tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post945222301312746614..comments2023-08-14T11:44:27.299-04:00Comments on Jeremiah's<br> Vanishing New York: The Bloomberg WayJeremiah Mosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11791516443125872364noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-232008334353012922016-08-05T09:27:56.898-04:002016-08-05T09:27:56.898-04:00What's the Golden Age that's longed for? ...What's the Golden Age that's longed for? When there were pushcarts in the streets instead of "big box" stores? When, instead of high finance folks ther were stogie makers and garment workers? When, instead od high-rises, there were hot, overcrowded tenements? There seems to be a longing for artists and poets, but not electricians, plumbers, or truck drivers. Want to live cheaply with no high rises and "big box" stores? Move to the myriad small towns struggling to survive since the industries that supported them are gone. Places change. Some get richer and bigger; some poorer and smaller. That's life. Get used to it. <br /><br />Skeptichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10457674520650207602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-48750361887904822852014-07-06T14:17:10.665-04:002014-07-06T14:17:10.665-04:00This makes me want to cry. I know it's an old...This makes me want to cry. I know it's an old post, and maybe I'm just feeling emotional today, but I could not stand what the city became under Mayor Mike. A city ( a country for that matter) is not a business, and should not be so run. I think the last ten plus years have destroyed the myth of CEO's as efficient (or even logical.) I liked Guilliani (sp.), and the city needed him at that time. But Bloomberg treated a city of eight million souls as his erect-a-set project, with all the contempt and hubris of a, 'self made man.' It's been said but he really sucked the heart out of this place. I was here in the seventies and eighties, and don't fancy a return of the criminal element, but law and order should not be synonymous with crushing the little guy. <br />I'm not a flaming liberal at all, but Bloomberg was such that I have hopes of De Blasio, even if it's merely for the change of ethos. There was something stultifying in Bloomberg's reign. It was almost like a personal revenge of some kind (no, I can't qualify that statement.) Anyway, not sure what provoked this, except that I don't think that good government should be such a far out concept. I don't think we need a progressive, or a conservative, or an idependent so called, I just think we need someone with integrity, who cares, feet on the ground, head in the clouds...tra-la-la-la...boy, I better do some tai chi!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-77609101530821181982014-06-07T15:34:19.207-04:002014-06-07T15:34:19.207-04:00waltie, jeremiah is one of a kind, hes not just a ...waltie, jeremiah is one of a kind, hes not just a flash in the pan. his eassays are so amazing that we keep going back to them, commenting & updating.laura r.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-52408849359495005712014-06-06T00:41:25.849-04:002014-06-06T00:41:25.849-04:00Holy crap, Jeremiah
Somebody resurrected a nearly...Holy crap, Jeremiah<br /><br />Somebody resurrected a nearly 6 year old post. Congratulations on your staying power.<br />Uncle WaltieWalterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06416518509228779720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-77357857701018137062014-06-05T13:56:13.423-04:002014-06-05T13:56:13.423-04:00bloomberg bashing is a waste of time. it is also n...bloomberg bashing is a waste of time. it is also not correct. this is happening world wide, everywhere. a mayor is just part of the foodchain. the corporate developers are in charge. so much of the USA is run in saudi arabian $ as an example. occupy wall st. is another waste of time. if they are going to demonstrate they should be in washington in front of the white house. then again, those people are just part of a foodchain- front men. relax & think of moving to bushwick, while that lasts.laura r.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-15922052906094481312014-02-07T07:43:48.451-05:002014-02-07T07:43:48.451-05:00Bloomberg reptoids, anti human British empire Buff...Bloomberg reptoids, anti human British empire Buffon junkie tranny for the nasty new world order takeover of planet earth. He is no climate change expert and has killed many humansAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-59860571979676620142013-11-21T10:51:25.302-05:002013-11-21T10:51:25.302-05:00Thank you!! Your words bring a weird sense of reli...Thank you!! Your words bring a weird sense of relief. I moved here over a year ago and feel "lesser" in every way for having made that choice. