract a greater “variety of people” from the area.

“Some parents have to wake up to the realization that they cannot afford Catholic Education,” he wrote. “Period.”

The pastor’s message became clearer a few lines later: “I see the day in the not distant future when it will become the school of choice of all the Catholic parents in the neighborhood who now send their children to prestigious and pricey private schools,” he wrote. “Why spend $25,000 when you can get the same thing for much, much less?”

What a gentle guy Father Muzzin is. It seems like the elements that are changing the neighborhood resemble the man that represents the church. I may not be Catholic, but isn't there something written about helping those who are less fortunate. Does it matter if it is on the Upper-Upper East Side?