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February 24, 2006
Conspiracy Corner: Municipal Government Colluding With Developers to Shut Out Poor?
Daily Heights
One question in the debates over the Atlantic Yards proposal is how thousands of new units of luxury housing may affect the social demographics of the neighborhood. Do we even know if these impacts are being studied in consideration of all the other luxury housing that is already under construction?
Some folks on the DailyHeights message board take it a step further and contemplate the possibility of a government conspiracy against the poor. One participant's suspicions are hardened when the developer and government agency share the same lawyer, as in the case of Bruce Ratner and the Empire State Development Corporation.
NoLandGrab: The rationale for the argument that there's a conspiracy against the poor presented in the DailyHeights message board isn't unassailable, but certainly NYC is doing a better job at alleviating the housing crunch for the rich than for the poor.
The picture gets more complicated when one wonders if the affordable housing negotiated by ACORN for Atlantic Yards will be enough, soon enough, or it it will even be built on site. Affordable housing units, using goals that are established by regional (not local) median household income figures, are not scheduled to be built until Phase II of the project, which could be more than a decade away.
Posted by lumi at February 24, 2006 8:47 AM