Dear class,
Throughout the semester you’ll be working in groups to research current issues and shaping strategies related to housing and community development in NYC. Each group will produce and present white paper (an overview of the issue and policy recommendations) and a popular education/public engagement product based on its findings. Please review the prompts and accompanying materials for your group, which can be found below. We will discuss the group projects further in class, and, soon, Hillary will connect each group to a community contact from the NYC Community Land Initiative (NYCCLI) in East Harlem who can help guide your inquiry.
- The Future of Homelessness and the Shelter-Industrial Complex: Homelessness is at record levels and on the rise in NYC, despite multiple administrations promising to address it. Recent press has raised the public profile of this “hidden” issue through investigations into terrible shelter conditions, which are extremely costly for taxpayers: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/10/28/hidden-city?currentPage=all, http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/invisible-child/#/?chapt=1. Meanwhile, the NYC Community Land Initiative, led by members of Picture the Homeless, is advocating for NY City and State to fund “Homes Not Shelters” https://indypendent.org/2014/02/25/homeless-folks-have-real-solutions-housing-crisis;http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/01/new_york_has_mo_1.php.– And are working together with people who have housing but are threatened by displacement to develop alternative proposals for need-based homes rather than market-driven housing and shelters. NYCCLI is trying to build a policy campaign around moving money from the shelter system into permanent homes, and to show how this could work in their people’s plan for East Harlem. Can you help?
- Zumana Miyfa, Annalise Armenta, Omar Nagaria, Riley Tinney, Anna Kornak, Corrin Chow
- The Future of Urban Renewal: According to a current exhibit at the Queens Museum called “Reviewing Renewal,” New York City began to adopt “urban renewal plans” in 1949 to get federal funding to acquire land, relocate the people living there, demolish the structures and make way for new public and private development. The legacy of these neighborhood master plans remains active across the city, from sites like Lincoln Center to the many vacant lots cleared in East New York and Bushwick for projects that were never completed. Even after federal funding for the program was cut in 1974, New York City continued to adopt renewal plans for neighborhoods – 82 plan areas, where the city has eminent domain power to take private property for the public purpose of eliminating blight and economic “under-performance,” came into being between 1975 and the present. Urban renewal transforms the city, and changes the lives of many New Yorkers, for better or worse. Over 60 plan for areas of the city remain active today. Some communities are taking advantage of active plan areas to make community aspirations into official plans.
The NYC Community Land Initiative has its eye on an urban renewal site in East Harlem that is still active and subject to much speculation. http://www.queensmuseum.org/exhibitions/2015/01/05/reviewing-renewal/specifically the Milbank Frawley Circle- East (and big city-owned lot between Madison and Park, 111-112th St): http://www.urbanreviewer.org/#map=15/40.7997/-73.9451&plan=Milbank+Frawley+Circle-East.
They have gotten the city to hold off on auctioning the site to a developer, but probably not for long. Now they need to learn more about the site so they can incorporate it into their people’s plan for East Harlem. Can you help?
- Jasmine Boone, Brett Barshay, Amanda Sarantos, Bethany Herrmann, Kelly Garland
- The Future of Community Gardens: Community Gardens have a long and storied history in NYC. According to the Community Garden Coalition, “Community Gardens have for decades been an integral part of the fabric of New York City. These gardens are living symbols of unity built by neighbors who joined together to turn abandoned, trash-strewn lots into vibrant community oases.” http://nyccgc.org/. Recently, however, the city has announced that it will turn over a big batch of active gardens to developers to build “affordable housing.” Two of these are in East Harlem and residents are not happy: http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150116/morningside-heights/community-gardens-threatened-by-de-blasios-affordable-housing-plan; http://596acres.org/news/2015/01/21/gardens-on-housing-preservation-and-developments-hpd-list-of-sites-available-for-housing-development/
NYCCLI is trying to figure out how to incorporate these and the other community gardens in their people’s plan for East Harlem, in which truly affordable housing is a top priority and community spaces (including gardens) are a close second. Can you help?
- Laura Benasaraf, Oneeka Khan, Amandeep Kaur, Amanda Bernstein, Saranya Radhakrishnan, Lisa Wong
- The Future of Major (Private) Development Projects: Major private (often luxury) developments have skyrocketed over the last 10 years in NYC, transforming the skyline and the feeling and affordability of neighborhoods across the city. In East Harlem, the proposed East River Plaza Development is causing quite a stir: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/uptown/neighbors-squabble-plan-build-east-harlem-towers-article-1.2047762; http://www.elbarriounite.org/nerves-letter-to-melissa-mark-vivierito-east-harlem-councilwoman-and-council-speaker/
NYCCLI wants to join forces with the groups that are organizing against the East River Plaza and to address threats like this one with its people’s plan for East Harlem. Can you help?
- Andrew McAllister, Michael Tirado, Ashwini Chawla, Gisella Dionio, Abhishek Samdaria
