Author: jennylai

Reflection of The Future of New York City

jennylai 0 Comment 4/15/16, Weekly Responses

I have been living in New York for over 10 years but I can’t say I actually knew much about New York before this class. One of the topics that had the biggest impact on me was the topic about affordable housing. I am actually in the midst of applying for affordable housing myself so the articles we read and the research we did gave me a deeper understanding about affordable housing and the many obstacles from how affording housing projects should be funded to the federal government deciding what the Median Family Income would be. The 3 main topics we discussed; how we live, how we work, and how we shop will follow me closely as I move on to the next stage of my life in trying to buy a house, applying for jobs, and shopping for food, clothes, etc. It is class in which the information I learned won’t be forgotten easily because they will be applied to my daily lives.

During the Macaulay common event, the presentation that left me with the biggest impression is the presentation about the veterans homelessness in New York. I was shocked to know that so many veterans doesn’t even have a place to call home after coming back from the war. However, the presentation was uplifting too in that the members showed the current efforts in placing these veterans into homes and helping them develop skills to apply for jobs.

I think an improvement that can be made is the time focused on each topic. I feel like we spend a majority of our time on how we live and not enough time on how we work and how we shop. It might just be because the information for how we live are heavier thus more time is needed for that section. Overall, I really enjoyed the class and the trips we took that solidified what we spoke about in class. It is a class that I will definitely remember!

Sustaining Existing Small Businesses… How?

jennylai 1 Comment 4/15/16, Weekly Responses , , ,

The biggest problem small business owners are facing is the unreasonable rent increases thus rent is the problem that I will focus on when it comes to trying to sustain small businesses. I think the best approach to sustain existing small businesses is some form of rent regulation of the small businesses. In the Global Cities, Local Streets: Orchard Street, New York video, it was mentioned that the rent prices had risen to $1,500-$2,500 a month for a small store. The Take Back NYC organization brings up a good idea on how to regulate the rent through the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA). The purpose of the bill is to give tenants certain rights to protect them against landowners who raise the rent without consulting with the tenants. The bill includes a minimum of 10-year lease with the right to renew for the tenants, equal negotiation terms, and the prevention of landlords passing their property taxes on the small business owners. This bill will prevent the tenants from being forcefully displaced without a backup plan and prevent landowners from raising the rent anytime they want.

In the article, Small Business Survival: Tenants & Landlords Sound Off on Rent Escalation, it stated that the recent quarterly property taxes were $43,000. Property taxes have to be paid 4 times a year for properties with the assessed value of $250,000 or less. These property taxes are sometimes pushed to the small business owners for them to deal with even though property taxes are the landowners’ obligation, not the small business owners’. I think it is smart that the SBJSA included not only the lease issue tenants are facing but also the issue of landowners trying to push the property taxes onto the tenants.

 

Three questions I would like to ask in my interviews with three storeowners are:

1) How long have you rent this store and what was the rent when you first rented this store and the rent now?

I want to use this question to figure out the increase percentage of the rent, which will give a more direct sense on how much the rent had increased. For example, if the small business owner rented the store for 10 years (120 months) and the start rent was $800/month and the rent now is $2,000/month. I can use these numbers to figure out that there was a $1200 increase in rent over the 10 years, which is a $10 increase in rent every month.

2) How often do you communicate with the landowner?

I want to use this question to see if the tenants are often in contact with the landowners or not and if they only meet when the tenants have to pay the rent or for lease renewal (especially if the tenants and landowners speak different languages). The communication aspect can be useful in figuring out if when the tenants want to negotiate, how will they be able to do so.

3) Have the landowner ever try to push the property taxes onto you for you to handle?

I want to know through this question if any landowners had done that out of the different small business owners we will interview and if any landowners had also attempted to do so (to see if any trickery was involved during the contract negotiations).

Also, the chart from class

  1. Components VS Development
  2. Formation VS Culmination
  3. Construction VS Completion

Local businesses, online commerce, and retail chains

jennylai 1 Comment 4/8/16, Weekly Responses , ,

I think the change on local shopping streets is inevitable. In Global Cities, Local Streets: Everyday Diversity from New York to Shanghai, the authors pointed out the ethnic clusters of the local shopping streets. Ethnic clusters don’t last because different ethnic groups might move away from the community or the shopkeepers don’t have any successors to keep the stores going. What is happening today is that a lot of the local shopping streets look very similar to each other even if they are from different countries. There is no longer a concentration of ethnic clusters but instead a very diverse spread of shopping streets. As time passes and as humans grow old or move away, the stores they own will also disappear along with them. In addition, other factors such as increase in rents or big chain stores can push the storekeepers to close the stores. The storekeepers might not be able to paid for the high rent or they have a lost of profits because of the big chain stores acting as competitions.

