“Gowanus is a critical example, but there are other mixed-income projects with much needed affordable housing comprising thousands more apartments across the city—many in high opportunity communities, and all of which were duly approved through the city’s land-use process—that need the deadline extended in order to happen.”
CITY VIEWS: OPINIONS and ANALYSIS
Opinion: Targeting SNAP With Work Requirements Misses the Point
Brad Martin |
“The focus on cutting life-saving programs like SNAP as a method to reduce the government debt is disingenuous, at best, and self-serving and cynical at worst. Taxing the rich would be a far more effective way to address the debt.”
CITY VIEWS: OPINIONS and ANALYSIS
Opinion: Improving Mental Health Outcomes in NYC Begins at Birth
Evelyn Blanck and Andrew Cleek |
“To most effectively and efficiently address New York City’s mental health challenges, we must focus on our youngest residents and their caregivers.”
Brooklyn
Opinion: Taking Vacant Land And Power Back from the NYPD
Brianna Soleyn |
“These same vacant lots have 314,048 square feet of residentially zoned land on which new affordable housing units may be built, as well as 114,2071 square feet with the potential for manufacturing space that could bring good jobs to the local community.”
CITY VIEWS: OPINIONS and ANALYSIS
Opinion: How Media Reports Got it Wrong on Rent Guidelines Board ‘Increases’
Avi Garelick and Andrew Schustek |
“The result of the latest reporting only serves to reinforce an unequal economic standing between landlords and tenants. Through its limited scope, this reporting causes unnecessary panic, potential demoralization, and ultimately a false sense of relief if the board goes with anything lower than the reported high end number.”
CITY VIEWS: OPINIONS and ANALYSIS
Opinion: With Community Land Trusts Back in the Spotlight, Lessons from 1970s NYC
Harriet Cohen |
“Now, longtime neighborhood residents across the city, people who put up with dangerous housing conditions for decades because they had no choice, but who fought to improve their neighborhoods, finally have the best chance in decades to get public support.” Adi Talwar Three buildings in the East Village are a part of the Cooper Square Community Land Trust. CityViews are readers’ opinions, not those of City Limits. Add your voice today! The Lower East Side, 1970s.It was a short five blocks from my apartment on East 4th Street, between Avenues C and D, to my job at a local community organization in the abandoned P.S. 64 on East 9th Street, later re-named El Bohio.
CITY VIEWS: OPINIONS and ANALYSIS
Opinion: It’s Time for Supportive Housing to Live Up to its Name
Anita Coote, Corey O’Connor, Trish Taylor, Sean Murray and BM |
“For decades, the government agencies that oversee and fund the supportive housing systems have disregarded the voices and needs of applicants and tenants, and instead prioritized the needs of providers, landlords, and developers.”
CITY VIEWS: OPINIONS and ANALYSIS
Opinion: Building the QueensWay is an Investment in Our Communities
Rachel Kellner |
“The QueensWay is a unique opportunity to connect neighborhoods and people, and give families and residents the green space we deserve.”
CITY VIEWS: OPINIONS and ANALYSIS
Opinion: The NYPD’s Abuse of Sealed Arrest Records Jeopardizes All New Yorkers
Niji Jain and Natasha Duncan |
“Last month, a New York state judge issued a sweeping order mandating that the NYPD make major reforms to its practices and systems for using sealed arrest records—records the NYPD has been illegally using to spy on and target millions of people for the past 46 years.”
CITY VIEWS: OPINIONS and ANALYSIS
Opinion: Public Banking is a Win for New York’s Tenants
Roy Zornow and Elizabeth Haak |
“As tenants who have suffered under aggressive landlords funded by predatory lenders, we urge our lawmakers to support the creation of public banks, mission-driven to provide affordable financing to responsible buyers of multifamily dwellings.” Adi Talwar444 East 13th Street in the East Village, formerly owned by notorious landlord Rafi Toledano
CityViews are readers’ opinions, not those of City Limits. Add your voice today! Signature Bank’s sudden collapse has revealed what many of us in the housing justice movement already knew: The bank’s business model relied on speculative and often predatory practices in the name of maximizing profits.As tenants who have suffered under aggressive landlords funded by predatory lenders, we urge our lawmakers to support the creation of public banks, mission-driven to provide affordable financing to responsible buyers of multifamily dwellings.We have seen Signature’s speculative and predatory business model up close. In May 2015, Signature Bank and Madison Realty Capital (MRC) underwrote loans to Rafi Toledano who purchased a portfolio of buildings in the East Village and Chelsea.
CITY VIEWS: OPINIONS and ANALYSIS
Opinion: NYC Schools Need a Post-Pandemic Reset
Allison Roda and Dara Shifrer |
“Instead of resetting priorities and learning from experiences during the pandemic, some schools are moving backwards to the pre-pandemic status quo that prevents many students and families from having equal access to educational opportunities.”