Kathy Clown's Housing Compact is kaput but Mayor Swagger's City Of Yes housing plan stumbles on

 

THE CITY

With Gov. Kathy Hochul abandoning her proposal to force New York’s suburbs to build more housing, Mayor Eric Adams’ administration and its allies are redoubling their efforts to ensure the city gains the power to spur more housing construction by converting office buildings, extending tax credits for developers and allowing greater density.

To help push those through, the governor for the first time has indicated she is willing to accept a statewide rent voucher program, a key objective of tenant advocates. The program would provide money to the city’s public housing authority to cover unpaid rent, say sources who have been briefed by those in the negotiations. As THE CITY has previously reported, more than 70,000 NYCHA tenants owe a total of $466 million in back rent.

The sudden rush of developments from Albany on Tuesday may serve as a break in the impasse that has held up the state budget, now 19 days late — but they also mean a significant defeat for Hochul.

Tuesday’s concession by the governor comes after she made housing the centerpiece of her policy goals once she won the governor’s race in November. Hochul called on the state to build 800,000 new housing units over the next decade, a number that includes the 500,000 new units that Adams promised to create over the next 10 years.

The governor’s original Housing Compact proposal established goals for new housing in every community and set up a statewide board that could greenlight projects that had been rejected in towns and villages that failed to meet their housing goals. Lawmakers in the state’s suburban districts — especially in Long Island and Westchester — had staunchly opposed the plan, saying it ripped control away from locals.

As word circulated in the capital on Tuesday that Hochul was giving up on her previous housing requirements, the governor essentially conceded defeat.

“After weeks of negotiation, the legislature continues to oppose core elements of the Housing Compact, including the requirement that communities across the state meet growth targets,” Hochul said in a statement. “I will continue to discuss other elements of the plan and policy changes that will increase supply and make housing more affordable.”

Instead of specific requirements for new housing creation, the budget is now likely to include some version of a proposal the legislature has made to create a $500 million fund for infrastructure upgrades, such as improving roads and sewers, to communities that meet goals for new housing.

Groups that have spent the last year arguing that the state’s housing shortage is a result of too little housing development, and that local community resistance preserves segregation in the suburbs, wasted little time in blasting state lawmakers.

“We are extremely disappointed that the legislature failed to address segregation and the housing shortage by rejecting the visionary Housing Compact and instead capitulated to powerful NIMBYs who prefer the status quo,” said Rachel Fee, executive director of the New York Housing Conference. “By doing so, New York’s elected officials have once again let their constituents down and signaled that the ongoing housing emergency is acceptable.”

The housing goals would have applied to every community district in the city as well.

Still alive are proposals advanced by the Adams administration. They include legislation to ease the conversion of obsolete office buildings into residential housing — possibly including a tax break to encourage some of the units to be designated as below-market-rate housing; changes to state law to allow thousands of basement apartments to be legalized, and extending a deadline for completion of residential buildings that poured their foundations before the valuable 421-a tax break expired last spring. 

In a statement on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Adams promised to keep pushing the administration’s plan.

“Our administration has been on the ground daily in Albany in recent months advancing critical tools like flexible regulations for office conversations, lifting the floor area ratio cap, creating a pathway to make basement and cellar apartments safe and legal, and creating tax incentives to develop new housing while maintaining housing quality,” said Charles Lutvak, a spokesperson for the mayor.

 

The Blaz still has 348 days to fail even more

 

NY Post In 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio was swept into office after promising voters he’d put an end to “income inequality” that created a “Tale of two Cities” across the five boroughs.

As the lame duck completes the final year of what’s been a rocky two-term mayoralty, critics say he’s not only failed to deliver his central pledge but is on pace to renege on a plethora of other promises before leaving office.

“When it comes to lying, Mayor de Blasio would give Pinocchio a run for his money,” quipped Councilman Robert Holden, a Queens Democrat.

While Hizzoner has delivered on some key promises — including bringing universal pre-K to city schools, expanding paid sick-leave benefits, and reducing stop-and-frisk policing – he’s failed to make headway on much of his progressive agenda and stands to leave City Hall with few legacy projects to show for it.

 Uh oh, looks like the NY Post was premature in praising The Blaz for pre-k:

NY Post

The Department of Education has canceled 105 community pre-kindergarten schools that applied to continue programs this fall, The Post has learned.

That’s 11 percent of the 997 current sites serving families citywide.

The Brooklyn Archdiocese, which will be forced to close pre-K programs at three Catholic schools in Queens and two in Brooklyn, sent a letter to Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Richard Carranza last week protesting the decisions.

 “It is inconceivable that successful, long-term programs hang in the balance and that families will once again have to try to find suitable options for their children” wrote schools Superintendent Thomas Chadzutko.

The city’s $1 billion-plus universal pre-K program, free to all parents, is considered de Blasio’s signature achievement.  

DOE letters rejecting the applications do not specify reasons, saying only: “Your proposed site location was not selected because the need for services in this area was met by proposals that received higher quality scores.”

The diocese has received no response to its appeals and requests for a more thorough evaluation, Chadzutko wrote.

 

 

de Blasio abolishes the BQX

Queens Post

The future of the $2.7 billion streetcar connecting western Queens to the Brooklyn waterfront will be up to the next mayor of New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday.

The coronavirus pandemic and fiscal constraints have significantly delayed the timeline of the project, dubbed the Brooklyn Queens Connector or BQX.

The city had just begun the environmental review process for the 11-mile streetcar project in 
February but the pandemic brought the process to a screeching halt. It was scheduled to begin scoping and public hearings in May and June, but has been delayed indefinitely.
Yesterday, de Blasio said the next administration will decide the fate of the project, as his term ends in 2021.

“We’re going to continue to do the work to prepare,” he said at a press briefing. “The decisions will have to be made by-and-large in the next administration given the time that’s been lost here.”
The project also comes at a time when New York City faces a multi-billion-dollar budget hole due to economic fallout from the pandemic.

At the end of April, de Blasio said he was unsure whether the city had the funds to cover its share of the costs — given the budget crisis. He said that “substantial federal funding” was needed to make the project a reality.

Critics of the BQX argue that the project is not worth the multi-billion dollar cost. Many transit advocates say the money would be better spent on improving MTA buses and bus lanes, which cost much less.

 

Good riddance oligarch. Bloomberg quits presidential race, endorses Biden

NY Post

Mike Bloomberg suspended his presidential campaign a day after his dismal showing on Super Tuesday – and will endorse former Vice President Joe Biden whose campaign surged to win nine states.

The billionaire former New York City mayor spent hundreds of millions of dollars on his failed campaign.

“I’ve always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it.
 
After yesterday’s vote, it is clear that candidate is my friend and a great American, Joe Biden,” Bloomberg said in a statement released Wednesday.

He said he has always used “data to inform decisions.”