The effects on local businesses of continued growth of online commerce and retail chains are that local businesses will eventually be closed down. Today, customers want on demand services so even getting dress to go to the local market might be too troublesome for them. Instead, they will rely on online stores, which are one click away to buy anything that they need. In addition, buying things online also comes with shipping so customers don’t even have to carry the things they brought home because these online stores will ship the things they brought right to their doorsteps. Most local businesses specialize in selling identical products such as one store only selling health care products and another store selling only meat. Because of the different specialization of each local store, customers have to move from one store to another if they want to buy different things. However, retail stores are big stores with different sections selling different products within a step away. Customers can buy furniture and then turn around to buy electronics. This will save the customers’ time because everything they want to buy will be at one location. Local businesses are essentially in a competition with online stores and retail chains and they are currently losing because people want to buy things quick and without any hassles.

Silicon City and Civic Hall

jennylai 1 Comment 3/18/16, Weekly Responses ,

After visiting “Silicon City”, I have to say I am impressed by the richness and the history of technology in New York. One of the exhibits that stood out to me was the media machine. Through that exhibit, I found out a lot of the Hollywood CGIs and Photoshop began in New York. For example, the beginning of Pixar’s “Toy Story” began in New York and “Toy Story” had always been one of my favorite movies. In a way, finding out that a lot of the technology that we are using or seeing today began in New York gave me a sense of pride. The exhibit of the original computer from 1822 was very enlightening too. The original computer was massive in size and as the years past, innovators were able to reduce that size but increase the information a computer can store. Honestly, I felt humble being able to visit “Silicon City” because all these inventions were the works of thousands of people for hundreds of years. The phones we are holding today aren’t just simple devices; they contain hundred years of history of improvements and transformations.

Civic Hall was an interesting visit too. I liked the idea that there are people who have ideas that can benefit the public and that technology can help solidify those ideas. Benefit Kitchen was such a great idea and I would totally use it. The one worry I have is that these cyber cites will accumulate a lot of information from the input information of the public. What will these information be used for? Is there a possibility these data will be sold or get acquired by the government? Is there a danger to this? If a person inputs information into the website and isn’t eligible for any benefits, what will then be their next step? How will this website be advertised to the public? I also wonder how this will work out for the people who aren’t technology savvy. Are there other options besides inputting the information online?

Another topic that was brought up was the technology company working along with the government. If the government proposes a project that the technology company itself doesn’t agree with, does the company have the power to reject the government especially if the government is subsidizing the company? During this discussion, it reminded me of the whole debate with Apple VS the FBI. Apple is a public company so they were able to argue against the FBI and bring the case to the Federal Court. But what can companies that are supported by the government do? Will they be able to bring the case up to the federal court at all? Are there options for these government subsidized tech companies to say no in the risk of losing funding from the government?

The Industry City

jennylai 1 Comment 3/18/16, Weekly Responses , , , ,

In Tarry Hum’s article on Sunset Park’s redevelopment, the topic of the waterfront is brought up. Jamestown Properties want to build a hotel at the waterfront and many felt concern because the waterfront was always occupied by small businesses. The small businesses are important to the local economy and the Latinos and Asians immigrant employment base located in Sunset Park. Building the hotel there will displace many of the current local work forces and decrease employment prospects for the people actually living in Sunset Park. In his other article, “There is Nothing Innovative About Displacement”, it is mentioned that the branding of this elite hotel will essentially erase the authenticity of Sunset Park. Building this hotel will lead to gentrification because Jamestown Properties is promoting this hotel to a new and elite public that doesn’t involve the working class and people of color living in Sunset Park. This gentrification will then cause massive displacement with people moving out either because the rents have risen too high or they need to find employment prospects outside of Sunset Park.

However, I am still “techno-optimism” because there are businesses that have programs to train local people and hire them as employees. For example, Kerry Murtha’s article on businesses finding talent just down the block, faculty from CUNY’s New York City College of Technology will teach classes for potential employees in the Innovation Lab especially for those with no more than a high school education. The program will prepare them with the skills that are needed. The low entry jobs will also help them prosper into higher positions so there is a silver lining in the midst of takeovers by big businesses if it is done well and inclusive with the local people.

