Small Business Districts Thrive | Art Galleries Leaving Chelsea

September 1st 2015

Photograph: Nina Roberts / The Guardian

  1. Mayor de Blasio Authorizes Emergency Measure to Aid Homeless People “With few beds available in New York City’s homeless shelters, Mayor Bill de Blasio has authorized another emergency measure to provide rental assistance to people facing homelessness. The $10 million initiative is expected to provide aid to as many as 1,000 adults and is modeled on an emergency measure in May to assist families with children, who have been the focus of the administration’s recent efforts to reduce homelessness. While the number of homeless people has fallen since last winter’s record of about 60,000, officials concluded that more needed to be done to assist adults without children. In an Aug. 5 count, 16,562 people were living in city homeless shelters. The average vacancy rate at shelters for single adults was 1.1 percent, while the rate at shelters for adult families was 1.29 percent.” [New York Times – 08/30/15]
  2. Brooklyn’s Affordable Housing Development Spring Creek Faces Delays from de Blasio’s Office, Project Leader Says “When Mayor de Blasio held a press conference in May 2014 to debut his new affordable housing plan, his full-color presentation touted a project called Spring Creek in Brooklyn. Spring Creek was flagged as a “case study” partnership between the city and developers to “create a strong, vibrant and self-sustaining neighborhood.” But on Friday, the bulk of that project remained a big, ugly vacant field of weeds and abandoned roadway in East New York. More than 1,500 of 1,803 planned affordable units are now in a bureaucratic Twilight Zone — and may become less affordable as a result. ‘There is no progress from the progressive mayor,’ said the Rev. David Brawley, a leader of East Brooklyn Congregations, one of the groups sponsoring Spring Creek.” [NY Daily News – 08/29/15]
  3. Against the Odds, Small Business Districts are Thriving in New York City “Fluctuating real estate values, immigration patterns and shifting consumer needs dictate where shopping districts organically crop up and disappear. Manhattan’s once-thriving camera district is now gone, as many consumers have ditched cameras for iPhones. Little Italy’s cluster of Italian food shops? Reduced to a handful geared toward tourists as Italian immigrant numbers have dwindled. Parts of the Flower District, once overflowing with greenery, have been razed to make way for luxury housing and hotels. Because of prohibitive rents, chain stores like H&M, Topshop, Zara and Uniqlo have replaced the cavernous and creaky district of fabric stores that once lined lower Broadway in SoHo. Despite the predominance of multinational chain stores populating prime real estate in Manhattan and most US city centers, districts made up of individually owned shops do exist, and some historic clusters manage to hang on.” [The Guardian – 08/30/15]
  4. Homeless Families Endure Roaches, Mice and Failed Promises “The Clarkson Avenue building is one of about 400 private apartment buildings that house more than 3,000 families for whom New York City’s shelters have no room. The city pays nearly $2,500 a month for housing and services per family under a program that advocates for homeless people and even city officials have condemned as expensive, wasteful and ineffective, a failure that has exacerbated the city’s affordable housing crisis. Mayor Bill de Blasio has pledged to end the city’s reliance on this form of emergency housing for homeless people, known as the cluster-site program, an arrangement the city’s Department of Investigation has characterized as by far the most dysfunctional corner of a troubled shelter system.” [New York Times – 08/28/15]
  5. 4 Cities Get $3 Million Each for Placemaking Projects “Often, placing a sculpture in a public square, or hanging a painting in a community center right before the ribbon-cutting ceremony are part of the “finishing touches” of urban planning. But arts-and-culture-focused nonprofit ArtPlace believes that familiar timeline needs to be tweaked. ‘Arts and culture are too often left out of community planning conversations,’ said Jamie Bennett, ArtPlace America executive director, when announcing the six U.S. communities that would receive a total of $18 million for creative community development-driven projects. ‘These six organizations will demonstrate the unique value that artists and arts organizations can bring to the full spectrum of community development priorities, including community resiliency, economic development, housing, open space, public health, and youth opportunity.’” [Next City – 08/31/15]
  6. East Village and LES 2 of the Fastest-Selling ‘Hoods in Manhattan: Data “Be prepared to act quickly — both neighborhoods are in demand and are two of the fastest-selling areas in the borough, according to a new analysis by StreetEasy, a real estate search site. Manhattan homes typically spent 50 days on the market, according to the site’s July 2015 report, but properties in the East Village and Lower East Side usually stayed on the market for an average of only 31 and 36 days, respectively. The brisk sales are a sign that the demand for real estate is high, said Alan Lightfeldt, a data scientist for StreetEasy. ‘The Lower East Side and East Village offer prime downtown Manhattan living, with access to plenty of options for transportation, dining and entertainment, a trifecta that makes these neighborhoods especially appealing to buyers,’ he said.” [DNAinfo – 08/28/15]
  7. Fiscal Watchdog Explains How Property Owners Paid $2.5 Billion in Extra Taxes “The recently discovered policy change that has so far cost property owners $2.5 billion hasn’t stirred up the hornet’s nest that Martha Stark was hoping for when she unearthed it. In the city’s news cycle of today, property-tax formulas aren’t exactly topless women. But an irony has emerged: The decision was made not because the city wanted more tax revenue, but because it had too much. The issue grew from the real estate boom of the mid-2000s, which produced property-tax revenue far in excess of what had been expected. The flood of money pushed the city close to the limit allowed by the state constitution, which forbids the city from raising more than 2.5% of the combined market value of taxable properties in order to pay for operating expenses.” [Crain’s New York Business – 08/31/15]
  8. City Wants Affordable Housing at Site of Former Slaughterhouse “The Manhattan site of an early 20th century slaughterhouse turned warehouse turned NYPD parking lot would become home to an affordable housing complex with other amenities under a proposal Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration issued Monday morning. The city’s Economic Development Corporation is seeking bidders to build a mixed-use facility on the 24,687-square-foot, city-owned site at 495 11th Ave. The administration is hoping the property’s proximity to the expansive Hudson Yards project, coupled with the upcoming extension of the 7 train, will attract developers.” [Capital NY – 08/31/15]
  9. Yonkers’ Affordable-Housing Fight Isn’t Over “For the last two weeks, HBO’s six-episode social drama Show Me a Hero spotlighted a topic that doesn’t tend to get a lot of attention from Hollywood: affordable-housing policy. Co-written by David Simon, the show runner of The Wire, Show Me a Hero documents the polarizing conflict over the court-ordered construction of 200 units of public housing on the predominantly white east side of Yonkers. While—hey, spoiler alert—the series ended in tragedy for Nick Wasicsko, the young mayor portrayed by Oscar Isaac, it closes in triumph for the residents lucky enough to win one of the new units. But what is the fate of Yonkers, and its public housing, more than 20 years after the court case and subsequent political battle that Show Me a Hero dramatized?” [Slate – 08/31/15]
  10. Art Galleries are Leaving Chelsea “Ten years ago, a group of seven young art dealers opened galleries in former loading docks on a deserted cobblestone street, helping transform Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood into an art destination. Now, only two of the galleries remain after the rest relocated or closed because of high rents. With leases expiring in November, both said they are likely to leave. ‘It’s time to move to a new area and be part of a new story,’ said Michael Gillespie, owner of Foxy Production, one of the two galleries. ‘Chelsea feels more blue-chip and less an area where you come to discover new artists.’” [Crain’s New York Business – 08/28/15]
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