(CHELSEA COMMUNITY NEWS) John Mudd, September 11, 2019

Urban planning has failed to preserve and/or build communities, especially within Manhattan’s Midtown Southwest. Although a relevant subject, it’s beyond the scope of this single article to accurately examine. Thankfully, there are studies, books, and history that detail the misdeeds of the past.

Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography David Harvey writes, in his book, Rebel Cities: “The question of what kind of city we want cannot be divorced from the question of what kind of people we want to be, what kinds of social relations we seek, what relations to nature we cherish, what style of life we desire, or what aesthetic values we hold.”

Hopefully, the city planners of today are heeding the words of our historians, who’ve brought the important issues to light. Putting the aforementioned broader picture aside for a particular specific injustice.

“There are people who do what they believe is right, but as they say, ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ ”—Aja Naomi King

Perhaps it was only a billionaire’s desire to revamp the city of New York and make his mark, yet the vision was bereft of foresight and human consideration. During his tenure, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg “encouraged high-rise development in industrial neighborhoods, including the Far West Side of Manhattan, the waterfront in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and in Long Island City, Queens,” in order to meet the needs of globe-trotting corporate junkies, and to keep in lockstep with London, Tokyo, and other skyward rising cities.

Bloomberg sought to overhaul zoning rules “so that buildings in Midtown Manhattan can soar as high as those elsewhere.” This window of opportunity was not to be missed, in spite of the administration acknowledging a weak market for commercial office buildings, “major changes in zoning were intended to make it possible to build when demand returned, as history suggests it inevitably will.” The Real Estate Board of New York, the industry’s lobbying group, its president, Steven Spinola, was quoted as saying, “We’re pretty happy with the direction this is going in.” Under the rezoning measures, the city would essentially sell the air rights to developers. The builders would pay for a “district improvement bonus” in order to go 20% above the existing limits. “The revenue would be used to improve subway connections and public spaces in the neighborhood.” —The NY Times article, Bloomberg Pushes A Plan To Let Midtown Soar.

With the subways being more distressed than ever before, the question remains, where is that bonus?

“The city issued $3 billion in bonds to build a boulevard and a subway extension to Hudson Yards, but the flow of revenue from the sale of development rights there to pay for the bonds has been slow. So the City Planning Department inserted a so-called sunrise provision, in which developers in the Grand Central area would have to wait five years before they could start building. Presumably, that would reduce the competition between the two areas and leave time for Hudson Yards to gather momentum.”—Bloomberg Pushes A Plan To Let Midtown Soar

Source: Chelsea Community News