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September 14, 2006
A Reporter Asks Himself The Tough Questions
Brooklyn Downtown Star
Norman Oder has been haranguing the local press to ask some of the tough questions about Atlantic Yards. Probably out of frustration, the resourceful reporter interviews himself.
What does "affordable" mean anyway?
The federal definition is 30 percent of household income, before taxes. So "affordable" in the Atlantic Yards plan would include low-income, moderate-income, and middle-income families.How are those categories calculated?
It all comes down to percentages of Area Median Income, or AMI, which is $70,900.That seems high.
That's because AMI includes both New York City and Nassau, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk, and Westchester counties. The median income in Brooklyn is almost half that number: $37,332. That means lots of families in Brooklyn earn too little to qualify for even the low-income segment of Atlantic Yards.
Posted by lumi at September 14, 2006 7:52 AM