In chapters 3 and 6 of Scott Larson’s Building Like Moses with Jacobs in Mind we are introduced to the plans for city redevelopment that arose during the Bloomberg administration and the many controversies and changes that occurred as a result of these proposals. We also see how rezoning was used for city planners to carry out redevelopment. While reading the two chapters I kept going back to the idea that these plans do not account for the people in these communities and what happens when you change the structure of it.

When it comes to city planning, chapter 3 of Larson’s book features the many different projects that were proposed to redevelop and reshape New York City during the Bloomberg administration. Many of the plans in my opinion were grand in scale with a huge impact on the future of the city. However, I kept wondering on whether the impact would be a beneficial one, take for example, the plans for the expansion of Columbia University in Harlem. Larson discusses how the university claimed that the many years of construction would provide twelve hundred construction jobs and that the new building would provide university positions to make Upper Manhattan a center for knowledge. According to Area Vibes’ page on the demographics of Harlem, the neighborhood has a predominantly African-American population in which 19 percent of families make between $10,000 to $25,000. With the university’s expansion I can’t help but think of the effects this has on the people living in this area. I’ll be honest, I laughed when I saw the mention of university positions that would be created because I doubt they will serve those currently in the area. If anything this expansion will lead to gentrification that areas like Harlem are increasingly facing. The New York Times points out in their article, “Then as Now- New York’s Shifting Ethnic Mosaic” that black populations are declining in traditionally black areas where whites are moving in. This influx of white populations into these neighborhoods, driven by lower rent costs and the appeal of the area due to redevelopment is forcing out lower income families. Which begs the question, what happens to them? As the effects of gentrification grow the people that generally thrive in these neighborhoods will have to leave and the ethnic landscape is changed.

In chapter 6, Larson discusses city planners’ attempts to address the issue of affordable housing for low-income residents. He points out that in 2002 Mayor Bloomberg outlined the New Housing Marketplace Plan in which 92,000 units would be created and 73,000 units preserved for low to middle income families. Reading this made me optimistic, had city planners finally taken into account the needs of the people on the lower end of the financial spectrum? Surely this would help those displaced by redevelopment projects. Sadly though Larson went on to discuss that this plan fell through due to the effects of the Great Recession. He goes on to discuss that many people felt that affordable housing was a growing concern in the city and that one of the things to address this inclusionary zoning. This refers to the idea that municipal planning requires a share of new construction to be low-income affordable housing units. However, the ratio for this is 80 percent market rate housing to 20 percent affordable rate housing. I was shocked to see this ratio because 20 percent in my opinion is nowhere near enough. Why can’t it be higher? This is the big question that comes to mind when reading about all these plans for redevelopment. I feel that they will end up changing the landscape of the area and make it harder for lower-income residents to remain in the area. In the Wall Street Journal article, “Activists Criticize Rezoning Plan for East New York”, Mara Gay discusses that people in the area will not be able to afford the apartments that will be built there within the next two years.Once again I’m forced to wonder whether redevelopment will really help the city and how it will change it in the future. Who will be able to afford to live here? As pointed out in the NY Times article, African-Americans are being pushed out of the city to suburban areas because they simply cannot afford to live in the new housing units. In my last blog post I raised questions as to the changing nature of Times Square and how it will impact what NYC is in the future. I’m brought back to this question in terms of the people that live here. NYC is known for its diversity, what happens when that diversity is affected by redevelopment that intends to better the city? I’m reminded of all our discussions about Robert Moses and the ‘greater good’. I feel  we have reached that similar situation again and we need to be very careful about the choices we make concerning this city .

Sources:

“Harlem, New York, NY Demographics.” Area Vibes. Web.

Fessenden, Ford, and Sam Roberts. “Then as Now — New York’s Shifting Ethnic Mosaic.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 2011. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.

Gay, Mara. “Activists Criticize Rezoning Plan for East New York.” WSJ. 20 Sept. 2015. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.

Larson, Scott. Building like Moses with Jacobs in Mind: Contemporary Planning in New York City. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2013. Print.