I've had my disagreements with Randal O'Toole, a libertarian defender of suburban sprawl, but to his credit, he's done the most convincing accounting of subsidies (well, accounting costs, at least) that I've seen yet. And though he normally concentrates on federal costs, his write-up of an American … [Read more...]
Links: “At least they’re being honest” edition
1. NY Governor Cuomo promises the "most aggressive" strengthening of the state's (read: NYC's) rent laws.2. Bronx <3 parking: "This community wants a moratorium on any more building until we get a parking lot." "We don't want any bigger buildings and we want parking space for everyone."3. … [Read more...]
Links
1. The fact that we even have to have a debate over whether residential development should be allowed in Midtown, where new residents will have perhaps a smaller impact on transportation infrastucture than anywhere else in the country (they can either walk to work or do a reverse train commute), is … [Read more...]
“I’ve Walked Away From Projects Because of Parking Minimums”
Streetsblog NYC has been doing an excellent job of hounding the city on its lack of action on parking reforms, but this article with developer Alan Bell talking about his experience with parking minimums in the city is, I think, the best so far. Here's an excerpt: Hudson might have built more … [Read more...]
Links
1. Shocker: The federal government is too incompetent to even sell its own buildings. Eh, oh well – it's not like it holds most of that property in the city with the most expensive office space in America or anything.2. Two State Senators from Queens are calling plans to toll the East River … [Read more...]
Yet another non-bike-related NYC transit reform bites the dust
Well that was quick: Mr. Bloomberg made the so-called "five-borough taxi plan" a centerpiece of his State of the City address in January. The proposal called for creating a new class of livery cabs, with meters and, perhaps, a single color, that would be allowed to pick up passengers on the street … [Read more...]
Affordable housing for the rich and the failure of zoning bonuses
In the past I have not been kind to affordable housing programs. I have a lot of deeper problems with them that I'll get to in a minute, but I think the extraordinarily high upper income limits on some of the projects are indicative of the broader problem of the essentially arbitrary and random … [Read more...]
Annotated simplified DC land use map
Our friends at BeyondDC have made a nifty little simplified map of the DC zoning code (yellow is residential, red is commercial, gray is park/institutional/industrial) out of GIS data provided by the local government. It's nice and all, but when you reduce such a beautifully complex and meticulous … [Read more...]