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-43692600978520415272012-08-16T02:53:01.028-04:002012-08-16T02:53:01.028-04:00DEB asks, "Sure, I want to be wealthy, too. W...DEB asks, "Sure, I want to be wealthy, too. Who doesn't?" I do not. It is far from my mind. With Bloomberg, Doctoroff (now scuttled, thank god) and Romeny, amassing money is ALL that life is about. This is a sick way to exist. How can people elect hoarders and think that they will give anything to citizens? These uber rich creeps believe in keeping everything for themselves. They literally do not understand any other way. Look how Bloomberg responds to criticism: "My plan B is better than your plan A" is his typical retort. My god, the man is blind. I live my life so that I do not even NEED a plan B. But this sad, sick person - who once stated that he wanted the 2012 olympics here so he could see his daughter ride - is an uncaring narcissist. Unless the topic is money. Then he cares to the nth degree. New Yorkers were idiots for electing him. That they did it three times shows a warped system of values.<br />Mr. Big Successful Businessman not only runs the lowest rated radio station in the city, but he has yet to balance a budget. And the millions he has squandered to keep tabs on peaceful gatherings of citizens will pale beside the millions that the city will soon be paying out for false arrest judgments. He is a perfect example of the fallacy that rich people are smart. He is a dope. As an example, the man has repeatedly justified tax hikes by saying, "Unlike the federal government which can print money to cover deficits, the city cannot." See? Only an ignoramus would think that the govmin (as he mispronounces it) has NO DEFICIT because it printed money to cover the shortfall. Inflation is at 1.7% as I write this. It would be north of the Weimar Republic inflation rate if the feds printed cash to cover the budget. The man is a know-nothing boor.revrev_nychttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16084071590574259966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-53316263393645257832012-02-13T11:15:23.654-05:002012-02-13T11:15:23.654-05:00Never read so much short-sided, ignorant, and ill-...Never read so much short-sided, ignorant, and ill-informed blather than in the responses to this article. <br /><br />Look people, there are many "types" of cities you can have: you can have a city of the upper middle and upper classes, filled with glass and chrome hotels on every other block, high rents, and lots of clubs. OR, you can have a city that was New York for 300 years, with all the elements that made it a great city. I'm not talking about the filth and drug addled 60's which so many ageing hippies romanticize about. I'm talking about the 300 years of history before that, a city of working (hello? WORKING) classes, families, churches, clean (mostly) parks, a zoo, fabulous, affordable theater and live music, and indeed, all the arts. <br /><br />Which one do you want? <br /><br />Doesn't matter. It has been chosen for you.SadEndinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10104166860952973172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-78647850727766381922011-11-04T05:48:17.997-04:002011-11-04T05:48:17.997-04:00Occupy Wall Street! You said people aren't get...Occupy Wall Street! You said people aren't getting angry in the streets...well they are now!<br /><br />Great blog man, absolutely great. Grew up in NYC as a pro musician and left for the midwest as you can't make any money in NY anymore as a musician. They passed some crazy law that mandates a $10k insurance fee to hire a wedding band at any catering hall. that means no more wedding bands. Can you believe that? NYC is an awful place, and in the midwest, we actually don't have to get searched everywhere we go, and we're allowed to carry weapons. Down with NYC!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-48774981273712895342011-08-04T02:00:35.381-04:002011-08-04T02:00:35.381-04:00The people who speak of the change being good do n...The people who speak of the change being good do not really have an idea of what it was like originally and what was lost. Change is one thing but to be basically unrecognizable is another. When I go bellow 14th street were I lived for 20 years it is a different world I feel like I am the tourist (great) the buildings are there but everything else is gone, it all looks the same and feels more like a stage set. Everyone whats to be safe and not have crime but there is no life left (unless a wealthy suburb is your thing) and the creative people now replaced with money and a wild and crazy type. Yes it is the suburbs or Hollywood and it has lost allot of the charm and the pricer areas of Brooklyn are not much better.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-23546273467363518842011-05-22T20:33:23.912-04:002011-05-22T20:33:23.912-04:00hey, glad you found us. always good to know you...hey, glad you found us. always good to know you're not alone.Jeremiah Mosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11791516443125872364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-71510542745452772702011-05-22T19:36:52.291-04:002011-05-22T19:36:52.291-04:00OMG...I freakin' luvvvvv you!!!I can't bel...OMG...I freakin' luvvvvv you!!!I can't believe this blog exists. I thought it was just MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! I found you doing a google search for "gentrification destroys" and the results gave me another blog that linked to this one. <br />Dude, I thought it was just me. I hate this artificial plastic crap non-New York City and all of these phony, corporate rat bastard