The Benefits and Consequences of Technological Innovation

jennylai 1 Comment 3/11/16, Weekly Responses ,

The growth of technological innovation has several benefits that can be brought to New York. One benefit as stated by Steve Blank in The Hacking NYC panel discussion is that the startup scene in NYC makes “economy more diverse and not as dependent upon Wall Street”. This is positive because when the Lehman Brothers collapsed and filed for bankruptcy in 2008, this caused a financial global crisis. The technological innovation in NY helps NY to move away from relying on Wall Street to be able to stand on its own. Thus any busts in Wall Street won’t impact NY’s economy as heavily as it did in 2008.  The second benefit due to the growth of technological innovation in New York is the rapid creations of tech jobs. Jason Bram and Matthew Ploenzke, the authors of “Will Silicon Alley Be the Next Silicon Valley?”, organized data to show the growth of the tech sector in New York. They stated that, “New York City’s tech sector still outpaces growth nationwide, 60 percent to 27 percent, or more than double”. The tech sector in NY is not only growing rapidly but even bypass the growth of tech sectors nationwide. In addition, these jobs pay fairly well with an average of $118,000 per year citywide as of 2013. I think disagreements on these benefits are possible because people can argue that there are too many employments focused in the tech sector and not enough employments focused on other sectors. People can also argue that these benefits can just be temporary and that if there is a boom, a bust will be inevitable.

A potential negative issue I can see emerging is that the tech sector is very concentrated in certain areas of NY. Adam Forman’s “New York’s tech Profile” shows that Manhattan has the highest tech employment  of the 5 boroughs with 94, 717 employment in 2014 compared to Bronx’s employment of 1, 284 and Staten Island’s employment of 1,286 in 2014. Staten Island actually has a -6% growth in tech sector from 2004-2014. This can become a problem because if Manhattan has more employments, the employees will be more likely to move to Manhattan to live since it will be around the area where they work. These employees with a higher income than the average income in the city ($84,000) will gather there which will also influence the landscape of Manhattan and other boroughs. More investments will be put in Manhattan such as more expensive stores to easier access to transportation. Manhattan will be the priority in New York while the other boroughs won’t have as much benefits as Manhattan will receive. The wealth gap will grow between Manhattan and the other boroughs and this will lead to an imbalance in New York. This can lead to the discontentment of the working class and the lower class people which will cause internal conflicts with their wealthier counterparts. David Streitfeld in “In San Francisco and Rooting for a Tech Comeuppance” brings up the point that “The consequences for people who do not make their living from technology are increasingly unpleasant”. The traffic there is horrible because of the increase population of people either moving to live there or commuting to work there. Rent increased with tenants living in fear and the tech elites are corrupting the local government by buying elections. What is happening now in San Francisco can easily happen in New York. It is something to be wary and aware of, that technological innovations can have many benefits but they can also cause many negative consequences.

The Innovation Market

jennylai 1 Comment 3/4/16, Weekly Responses ,

The Economic Development Curmudgeon in its critical review of Enrico Moretti brings up a good point regarding the innovation global market. He states that, “Today’s winners can become losers in the future”. The innovation market seems to be thriving on the surface level right now but it is not certain what will happen in the future. As the innovation market continues to grow, we have no way of knowing where this market will take us. Richard Florida also makes the point that the technology capital is very concentrated. The United States alone accounts for 68.6% of total global venture capita not to mention it is only concentrated in metro cities such as New York and Boston. The technology market is very concentrated which makes it limited only to these cities that are densely populated with “great universities, and the open-mindedness and tolerance required to attract talent from across the world”. Not all cities have the draw to attract talents and investors won’t invest in those cities either because they don’t see the appeal. Metro cities like New York and Boston are safe bets for investments because the technology sector is blooming in those cities. Because of the concentrated investments in technology in only these few selected cities, the innovation global market itself is very limited. It is not certain whether this market will grow outside of these metro cities if other cities don’t have the resources or appeal to attract investments.

Having said that, I would still consider myself as a “techno-optimist”. Maybe it is the influence of movies but I want to believe that the technology market can expand more and more so that flying cars and robot helpers can become a reality. Of course, there will always be a downside to everything but I am optimistic about the benefits of technology overweighting the negatives. Though before that, the issue of technology market being concentrated in only certain areas definitely needs to be addressed. If only certain cities have big technology investments and a growing market, we might potentially see a world in which one city has flying cars replacing road cars while the next city has no access to flying cars. The economy gap is a huge factor in this and it is happening right now with education, incomes, healthcare, and etc. In order for further technology advancements, the gaps between all the cities from different parts of the world need to close so that there won’t be such a vast difference. If all the cities in the world have a good balance of good education, good earning income, healthcare, and more, this can serve as the attraction point for investors to invest in different cities. The spread of investments thus won’t be concentrated and there will be a larger potential for growth and creativity in innovation.

