Infrastructure Issues for NYC’s Next Mayor | How Roommates Replaced Spouses

Five debaters discuss the tough challenges that will face the next NYC mayor in order to keep the city livable (NYT).

1. How the next mayor can make New York City more livable. “The next mayor of New York faces some tough challenges that go to the core of what keeps the city livable. Challenges that he or she will have to address include basic infrastructural issues like electricity, water, flooding, waste management, housing and development, to name a few. What should be the new mayor’s priorities?” [New York Times – 09/02/13]
2. Bill de Blasio, development pragmatist. “If Bill de Blasio becomes mayor, he will drive the “hardest bargain possible” with developers, he says. But his record, back before he was a public advocate planning to run for mayor, is distinctly that of a pragmatic deal maker who chose his battles carefully on the issue of development, rather than that of the populist hardliner he now sounds like.” [Capital New York – 08/30/13]
3. Taxing homeowners as if they were landlords. “Continuing my series on tax expenditures, I want to discuss an obscure one: the imputed rent that homeowners get from living in their own homes.At first glance, the idea that this constitutes any form of income probably strikes most people as bizarre. But a little thought shows that there are many forms of income that don’t take the form of monetary payments. ” [New York TImes – 09/03/13]
4. How roommates replaced spouses in the 20th century. “In 1968, just six percent of young people—between 18 and 31—lived with platonic roommates, according to Pew Research. The vast majority (85 percent!) of Americans who had moved on from their homes and college dorms shacked up with spouses. In the last half-century, home life for young people has undergone an amazing shift. Friends and Craigslist strangers have essentially replaced spouses as the de facto first living-partners for American 20-somethings. ” [The Atlantic – 09/03/13]
5. In Mayoral race, attacking real estate industry but taking its cash. “In the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, a new set of political dirty words has surpassed the usual favorites, like “lobbyist” and “flip-flop,” that are traditionally used to spritz opponents and adversaries with a film of slime. hese new dirty words are “real estate,” “developers” and “condos” - printable, and yet filthy with disdain. But, conveniently, they have not stopped any of the major campaigns from accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the real estate industry. ” [New York Times – 09/02/13]
6. Staten Island eyes changes in waterfront. “An influential New York City Council member is pitching a novel proposal for Staten Island’s storm-battered seaside: elevating clusters of homes, potentially on a common platform around lawns or even swimming pools.The idea would involve the city and state buying up huge swaths of homes in the island’s most devastated neighborhoods in a low-lying area known as “The Bowl,” where even normal summer storms often cause flooding. Superstorm Sandy sent water surging through the area, causing multiple deaths there and damaging thousands of homes.” [Wall Street Journal – 09/02/13]
7. As renters move in, some homeowners fret. “Across the country, a growing number of single-family rentals provide an option for many who lost their homes in the housing crash through foreclosure and for those who cannot obtain a mortgage under today’s tougher credit conditions. But the decline in homeownership is also changing many neighborhoods in profound ways, including reduced home values, lower voter turnout and political influence, less social stability and higher crime.” [New York Times – 08/30/13]
8. Foreclosure starts plummet to six-year low. “Foreclosure starts recorded during the 12-month period ending in July fell to an activity level not seen since 2007,Lender Processing Services said in its latest Mortgage Monitor report. The report overall showed loan delinquencies and foreclosures on a downward trajectory despite the new influence of rising interest rates and fears that the economy may be slowing coming out of the month of August.” [Housing Wire – 09/03/13]
9. Where wages have grown the most (and least) since the recovery. “Just in time for Labor Day, a recent Gallup poll has given some promising employment news. More than half of American workers say that their income has grown over the last five years, telling Gallup that they are making either a lot (28 percent) or a little (30 percent) more money since the onslaught of the economic crisis.However, workers’ wage growth has been uneven across the country’s metros. ” [Atlantic Cities – 09/03/13]
10. NYCHA tenants plan rent strike in East Harlem   “Residents were already putting up with the roach-infested, moldy squalor that they say has become the norm at the Lexington Houses in East Harlem. But a three-week gas outage at one building in the NYCHA-run complex - which could last up to two months more - has ratcheted up their anger and prompted vows of revenge.Tenants of 110 E. 99th St. say they have organized 150 residents - about two-thirds of the neglected building - to withhold their September rent, and they are pushing neighbors throughout the cruddy complex to do the same.” [New York Daily News – 09/02/13]