Planning the Future of NYC

My issue with Obama’s mortgage plan is that it doesn’t focus on the unemployed. It also states that people who live in higher-cost areas like New York and California won’t receive help with their mortages if they are over $729,750. Even though the mortage plan covers those who have low incomes and smaller mortages to pay off, I disagree with disqualifying people with high mortages. They should at least be able to receive some help, particularly if they were newly unemployed. In large companies, the employees to go first are always the ones who are paid the most, or who have been newly employed to the job. To me, it seems like punishing some people’s success and subsequent bad luck. Although there are certainly many bankers and financiers out there who cheated the system, there are also hardworking people who are between a rock and a hard place. Just because they took a leap of faith by taking out a large mortage in less financially turbulent times doesn’t mean that when bad ones come, they shouldn’t be given a hand, either.

I do not support many aspects of President Obama’s mortgage plan for four reasons. 1. The plan makes it the responsibility of the banks and home-owning services to lower the payments down to 38% of the homeowner’s income. The government takes upon itself the responsibility to further lower it to 31%. This low interest rate will remain in effect for a minimum of five years. Since the banks and mortgage service companies are already being aided with federal money, taxpayers carry the burden for replacing the difference between what is owed now by home-owners, and 31% of their income, the 38% barrier is nonexistent. This allows people who may not need assistance to take advantage of the plan, wasting taxpayers’ money even further.

2Many of the homes at risk of foreclosing couldn’t be afforded in the first place because no or little money was put down at the start of the transaction. What made them think that they would be able to afford something tomorrow that they could not pay for today? Nothing is free. This reeks of the Madhoff scandal, in which stockholders who never second guessed a consistent flow of money during a fluctuating market but were shocked to find that their investor wasn’t playing by the rules when the flow abruptly stopped. Renters, who were not ridiculous to submit to the temptation of owning a house for free, still don’t get federal help paying rent, which is usually 40-45%  (includes utilities) of a renter’s income.

3. The plan for “saving” 9 million Americans is not specific in how the administration wants to spend the 75 billion USD. The plan supports 4million to 5 million people who are not at risk of foreclosures in refinancing their mortgages and allows 3 million to 4 million people with adjustable rate mortgages to lower their monthly interest rates for at least 5 years. Exactly where the money is going? We don’t know. Let’s look at where the money is not going. The president has allocated in his stimulus only 18 billion USD for early childhood education. Moreover, for those who are already homeless, he has allocated a measly 1.6 billion. Obviously it is more important to finance the second or third homes of people who couldn’t afford them in the first place than to do something about the number of homeless people in the country. And what about Darfur? Silence.

4. The president has referred to the present situation as “unraveling homeownership, the middle class, and the American Dream itself.” To classify the “American Dream” as home-ownership is embarrassing for people who immigrated to this country because they were faced with religious and political persecution, war and lack of good education in their former homelands.

external sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-progress-report/obamas-stimulus-package_b_155279.html, http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/Story?id=6899801&page=1, http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-11-20-obama-education_N.htm

President Obama proposed his plan to deal with the current mortgage crisis on February 19, 2009. Since its introduction the plan has received mixed reviews from financiers, politicians and the public. I believe that the plan is necessary with the current ailing state of the economy. It is inarguable that the United States former economic policies have been exhausted beyond their capacity. At present over twenty-seven percent of Americans are carrying mortgages that are worth more than the total net-value of their homes. Obama’s plan attempts to ease the burden of the heavy mortgages and the pending foreclosures, which over nine million Americans are presently dealing with.

The first step of Obama’s plan is aimed at preventing the state of the economy from worsening. The first step enables those Americans who are facing foreclosure to refinance their mortgages through government aid. If mortgages generate bigger losses than expected the government and not private investors will have to absorb the brunt of these losses. Although this plan will cost taxpayers in the long run I believe it is a necessary element in stabilizing the American economy. The plan attempts to avoid an even greater increase in foreclosure rates, which needs to be the government’s main priority in order to avoid a continued decrease in real-estate values and subsequent job loss.

I would encourage you to rely on your observations of the neighborhood you’re working on as well as your interviews with residents/workers/business-owners in the area. Look for signs of both resistance to and compliance with the proposed changes in the neighborhood. Try to find out if the residents are aware of the changes. If not, why not? Is the area simply a “neighborhood” or a “community”? Are there schools, libraries, community centers, nursing homes, hospitals, daycare centers that might be affected by the proposed changes? How does each side plan to deal with the disruptions to social and economic life? What do you feel needs to be preserved v. changed?…

The following might help you get started:

1. Basic planning definitions and policy ideas: http://www.tompkins-co.org/planning/vct/index.html (VERY helpful for the proposal section of the project).

2. Community district map: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/neigh_info/nhmap.shtml

3. New York City neighborhoods map: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/neighbor/neigh.shtml

4. Building information: http://nyc.gov/html/dob/html/home/home.shtml

5. Census Bureau’s American Fact Finder: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ACSSAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=01000US&_geoContext=01000US%7C04000US36&_street=&_county=&_cityTown=&_state=04000US36&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=geoSelect&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010&_submenuId=factsheet_1&ds_name=ACS_2007_3YR_SAFF&_ci_nbr=null&qr_name=null®=null%3Anull&_keyword=&_industry=

5. US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) research resources: http://www.hud.gov/library/bookshelf03/index.cfm

6. Major city news sources:
www.gothamgazette.com
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/nyregion/index.html
www.newsday.com
http://www.nydailynews.com/index.html

7. Other York City newspapers: http://www.allyoucanread.com/new-york-newspaper-ny/

8. The Urban Insittute: http://www.urban.org/

9. Finding a City Council member: http://council.nyc.gov/html/members/members.shtml

10. Searching City laws: http://www.nyccouncil.info/html/legislation/legislation_llsearch.cfm