settlers that they've bussed in from the Twilight Zone or Soulless Republican Creep Bloodlustville or wherever they're from. I've been a NY'er all my life, from way way back when 42nd street was the Deuce, Fort Greene was the 'hood, the Village was gay and creative and alive with rebellious energy, Harlem was uptown and the only white people found there after dark were buying drugs. From back in the days when you started out in Flushing and worked your way up to your dream crib on Central Park West. When there were bad neighborhoods (graffiti, trash and liquor stores,) better neighborhoods (private houses, catholic schools, nice parks) and great neighborhoods (Riverside Drive, Brooklyn Heights, Jamaica Estates) - you know, before the Borg. I HAAAAAATE that the Big Apple doesn't exist anymore!!! I hate that there are no blocks, no neighborhoods, no communities anymore. I HAAAAATE this neoliberal POS tourist trap the Forces of Evil have made of OUR city. <br />And damn it feels good to know I'm not the only one. Salute, bredren!!! Keep fighting the good fight and we'll get it back...NYC_Chicnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-14771092886002368192011-01-07T13:13:03.341-05:002011-01-07T13:13:03.341-05:00The comments here perfectly illustrate the difficu...The comments here perfectly illustrate the difficulty in pinning Bloomberg to any one way. He has certainly overseen the destruction of more old NYC neighborhood favorite small businesses, while constructing more large scale luxury buildings. But then he goes to and tries to be Mayor Green with all the bike lanes and pedestrian plazas (which I find overbearing and obnoxious, but that's just me). He also has lots of plans for "affordable housing," although that term is so baffling to me. Who decides what is affordable and what is not? And if affordable housing means less than market value, who is paying the difference?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-50224302846792081642011-01-07T11:47:17.240-05:002011-01-07T11:47:17.240-05:00Additionally, lest we forget, in his infinite arog...Additionally, lest we forget, in his infinite arogance the man STOLE the Mayorship. <br /><br />But one need only think back to what the city was like pre-9/11 but at the end of Giuliani's term as opposed to what it is like now to see what horrors have been wrought on this city. <br /><br />Interesting question: would he have been elected had it not been for 9/11? I don't think he would have. We were in mourning, recovering from one of the worst incidents in this country's history and we weren't paying attention. <br /><br />Sure, I want to be wealthy, too. Who doesn't? But I don't want to see my city so changed that it looks like some generic shopping mall or giant housing complex and I think people who are not wealthy should not have to spend an hour on a train twice a day to come in to work to support the lifestyle I want.<br /><br />This is lunacy. And I ahve nothing against the guy except this issue: but it is huge.Debnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-64914740130501838452011-01-07T11:37:52.318-05:002011-01-07T11:37:52.318-05:00Thanks so much for this terrific piece. Will by or...Thanks so much for this terrific piece. Will by ordering the book (from a BOOKSTORE, thank you) in the next day or so. It's funny but in my emotional state about this topic I always refer to Bloomberg as a King creating his wealthy, land owning crew around him; turning our city into an elitest thing of the past--past centuries, that is. I appreciate the author's cogent arguments so neatly laid out with passion but not emotion. I shall use, and credit them. The sad thing is, it will all be too late. It's already almost impossible for the middle class to live in this city and unless we have a major real estate catastrophe (well, for the landlords, NOT for the citizens; for the citizens it equalled things out a bit) I don't see that changing. This building, destroying old neighborhoods, building these stupid malls that can only be navigated if you travel by private car service on aregular basis are horrifying. History will judge him but, again like Bush, it will be too late.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-70496906657079737172009-10-17T10:31:02.874-04:002009-10-17T10:31:02.874-04:00Frankly, Bloomberg is a tyrant in the way he weals...Frankly, Bloomberg is a tyrant in the way he weals "Zoning Tools". There is no room in his power scheme plans that allow for any democratic processes. Under Bloomberg, the Will of the People is no match for the moneyed elite armed with redevelopment plans. And development plans are good even as they obliterate what is of value in a community, so long as they make money for those developers.<br /><br />(As planning teacher at Yale pointed out in a recent publication, that for every new dollar of revenue that a city gets from a redevelopment project, the city will have to spend 3 dollars in additional city services to accomodate those new developments. So we know these efforts aren't about long term fiscal responsibility.)