[[link removed]]Dear John,
What kind of city do we want to build out of this pandemic? It’s time to start offering a bolder vision and concrete ideas to get there.
The New York Times just published my op-ed [[link removed]] about how the response of New York City leaders to our last big economic crises set us on a path toward rampant inequality -- and how this time, we can do things differently to build a more affordable, inclusive, and just future.
Please take a few minutes to read the piece. If you share this vision for our city, please share it with your friends and family on social media →
SHARE THE OPED [[link removed]'s%20history%20shows%20us%20lessons%20for%20how%20we%20can%20rebound%20from%20this%20crisis%2C%20using%20social%20ownership%20of%20land%20to%20help%20create%20a%20just%2C%20vibrant%20and%20durable%20recovery%2C%20writes%20%40bradlander%20in%20%40nytopinion:%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2020%2F09%2F02%2Fopinion%2Fnew-york-housing-stores-land-banks.html]
City leaders responded to the 1970’s fiscal crisis by cutting the social safety net and infrastructure investment, laying off thousands of workers, and turning over public land to developers who got big tax breaks.
And after the 2008 financial crisis, Wall Street private equity, hedge funds and developers -- spurred on by government policy -- swooped in and spent billions on buying up foreclosed homes, markedly decreasing the U.S. homeownership rate and paving the way for the luxury condo boom and affordability crisis we have today.
But New York City’s history shows us that this isn’t the only path forward. There are more promising lessons in our city’s past, too:
*
In
the
1960’s,
instead
of
selling
the
decommissioned
and
abandoned
Brooklyn
Navy
Yard
off
for
scrap,
or
to
be
converted
into
condos,
the
City
turned
the
land
over
to
a
non-profit
development
corporation.
Today,
there
are
500
companies
there
employing
11,000
people
--
including
companies
that
organized
quickly
together
to
manufacture
PPE
when
the
pandemic
hit.
*
Around
the
same
period,
the
city
worked
with
unions
and
turned
a
formerly
blighted
property
in
Chelsea
into
Penn
South,
a
democratically-owned,
affordable
housing
cooperative.
Penn
South,
along
with
Mitchell-Lama
and
other
limited-equity
cooperatives,
has
kept
tens
of
thousands
of
units
affordable
over
the
years
--
and
made
headlines
when
residents
moved
to
social
distancing
a
week
before
[[link removed]]
the
rest
of
the
city.
The social solidarity fostered by both of these institutions literally helped save lives.
I’ve introduced a bill in the City Council to create a NYC land bank, so we can follow the model of Penn South & the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Rather than let for-profit developers gobble up properties that fall into distress during the pandemic, we can acquire distressed properties and put them to public purpose.
We’ve got urgent work to do in the short term: to prevent a mass eviction epidemic [[link removed]] by supporting campaigns for a real eviction moratorium and rent relief. And to save small businesses, through the “Small Business Recovery Lease” program that we’ve proposed [[link removed]] .
But we need vision for the long-term as well. Let’s get started now, and work with NYC’s community land trusts to create permanently affordable, socially-owned housing and commercial space that create a foundation for shared prosperity.
Please share the op-ed so we can start working together to make that vision a reality.
SHARE THE OPED [[link removed]'s%20history%20shows%20us%20lessons%20for%20how%20we%20can%20rebound%20from%20this%20crisis%2C%20using%20social%20ownership%20of%20land%20to%20help%20create%20a%20just%2C%20vibrant%20and%20durable%20recovery%2C%20writes%20%40bradlander%20in%20%40nytopinion:%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2020%2F09%2F02%2Fopinion%2Fnew-york-housing-stores-land-banks.html]
The grounding principle of NYC’s economic recovery must be long-term investments in affordable housing and jobs that bring genuinely shared, equitable growth. We should be clear-eyed about the challenges. But that’s the path forward that we’re fighting for together.
Brad
CONTRIBUTE [[link removed]]
Lander for NYC
456 Fifth Avenue, 3rd Floor, Suite 2
Brooklyn, NY 11215
[email protected]
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