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March 13, 2007
On tour with PlaNYC
MetroNY
By Amy Zimmer
Yesterday at the Judson Memorial Church, the latest in a series of public meetings regarding PlaNYC — Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s initiative to prepare for the city’s future — had members of community, civic and labor groups brainstorming how the city can create affordable housing and improve the environment. With the city population projected to hit 9 million in 2030, they wanted to harness the growth in a way that leads to good jobs and homes.
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The group offered suggestions to Rohit Aggarwarla, the director of the Mayor’s Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability. His office has hosted a series of town hall meetings on the plan across the city, including another event last night, to solicit feedback from residents before the city develops a plan.
Michelle de la Uz makes a good point about one of the weaknesses of the Mayor's plan:
“Despite the fact that the administration has an unprecedented plan to build 165,000 units of affordable housing, if current trends continue, we will have less diverse and affordable housing by 2030,” said Michelle de la Uz, executive director of Brooklyn’s Fifth Avenue Committee. “For every unit we build for affordable housing, we’re actually losing a unit, so there’s no net gain.”
NoLandGrab: Members of community groups who have attended these meetings note their suspicious resemblance to other dog-n-pony shows produced by corporations who are claiming to listen to the community. Most are reserving judgment.
In an article from this week's City Limits, Roberta Brandes Gratz observes:
Listening to peoples’ reactions to an already conceived draft plan is not the same as having some of those people at the table participating in drafting that plan. Using the Internet and public meetings to collect reactions to a plan is surely not the same as including the communities themselves in the development of plans for appropriate change in their neighborhoods.
Posted by lumi at March 13, 2007 7:56 AM