Affordable Housing Proposal

jennylai 1 Comment 2/26/16, Weekly Responses

If I am going to set up an affordable housing, there are several things I will do. First, I have to plan how many units in the housing can I build and what kind of units will I build. I will take into consideration of the applicants who are interested in applying for affordable housing and see the percentage of those interested in 1 bedroom or 2 bedrooms, or more. I will sort out the units based on this distribution so the housing can accommodate the needs of the applicants as much as possible. For example, if there are large portions of people who want 2 bedrooms units, I will build more 2 bedrooms units in the housing.

Second, I will set up a website with the rent prices so there will be transparency. I will also set up a rent control which will also be stated in the website so that interested tenants won’t be worried if the rent will increase. I will also set up a contract on the website with all the rules that are expected of the landlord/organization of the affordable housing. The obligations will consist of the landlord/organization reaching back to the tenants within 24-48 hours if the tenants have any issues with their units. The landlord/organization will also be responsible for getting whatever is needed to be fixed fixed by contacting a mechanics or an expert within 24-48 hours after reaching back to the tenant with the problem. I will also put up the numbers for these professionals onto the website just so if the tenants want to contact them themselves directly. But the landlord/organization should still be involved in the process and check up every so often until the issue is resolved.

In Tom Angotti’s “From Dislocation to Resistance: The Roots of Community Planning”, it is stated that displacement is a major issue in housing especially for Black Americans. It is mentioned that public housing in the name of urban renewal ended up displacing a lot of people living in the neighborhood. This leads to my third point. If I am building an affordable housing in a neighborhood, I want to build it on an empty space that no one was occupying. I don’t want to take away a living space of some people to build a new living space for other people. I want to make sure I am not taking away something from a neighborhood but instead add something beneficial to the neighborhood.

I will also have to take into consideration of zoning and planning. Zoning is restricting the number and types of buildings and their uses usually done by the government. Planning is the control of urban development by the government and a license has to be obtained to build a new property or change an existing one. The difference between zoning and planning is that zoning is restriction while planning is expansion. Both will be important if I am trying to build an affordable housing. I have to get permission from the government to build the housing (planning) and depending on the zoning rules, I have to take into consideration of what buildings I can actually build. Of course, I will also have to take in the consideration of the neighborhood in which I am trying to build the affordable housing. I want the affordable housing to be part of the neighborhood and future tenants living in that area to feel that they do fit in.

Brooklyn Community Board 1: Greenpoint and Williamsburg

jennylai 1 Comment 2/9/16, Weekly Responses , , ,

Majority of the people who live in Community Board 1 area (Greenpoint and Williamsburg) are homesteaders, the poor, and the middle working class. White non-Hispanics comprise of 60.8% of the population living there (Brooklyn Community District 1 profile in 2010). Housing units in District 1 are 85.8% occupied by renters. The main issue faced by the people who now live there is that the 2009 tsunami still has an impact on the community. There are still floodwaters and some construction worksites are either delayed or abandoned. These factors lead to increase rents and decrease lease renewals for longtime tenants. This force them to move out of the community. I do anticipate that there will be conflicts between the interests and demands of different groups of residents. One conflict will be between the landowners and the tenants. The landowners will want higher rent to earn more profits and the tenants will want a lower rent that they can actually pay with their incomes. Another conflict might be with the housing priority. In the District Needs Statement, it is stated that the housing funds will be first given to the poorest of the community. This can cause some conflicts since people can feel unsatisfied if they feel that their situations are not good but they aren’t at the front of the line to get housing first. There will also be conflicts between developers and the tenants since the developers’ definition of affordable might be different from the tenants’. The developers building the houses will want to earn profits but if the rents are low to accommodate the tenants, the developers might not earn as great of a profit and decide not to build the housings.