<br /><br />And much of what appears good in the PlaNYC is "green washing" that doesn't actually take the problems of climate change to heart. <br /><br />And can anyone explain why the mayor is so strongly opposing the EPA cleanup of the Gowanus in Brooklyn? How was it the city was planning to rezone this area for high rise developments without addressing the toxins in the water here--not to mention the toxins leaching from the land?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-43311899330220835012009-10-15T09:54:27.440-04:002009-10-15T09:54:27.440-04:00Jeremiah, pieces like this are why I read your blo...Jeremiah, pieces like this are why I read your blog. And the comments after(absent douchebaggery) are also quite informative.Jim VBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-65968931173260481642009-09-01T21:36:08.901-04:002009-09-01T21:36:08.901-04:00You have at least make some effort to understand r...You have at least make some effort to understand reality if you want to be taken seriously at all. Bloomberg is not terrible, nor is he responsible for many of things you dislike about current NYC.<br />First of all, most of the trends that this blog opposes got started in the 90's during the Giuliani administration. Bloomberg, while he certainly has many flaws, is far better than Giuliani. Now that was a guy that you could legitimately hate.<br /><br />It is popular to claim that Bloomberg runs the city like a private corporation, but there is really no evidence to support this. He's a politician in his role as Mayor, and a surprisingly effective one. Hizzoner is not all-powerful, and Bloomberg has had to work within the constraints of the city council and Albany.<br /><br />It's true that a disproportionate share of the city's economy is in the finance/real estate industry, but this was true since at least Koch and the Mayor has limited power to change that. One thing the mayor can influence, that Bloomberg has definitely emphasized, is growing the tourism industry. I think this has been a terrible idea, but it was sort of the obvious choice to capitalize on the larger trend of falling crime and global affluence.<br /><br />Bloomberg's administration does tend to be Manhattan centric, consistent with his view of NYC as a "luxury product", but he has also supported development of the entire East River waterfront from Coney up to at least LIC and will probably go all the way to Soundview if he can manage it. Now you could argue that NYC waterfront re-development should include more industrial use and not be just residential and parks, and you might be right, but you have to admit it beats the hell of the Bob Moses plan to just cover it with highways.<br /><br />When it comes to real estate development, its true bloomberg must take a lot of the blame for the over-development of the last 5-10 yrs. Again, though, you can't have it both ways. You want to diversify the economy, and all these construction projects have certainly provided a lot of jobs and investment, and eventually the market will absorb them just fine because there is a chronic under-supply of housing here. The developers will suffer, but we who live here will actually benefit in the long term by having more options for housing.<br /><br />In addition, Bloomberg's PlaNYC (terrible name, but not all bad in terms of the actual content) propses creating massive new capacity for middle income housing by developing areas such as Sunnyside Yards. If you're not familiar with the plan in particular, you should check it out - it is a pretty amazing proposal to build a platform over the rail yards in north western queens and zone it for what is essentially a whole new neighborhood. Like grand central but better.<br /><br />Things like getting the schools under mayoral control may seem "dictatorial" in some sense, but he took a system that was broken and has shown signs that he is fixing it. I know it can be a slippery slope, and there is something a bit unsettling about ceding too much power to the Mayor, but you can't paint him with a broad brush and say everything is in service of commodifying the "luxury product" that is NYC.<br /><br />I think Bloomberg has a genuine vision for fixing some of the big problems in the city. I think some what he wants to do is good and some of it I disagree with strongly. I also think he does a horrible job articulating his policy goals to the public, but that just shows he didn't spend his life in politics.<br /><br />To sum up, while there is much to criticize, there are also positive things that have come out of the Bloomberg administration. And you should look at the city council, Albany, the MTA, NYPD, all the various bureaucracies with just as much scrutiny since the Mayor doesn't work in a vacuum. Bloomberg is hardly the worst Mayor of the last few decades, and if you look at his competition in the upcoming election, they are a pretty depressing bunch.J:Laihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02371288230268371951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-74701849214280547072009-08-04T00:07:43.390-04:002009-08-04T00:07:43.390-04:00Bloomberg makes Rudy look like a supporter of the ...Bloomberg makes Rudy look like a supporter of the arts. He and his 'advisors' and commisioners have drained the creative life out of this city and passed it on to the real estate developers and corporate sponsors. Like London, Paris and Rome these clowns have made NYC 'another' museum city.....old, dead and stuffed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-72279794456631840522009-08-03T15:25:45.303-04:002009-08-03T15:25:45.303-04:00J: Thanks for your illuminating post.
