The Bloomberg Administration used rezoning as a tactic for reshaping the city. Their goal was to create a city that could compete and be sustained in the twenty-first century. They wanted to advance the city’s economic development program, be able to accommodate the expected population growth and respond to the various needs of the city’s diverse neighborhoods. The interactive New York Times article, “The Bloomberg Years: Reshaping New York” demonstrates the massive impact the Bloomberg administration had on the landscape of New York City. They rezoned over a third of the city adding 40,000 new buildings and around 170,000 housing units. They sought to transform the city’s waterfront. The Bloomberg administration added about 450 miles of bike lanes for the purpose of making bicycling a serious alternative to cars rather than a recreational activity.
For the most, this was a good thing. But one of the many consequences of this major rezoning project was the loss of affordable housing. Mayor Bloomberg and the director of the Department of City Planning, Amanda Burden, claimed that this rezoning project “created opportunities for high-density growth while still preserving low-density neighborhoods”. However, many people criticized this by saying that this led the way to gentrification. Rezoning old industrial areas where people lived inexpensively, as residential ones filled with luxury high-rise building with beautiful city views, forced out many lower-income residents.
The Mayor knew that this was a problem and therefore developed the voluntary inclusionary rezoning policy, which gave developers the option of building higher buildings that would be worth more, if they gave back to the community, in units of affordable housing. The problem with this was that since it was optional, not many developers used it, which meant that there were not enough affordable housing units to go around (there were only 2,769 affordable apartments which made up only 13% of the units built), which led them right back to square one.
Today, Mayor de Blasio has instituted a mandatory inclusionary rezoning policy, which is essentially a system of bribery. If developers want to build, they need to provide affordable units. The Bloomberg Administration definitely accomplished it goal of propelling New York City’s economic development and their capability to compete. However, that came at a price. It will be interesting to see if the opposite is true. Will the city’s economic development be hindered by de Blasio’s plan for affordable housing? Is there a way to allow for both of these things?
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