« Money cleanses: a Bloomberg anecdote | Main | In Our Time Press, questionable coverage of the latest lawsuit »
November 20, 2011
Notes from a conference on zoning: scrap parking minimums, the argument for competitiveness, and a dissent
Atlantic Yards Report
A major conference last week in New York titled Zoning the City inspired commentary, including this one about a certain lack of imagination on the part of Mayor Bloomberg. An emphasis on only large projects can produce inappropriate results, as in Atlantic Yards.
The Design Observer's Alexandra Lange, in Who Are We Competing For?:
Back when I was writing stories about the Doctoroff era for New York, I remember asking, "Why the focus on Class A office space? Don't we need Class B and C too?" And I remember wondering, "Why spend all this money on out-of-towners? What about the people already here?" Their strategic focus was so lofty, so much on the top maybe 15 percent, on skyscrapers, on new convention centers, on new waterfronts, that it seemed to leave no room for what was happening on the ground.
...What also struck me in several post-administration presentations was a lack of adaptability, an inability to understand alternate perspectives on appropriate goals. Early in the day, a man stood up and asked how zoning could help the owner of a 25x100 lot with some extra FAR [Floor Area Ratio]. At first there was no response, but later, someone suggested that the smallholders could get together, and use a version of the High Line's cap-and-trade zoning to build a tall building on the avenue and off their street. Fine, but as the owner of a 25x75 foot lot (that's a brownstone), what I and my neighbors might much rather do is band together and trade our FAR for a park. Why must all moves be monetary, and upward? Indeed, what about the public life legendary planning consultant Alex Garvin kept vaunting?
And a comment from John Massengale:
Do we agree on this? - No matter how many times Rem Koolhaas and Frank Gehry use the word "progressive," they are building for the 1%.
Posted by steve at November 20, 2011 9:55 PM