Feed

Stephen Duffy

By Stephen Duffy 4/30 4:53pm

It Takes a Village

Paradise? (Steven Duffy)

In the Shadow of Four Towers: A Day at the Parks NYU Wants to Bury

The arguments for NYU’s, creatively named, “2031” expansion have been predictable in their rhetoric: You shouldn’t—and, frankly, can’t—stand in the way of change. The majority of press in the city has adopted this stance and backed the new proposals. Now Manhattan borough president, Scott Stringer, has given his approval, albeit with stipulations that reduce the build by some 20 percent.

Those who disagree with the 1.9 million square foot expansion have been cast as one-dimensional curmudgeons who are stuck in the past. “Change never comes easy to New York” read a Times op-ed. Really? In more polemic media, the anti-expansion crowd have even been accused of wanting to “steal” one of NYU’s buildings.

“I think they pretty much get what they want, I feel like they are a little principality,” Diane Peterson said of the university, sitting on a stone slab in La Guardia community gardens, the southern block of the two “Super Blocks” that most of the 2031 plan is based upon.

Ms. Peterson has maintained her plot, where she grows tomatoes and roses amongst other shrubs, for more than three decades. Although NYU does not own the land that La Guardia Gardens is situated on—it belongs to the Department of Transportation—if the planned expansion does go ahead the garden will be embedded in the midst of a construction site for some 20 years. Read More

By Stephen Duffy 2/13 11:09am

Affordable Housing or Lack Thereof

Fixing homes from the bully pulput. (William Alatriste/City Council)

Quinn Tackles Affordable Housing and Maintenance Problems In State of the City Address

In between heavy dollops of sentiment, Christine Quinn cemented some specific plans to combat the affordable housing problem and the facilitation of upgrading the City’s landlord maintenance code in her State of the City address last week.

Ms. Quinn outlined how the Housing Preservation and Development Department is extending affordability to 60 years for some of the biggest developments. Affordability agreements currently stand at just the 30-year mark. Read More

By Stephen Duffy 2/10 1:30pm

Greensward

Nicer than a gold course, non?

Fore!… Sale: Recession Helps Conservationists Beat Back Developers

Looks like the recession has born some green shoots, after all—for green groupies.

Nonprofit land trusts, who buy up swathes of empty land for preservation purposes, are reaping the benefits of the tumbled real estate market in New York and New Jersey, according to the Journal. Developers are finding themselves in the less than ideal position, of making a reluctant call to a land trust and offering them hundreds of acres, at up to 90 percent discounts. Read More

By Stephen Duffy 2/08 3:20pm

the way things were

The Studio apartment, and extinct species?

Size Matters: New York Used to Be Full of ‘Singletons,’ But Bigger Apartments and Rising Prices Means Living Alone Is Harder Than Ever

“This is an incredible thing. It’s new. No human society in all of history has organized life in this way,” enthused NYU sociology professor Eric Klinenberg. He had met The Observer at Jacques Torres in Hudson Square to discuss his new book, Going Solo, which investigates what Mr. Klinenberg sees as a desire of a large number of people to live alone. In the book he coins the term “singleton” for this supposed emerging group—take that, BoBos!—and he calls Manhattan “the capital of singletons.”

“The typical New Yorker gets married after 30 these days,” said Mr. Klinenberg, “and they have children even later. We had a huge number of years where we used to live with other people. Now we’re free to do what we want to do.” In his book, Mr. Klinenberg cites numerous statistics over the past 50 years that do show a gradual shift in this direction, from the standard (expected) nuclear family to the rise of what he calls “the cult of the individual.”

“Most people we interviewed said that after a few years of living with roommates they are ready for a place of their own.” Mr. Klinenberg said. He has a whole host of reasons why: “Roommates who don’t pay rent on time, roommates who don’t like the person you are dating …” etc., etc.

The idea of the New York loner is as old as the city itself. Look no further than the solemn, solitary Statue of Liberty. But recent trends actually point away from a city of “singletons,” not toward one. Read More

By Stephen Duffy 2/06 10:45am

Hail yes

Victory tastes so good. (Stephen Duffy)

Yellow Cab Cake! Taxi for All Advocates Celebrate

“Accessible taxi’s is happening, it’s happening in Washington D.C., it’s happening in Chicago, it’s happening Philadelphia and it’s happening because we’ve done it in New York,” said a contented James Weisman, his words accompanied by warm applause.

Mr. Weisman, senior counsel to the United Spinal Association, was speaking at a party for those involved in the Taxis For All campaign on Friday. The reason for the celebration was the Disability Rights Advocates landmark judicial victory against the city in December, when they successfully argued that any future New York taxicab that was not wheelchair accessible violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“The same way we made the buses accessible and the whole country followed, the same thing is going to happen here with the taxis.” Mr. Weisman said, speaking in front of a yellow cake that had a model taxi with a ramp as decoration, the word ‘Congratulations’ was poured across in icing. “It’s going to be as profound a change as the buses, I’m sure,” he said, alluding to the ripple effect that occurred after  the adoption of accessible buses in New York. Read More

By Stephen Duffy 2/02 4:38pm

Green Apple

Green giant. (AP/NYM)

Green Bureaucracy: In Two Years, City Has Passed 25 Percent of Its Sustainable Building Bills

The current mild winter, without the habitual annoyance of your feet tracking  snow all over the apartment, could excuse some hard-nosed New Yorkers for not giving two hoots about global warming.

However today, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced that 29 recommendations aimed at making the city’s buildings more sustainable have been drafted into law. Eight more recommendations are currently being codified. Read More

By Stephen Duffy 1/25 5:55pm

sprawl falls

(Planetizan)

Sometimes Smaller Is Better: Walmart, Sprawl and Dumb Fiscal Policy

Conventional wisdom—and most public policy—says that sprawling developments garner more property tax revenue for local city and country coffers. That view however, has been thrown wide open in a recent study conducted by Public Interest Projects (PIP), as reported by Planetizen. And the results won’t please sprawl-loving WalMart, who have been banging down the Cities door, trying to curry favor since 2005.

PIP’s study concentrated on Ashville, North Carolina, where they were trying to develop a downtown building, one which the local county was planning on turning into a 24-hour center for emergency vehicles. Read More

By Stephen Duffy 1/25 1:45pm

Machers

Mitt Romney (Getty)

We Built This City on Green ‘n’ Gold: Where the Developers are Donating

As Republican and Democrats gear up for what increasingly seems likely to be one of the dirtiest presidential elections in memory, eyes are turning to the grandest and most welcome endorsement of all: cold hard cash.

In the real estate bubble of New York, views vary on how vocal your support of any one candidate should be, or at least that is what the builder-donors are telling The Real Deal. Read More