In the article, “Five Boroughs. One City. No Plan.” Jarrett Murphy discusses the recent spree of rezonings under the Bloomberg administration and the fact that New York has no “comprehensive plan” as to its future and the direction that the city is heading. According to the article, since 2002, New York City has rezoned 9,400 blocks and over 18 percent of the city. Zoning laws are crucial to the development and growth of all major areas. They regulate how the land may be used, what developers can build on the land, and dictate the specifications that must be included when building in a certain area. According to Murphy, if the city wants to continue to thrive and focus on its future, it must develop a plan regarding the foundation for its growth.
As Murphy argues, I believe that it is extremely important to develop the areas surrounding public transportation. One key factor that attracts residents to particular neighborhoods is its access to transportation. Why would they want to settle in an area that is inaccessible. They want to know that it will be easy for them to get to and from their destinations. Therefore, the city should pursue, as the article states, “transit oriented development,” which is encouraging growth near subway stations and bus stops. However, according to the Furman Center report, 1/4 of the areas where City Planning has allowed growth are not near transit lines. Murphy argues that instead of encouraging growth in areas that can be easily accessed by public transportation, the Bloomberg administration has been focused on retaining talent by providing them with housing along the waterfront.
I found it very interesting how certain areas, such as Staten Island, are preserved, while others including Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Jamaica are targeted for increased density. The Furman Center found that areas that were preserved happened to be whiter and wealthier than areas that were upzoned. This stat really made me wonder if wealth and money control whether or not your area is rezoned to encourage investment. It seems to me that in the case of rezoning wealth plays a major factor when considering whether or not an area will be preserved or targeted for development and increased density. It really goes to show you that instead of focusing on transit oriented areas that are suitable for development the City Planning Commission looks towards low-income, minority-dominated neighborhoods.
After talking about New York’s lack of a comprehensive plan, Murphy continues to discuss PlaNYC, and how it can not be considered as a plan. For starters, I believe that PlaNYC is a vision instead of a plan. It states certain objectives, such as a city where everyone has access to a park, however, it does not mention how it plans to accomplish that goal. And as Murphy states, “it doesn’t tell you, this area needs growth, this area doesn’t need growth.” It lists an agenda or what they hope to accomplish, but doesn’t lists the steps to guide us towards accomplishing those objectives. Although I agree that it has led to many achievements and will provide benefits to the residents of New York, it does not address some of the major issues concerning the future growth of the city and the development that will take place in order to accommodate the growing population of New York.
I believe that it is imperative that the City Planning Commission creates a “comprehensive plan” that will help satisfy the needs of the increased future population of New York. They must focus their attention on their residents instead of the visions of developers. Furthermore, they must choose neighborhoods surrounded by public transportation and that is easily accessible. They must have a clear cut plan on what must be done to accommodate for the future growth of the city and must take this plan into action in order to quickly and efficiently meet the needs of its residents.