The pressures “from above” are those with power and money such as private businesses. They have their own ideas on what to build in communities in order to bring themselves the most profits. The interests “from below” are those who are actually living in the community. They witness firsthand what the community is lacking and what the community needs in order for the residents to continue living and thriving there. The interests of different groups can be reconciled if all the groups come to an understanding. For the landowners and developers focused on immediate profits, let them know that a step must be taken first in order for people in lower and middle class to climb the economic ladder. The rents will be proportional to their incomes and as their incomes rise, the rents can also gradually rise. However, the landowners and developers must first allow people to even have a chance to flourish and they won’t be able to do so without an affordable place to live. Nothing will be accomplished unless the first step is taken in order for any of the groups to get what they want. I don’t think it limits the community boards’ potential to shape their community even if they only have an advisory voice on planning and zoning issues. The community boards are made up of people who actually live in the areas, they are the witnesses to what is happening to the community. Their voices will always be important and must be heard.

Public Housing Project: Via Verde

jennylai 1 Comment 2/5/16, Weekly Responses , , ,

After seeing the exhibition, I decided that the Via Verde project in South Bronx was my favorite. What attracted me to this project at first sight was the greenery. The buildings were surrounded by greenery not just on the sidewalks, but also on the roofs of the buildings. This design made good use of the buildings to their full potential and made the area a refreshing green space. The rooftops of the buildings were all connected together like a series of steps that made the green space larger and longer. This project also made a good decision of using many energy-conserving appliances such as solar panels and cross ventilation to decrease energy cost spending. In addition, there are many different amenities than just a free living space. There are fitness centers and even bicycle storages. The building units come with ceiling fans, kitchen, dishwasher, washer, dryer, Internet plus cable ready to use, and etc. These units are created for low-income households and the costs of these units are indeed affordable. There are two home types with a one bedroom and one bathroom unit and a two bedrooms and one bathroom unit. The monthly cost for the one-bedroom/one bathroom is only $1,300 while the monthly cost for the two-bedroom/one bathroom is only $1,580.

The Public Housing Situation in New York City

jennylai 1 Comment 2/5/16, Weekly Responses ,

After reading all the articles to understand more about the housing situation in New York City, I would choose to build a new public housing. There are factual evidences that there is a lack of housing to support the millions of people in New York. The increasing rents and the decreasing incomes are forcing people to move out to try their luck and find a more affordable place. These numbers honestly shocked me especially the comparison between the annual median household income of renter households and the annual income needed to afford a typical NYC apartment. The annual median household income is $39,916 and the annual income needed to afford a typical NYC apartment is $49,932 in 2011 (Housing New York). There is a difference of around $10,000 and this is not even including other expenses such as food, education, transportation, and etc. People are basically in the negative renting their living spaces and essentially have nothing to spare to spend on other expenses.

If I am going to build a new public housing, the construction of the building isn’t the only thing I have to be concern about. I have to take into consideration of where the housing will be located at such as being near an accessible transportation system, schools, markets, public spaces such as parks, and etc. I will also need to get involved with the people who will be living in the housing because at the end of the day, it will be their living spaces and their community. In addition, instead of building a totally new housing and starting anew by taking away everything that the people identified as part of the community, it might be a good idea to build within that community. Let the people in the community decide what they want and need. Instead of tearing the “old” buildings, build upon it by repairing them or at least try to keep some key characteristics that the people in the community will feel the most at home and familiar with.

Another data that sticks out to me in Housing New York is the disproportionate number of household units to household sizes. There are more 1 person and 2 people in households than there are household units which can accommodate 1 person or 2 people just fine. There are way more household units for more than 5 people than the actual number of household sizes that have 5 or more people. There is also the mention of an insufficient budget problem. These all bring me to my next point. In Anthropology last semester, my class watched a documentary called Urbanized. A housing development in Chile used the participatory design to build housing. The project had a limited budget so the developers couldn’t add everything that was standardized for a house such as a bathtub and a hot water heater. The developers originally thought the people who will be living there would want the heater because for the developers, hot water came first. However, when they actually discussed this with the future tenants, they chose the bathtub. This is because the expenses for the heater cost more and a bathtub is more familiar for them. They are also able to repurpose the bathtub for other uses such as washing their laundries in it. If budget becomes an issue for housing in New York, the builders can always consult with the tenants on what they would prioritize in a home and this can get them started on adding more features in their housing when they are able to in the future. The household unit should also be part of the participatory design so that the disproportionate household units won’t take up needless spaces.

I think the idea of rent controls is a good one since owners won’t be able to just increase the rents whenever they want without taking into consideration whether or not the renters can afford them. This will also decrease the number of people forced to move out of their communities because of the unaffordable prices.