Obama & Christie Tour Hurricane Recovery | De Blasio Opposes Rent Freezes

New Harlem Children Zone School at St. Nicholas Houses (DNA Info/Jeff Mays)

1. DCP Proposes Zoning Changes to Assist Owners in Elevating Multistory Buildings. “Up and down the coast of New York and New Jersey, property owners are being forced to raise their homes and businesses above a new 100-year floodplain drawn up and mandated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In the five boroughs, elevating multistory buildings present a particular problem.” [Crain’s New York Business – 05/24/13]
2. Obama & Christie Tour Recovery on the Jersey Shore. “It was a grim scene nearly seven months ago as President Obama and Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, joined for an election-eve photo-op, walking through the wreckage of property and lives that Hurricane Sandy had just left behind.Now, the political odd couple are having a reunion. [New York Times – 05/28/13]
3. Candidate de Blasio Opposes Rent Freezes, Unlike His Competitors. “Landlords have an unexpected new champion: liberal Bill de Blasio. The rent’s too damn high for most of the Democratic candidates for mayor, with all but Public Advocate de Blasio calling on the Rent Guidelines Board not to impose any increases at its meeting next month.” [New York Post – 05/28/13]
4. NYCHA Hopes New HCZ School Opening at St. Nicholas Houses Inspires Private Development on Its Land. “Officials from the New York City Housing Authority are hoping that the new 135,000-square-foot Promise Academy K-12 school for 1,300 students will serve as an example of how another controversial NYCHA proposal to build market-rate rental developments can benefit neighborhoods.” [DNA Info – 05/28/13]
5. How the ‘M’ Train is Gentrifying Bushwick. “Gentrification that has spilled over from industrial East Williamsburg to residential northeast Bushwick is spreading inexorably southward-thanks to a little help from the Metropolitan Transportation AuthorityThe MTA’s decision to reroute the M train through the heart of midtown Manhattan in 2010 erased the invisible barrier that Myrtle Avenue-the area hit hardest by arson fires in the late 1970s-posed for years, real estate experts said .” [Brooklyn Bureau – 05/24/13]
6. Young Adult Mobility Patterns May Perpetuate Racial Segregation. “The early-adult years seem like a prime window for disrupting patterns of racial segregation. Much research shows that when people change neighborhoods, they tend to move to a new one that closely mirrors the racial makeup of the neighborhood left behind.” [City Lab – 05/28/13]
7. NYC’s New Major League Soccer Outfit Seeks Free Public Land for Stadium. “Major League Soccer (MLS) is expanding to New York.The MLS announced on Wednesday,with Mayor Michael Bloomberg standing by, that the league’s 20th franchise, New York City Football Club (NYCFC), will be operated by the New York Yankees and the English football club Manchester City. The club will join the league in 2015.First order of business? Secure public land for a stadium free of charge.” [Next City – 05/24/13]
8. Home Prices in US Rose by Most Since 2006 in March. “Home prices rose in the 12 months through March by the most in seven years as the recovery in residential real estate gained momentum.The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values increased 10.9 percent from March 2012, the biggest 12-month gain since April 2006, after advancing 9.4 percent in February, a report showed today in New York. The median projection of 30 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 10.2 percent advance.” [Bloomberg – 05/28/13]
9. Boston Housing Authority Stops Issuing New Housing Vouchers, Due to Sequestration. “Thousands of the state’s poorest residents are losing or being denied federal housing subsidies as a result of automatic, across-the-board spending cuts, forcing many to choose between food, rent, medicine - or the streets.The cuts are pummeling the Section 8 voucher program, which offers assistance to poor individuals and families renting apartments in the open market.” [Boston Globe – 05/26/13]
10. U.S. Marshals Put Madoff Home on the Market for $4.495 Million. “The lush white mansion for sale at 34 Pheasant Run in Old Westbury on Long Island makes a grand first impression. It has a long, winding driveway; a tennis court; a two-bedroom pool house surrounded by lavish gardens; a parade of antiques in its hallways; and marble in hues of lapis and gold throughout the ground floor.” [New York Times – 05/27/13]