I detest Blo...J: Thanks for your illuminating post.<br />I detest Bloomberg and his "I am the Emperor of New York City" attitude. I am a middle class New York native who owns a small condo and my RE taxes have gone up 123% in the past 6 years. And yet - no outcry.<br />I plan to work against his reelection - but as far as I can tell, no one else is running because no one has the money to run against him.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-62280300876930434122008-11-30T14:44:00.000-05:002008-11-30T14:44:00.000-05:00Well, I for one applaud J. Why? Am I against progr...Well, I for one applaud J. Why? Am I against progress? No. Do I think people should be forced to live in squalor? No. Do I think we have a right to mandate how people live? No.<BR/><BR/>He is not wrong about what has been lost. And the boors that have bothered to post clearly were not around in the glory days. They therefore have no idea what has been lost.<BR/><BR/>What follows is just one man's view.<BR/><BR/>I am an ex-New-Yorker. I left because the character of the city was being lost every day and I had watched this happen for 10 years before I decided it was time to go. Every bit of cool drained from my neighborhood with every new bit of construction. Eventually, it was simply no longer my neighborhood. The reasons I had come to love it were gone. Quite literally.<BR/><BR/>There is much that has improved since the dark days of the early 80s when I first arrived. The city was mean and dangerous back then. It was also cheap, exciting and full of people with great ideas to share. There was a creative charge to the city that is in my opinion gone. Why? <BR/><BR/>For the most part the improvements have come at the expense of what made New York a place of diversity. It is without doubt becoming whiter, richer, insanely expensive and boring. For that reason I saw no reason to stay. To me it had all the character of Miami. With shittier weather and that's saying something. The awesome small neighborhood places were displaced by chains meaning I really could be living in AnyCity USA, but paying a premium. My artist friends scattered in what might be the biggest diaspora of creatives since the late 1930s / early 1940s.<BR/><BR/>The flood of people that were charmed by the city has done the one thing that always happens. By arriving in large numbers with different values, they've changed it completely without meaning to. By being here, they displaced the very things they came for. That has been going on through all of NYC's history. <BR/><BR/>I know for a fact that those who pioneered the West Village in the late 50s (the neighbors I met in the 1980s) loathed me for being able to afford my filthy railroad style apartment all by myself. I was the very transformative scum, a guy with a good job, they had always feared would arrive. <BR/><BR/>Know what? They were right to fear me. I ended up being an influencer who publicly proclaimed in newspapers and television how great the creative resources were in the city. I got a startup off the ground. I helped bring in people that would never have considered living in the city before. <BR/><BR/><BR/>And guess what? <BR/><BR/>Within less than a decade those cranky neighbors had had to move on. The writers, painters and poets got the boot in favor of people that could pay up. <BR/><BR/>They were displaced by me and my cohorts. Just as I would later be displaced by the marauding hordes of Wall Streeters who helped eliminate the last vestiges of the city as it had been. And now they have died off leaving the city with a real problem. It has in the last 25 years managed to progress to the heights of excess and glory last seen in the 1920s. It has by its simple rise squeezed out the creatives that once thrived. But guess what? We now have arrived at a moment where the excess is about to meet its just end. It is only a matter of time before the rich whites will abandon ship.<BR/><BR/>And the whole cycle will start all over. <BR/><BR/>It might take another 10-15 years but it will happen. It always has in NYC. It always will.<BR/><BR/>But J is not wrong about what has been lost. And I mourn the passing with him. With that, I can only hope that whatever rises next will be as quirky and awesome as what was lost. That too has always been the way it has worked.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-28240829815958774552008-11-07T23:33:00.000-05:002008-11-07T23:33:00.000-05:00Dear Jeremiah,By massively rezoning areas of the c...Dear Jeremiah,<BR/><BR/>By massively rezoning areas of the city where middle and working class people currently live to enable the development of luxury condos and hotels, I am actually <I>helping</I> the middle class.