FYI: Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a large-scale proposal for development of Lower Manhattan in a speech this morning, calling for $10.6 billion in renovations focusing on transportation, public space and new housing. By far the most expensive pieces of Bloomberg’s plan, totaling nearly $9 billion, are those creating new infrastructure to move more tourists and business people in and out of the area—including an extension of the AirTran system from JFK airport to Lower Manhattan and increased ferry service linking parts of the five boroughs to the area. Bloomberg would also loosen density restrictions on residential development to pave the way for courting private investment in 10,000 units of housing, 20 percent of which would be subsidized affordable housing. The plan also calls for creating new public and green spaces, including a public market on Fulton Street and a park on the deck over Battery Tunnel that would rival Gramercy Park in size. Money from the sale of real estate development rites and construction taxes would supplement almost $6 billion in existing federal funding to pay for the plan. Read the text of the mayor’s speech. [12/12/02]