<BR/><BR/>Love,<BR/>Mayor BloombergAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-13820283653081512032008-10-27T14:22:00.000-04:002008-10-27T14:22:00.000-04:00I agree that Bloomberg should have done more to di...I agree that Bloomberg should have done more to diversify the city's economy. I think there should have been much more of a push to lure green industry and other technologies here, which could have been tied to his other industrial retention policies, most notably the IBZs (Industrial Business Zones are areas where there is a “promise” to keep it zoned industrial). <BR/><BR/>I also think that there should have been less rezoning of industrial land not located in IBZs - once that land is lost to residential development, it’s pretty much impossible to get it back for more intensive uses in the future. That said, the Morrisania mixed use district in the Bronx has been successful at mixing industrial retention with new housing development; but this is an area that has had much less development pressure than other areas in the city, and new development in the neighborhood is predominately (much needed) affordable housing, not high-end condos. <BR/><BR/>Since future industrial development will look and function differently from the industries that built this city, Bloomberg’s policies of rezoning areas along the waterfront in return for public access and parkland is a good one. But all this thinking about increasing housing capacity should have been done alongside efforts to diversify the city’s job base. There should have been a progressive industrial policy that went hand-in-hand with rezoning industrial land. We should have been hearing more about what the business models of the future are (and not just in the service sector), and how the city can attract them. As we are all witnessing, tourism and finance will not cut it.<BR/><BR/>But this is where I get more critical of Bloomberg’s critics. Rezonings cannot dictate whether or not the condos being built are affordable (at least not without mandatory affordable housing requirements, which opens a land use law can of worms), nor can rezonings dictate whether or not the units are rentals or condos, or the retail is a mom-and-pop or a chain. Zoning is a blunt tool. The only zoning mechanism of any real significance is the (optional) inclusionary housing program, where developers get a floor area bonus for providing affordable housing. The city could try additional creative approaches to zoning (and in many ways is, as with the waterfront zoning), but that is always easier said than done in a city as big and complex as New York.<BR/><BR/>And all those contextual rezonings that residents keep screaming for (and the city keeps churning out) just keep housing costs up by reducing the pool of potential development sites. Another thing New Yorkers love, off-street parking, can increase development costs as well, especially for smaller development projects (this is a huge zoning policy flaw that so many New Yorkers seem to love).<BR/><BR/>Still, I am a critic of the simple notion that the answer is simply to increase housing capacity, because the reality in New York is so much more complex, with rent stabilized and rent controlled units, unwavering (at least until recently) international demand, rampant speculation, high land development costs, and on and on.<BR/><BR/>The point in all of this? These issues are bigger than Bloomie, and he’s not a villain, nor a savior. Critics need to be more specific about his failed policies (and his successful ones) and stop the silly King Bloomberg refrains.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-39125841301129733552008-10-24T07:17:00.000-04:002008-10-24T07:17:00.000-04:00Reverend Billy said something very interesting las...Reverend Billy said something very interesting last at the "Celebrate Union Square: 10 years as a designated historic landmark" Event. When people argue about how the city was, going back to the 70's or 80's, it's as if nothing has happened between then and now and those are your only two options. <BR/><BR/>Jacob, the Mayor focused so much on real estate and Wall Street sectors to the detriment of our city.<BR/><BR/>This totally could have been played another way. Instead of giving tax breaks to developers who were building endless luxury housing, he could have NOT done that and also focused on affordable housing. He wants Manhattan to be exactly as it is. Glitzy. Glass. Exclusive. He does not get or care about the diversity or the 'little people' -- he didn't admitted to not even bothering to listen to ANY testimony from public hearing over term limits. I don't even think he can see how bad he is looking right now because he's in a bubble. He is a billionaire from Boston who is used to getting his way - as the term limit issue showed. <BR/><BR/>Everything he's been doing that was a bit shady during his two terms has been hidden - until now.<BR/><BR/>Our whole city, the things that make it great, is falling apart - particularly to our neighborhoods and communities which are all starting to look the same as VNY covers so well.<BR/><BR/>Here is an article from the Wall Street Journal that challenges the Mayor's reputation as a good financial wizard and states that he could have - and didn't - prepared the city for the lean years which anyone who knew anything would have seen coming: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122412001244939117.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com