Abandoned Lots by Joel Chaffee
Abandoned Lots
 New York, NY
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 by Joel Chaffee
 
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The present condition of the city's real estate market seems  
schizophrenic. At one end, Brooklyn is suffering through the  
consequences of the huge pre-recession boom, with abandoned lots all  
over the borough. The Brooklyn Paper reports that "North Brooklyn has  
been hardest hit by the downturn," with over 25% of stalled sites;  
while the NYTimes reports that Aptsandlofts.com was forced ask  
"developers to turn their condos into rentals or cut prices" to find  
residents.
 
 
 
A March 2009 report from ACORN ("The Impact of Foreclosures on  
Neighborhood Crime in New York", which is foreboding enough) pointed  
out that in some neighborhoods, like Jamaica, Queens, foreclosures in  
2008 were one for every thirty-five homes. When no one is around to  
look after the place, the place goes to whoever is around to exploit  
it. "Abandoned homes," the reports stated, "have been shown to attract  
looters, squatters, and criminals." And some neighborhoods do not need  
to try all that hard to attract these elements in the first place.
 
 
 
"High-foreclosure neighborhoods are at risk of experiencing a  
breakdown in their fundamental community structure," the report  
continued, illustrating with charts and grafts that Southeast Queens,  
Bed-Stuy, and Easy New York were suffering the most through the hard  
times, with home auctions almost tripling.
 
 
 
Nevertheless, across Newtown Creek, in Queens, the city is moving  
forward with the waterfront plans at Hunters Point South. "After four  
years of planning and delays, the city will start soliciting bids" for  
the project, the NYTimes reported Monday.
 
 
 
(Fortunately, Bloomberg did agree to concede to the huge public  
disgust at his administration's proposal to charge the homeless rent,  
so this massive building project in the face of hard times does not  
seem so hard-hearted.)
 
 
 
And in Manhattan things are really going wonderfully. A Reuters  
release Wednesday noted the increase in office leasing in the borough  
during May, seeing the least vacancy since 2006. Apartment sales in  
Manhattan, also, are "rebounding" and "surging," with more apartments  
sold in 2010 than this time in 2009; a 57% increase, says Crain's.
 
 
 
And in Midtown, Extell is moving ahead with the $1.3 billion  
skyscraper that will make Trump Tower look like a 3-story railroad.  
NYCurbed reported that the building, to be on 57th Street overlooking  
Central Park, is primarily funded by "Aabar Investment, a company  
controlled by the Abu Dhabi government" who "paid Extell for a  
majority stake in the project." Hopefully the emirate will bring some  
of its good fortune (if not Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan) to the Apple,  
with the IMF recently predicting that Abu Dahbi's economic "growth  
will return to 3.4%."
 
 
 
As a recent front-page story in Greenpoint's The Greenline made  
evident, the city is making the decisions around here, and the  
community's preference does not much matter. The Greenline story,  
"Community Pushes Back," details the fate of the site of the former  
Greenpoint Hospital, and "the city's baffling decision to choose a  
private developer with no community history to develop" the site.
 
 
 
When the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development  
(HPD) finally acquiesced to a community meeting - after making the  
decision on the developer without community input - the conflict was  
explained. The Greenpoint Gazette wrote that HPD's "process makes no  
stipulations about prioritizing community groups for designation of  
city-owned sites." Only the deranged might remember a government of  
the people, by the people, for the people. A government that is the  
people.The present condition of the city's real estate market seems  The present condition of the city's real estate market seems  The present condition of the city's real estate market seems  
The present condition of the city's real estate market seems  
schizophrenic. At one end, Brooklyn is suffering through the  
consequences of the huge pre-recession boom, with abandoned lots all  
over the borough. The Brooklyn Paper reports that "North Brooklyn has  
been hardest hit by the downturn," with over 25% of stalled sites;  
while the NYTimes reports that Aptsandlofts.com was forced to ask  
"developers to turn their condos into rentals or cut prices" to find  
residents.
 
A March 2009 report from ACORN ("The Impact of Foreclosures on  
Neighborhood Crime in New York", which is foreboding enough) pointed  
out that in some neighborhoods, like Jamaica, Queens, foreclosures in  
2008 were one for every thirty-five homes. When no one is around to  
look after the place, the place goes to whoever is around to exploit  
it. "Abandoned homes," the reports stated, "have been shown to attract  
looters, squatters, and criminals." And some neighborhoods do not need  
to try all that hard to attract these elements in the first place.
 
"High-foreclosure neighborhoods are at risk of experiencing a  
breakdown in their fundamental community structure," the report  
continued, illustrating with charts and grafts that Southeast Queens,  
Bed-Stuy, and Easy New York were suffering the most through the hard  
times, with home auctions almost tripling.
 
Nevertheless, across Newtown Creek, in Queens, the city is moving  
forward with the waterfront plans at Hunters Point South. "After four  
years of planning and delays, the city will start soliciting bids" for  
the project, the NYTimes reported Monday.
 
(Fortunately, Bloomberg did agree to concede to the huge public  
disgust at his administration's proposal to charge the homeless rent,  
so this massive building project in the face of hard times does not  
seem so hard-hearted.)
 
And in Manhattan things are really going wonderfully. A Reuters  
release Wednesday noted the increase in office leasing in the borough  
during May, seeing the least vacancy since 2006. Apartment sales in  
Manhattan, also, are "rebounding" and "surging," with more apartments  
sold in 2010 than this time in 2009; a 57% increase, says Crain's.
 
And in Midtown, Extell is moving ahead with the $1.3 billion  
skyscraper that will make Trump Tower look like a 3-story railroad.  
NYCurbed reported that the building, to be on 57th Street overlooking  
Central Park, is primarily funded by "Aabar Investment, a company  
controlled by the Abu Dhabi government" who "paid Extell for a  
majority stake in the project." Hopefully the emirate will bring some  
of its good fortune (if not Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan) to the Apple,  
with the IMF recently predicting that Abu Dahbi's economic "growth  
will return to 3.4%."
 
As a recent front-page story in Greenpoint's The Greenline made  
evident, the city is making the decisions around here, and the  
community's preference does not much matter. The Greenline story,  
"Community Pushes Back," details the fate of the site of the former  
Greenpoint Hospital, and "the city's baffling decision to choose a  
private developer with no community history to develop" the site.
 
When the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development  
(HPD) finally acquiesced to a community meeting - after making the  
decision on the developer without community input - the conflict was  
explained. The Greenpoint Gazette wrote that HPD's "process makes no  
stipulations about prioritizing community groups for designation of  
city-owned sites." Only the deranged might remember a government of  
the people, by the people, for the people. A government that is the  
people.
 
 
consequences of the huge pre-recession boom, with abandoned lots all  
over the borough. The Brooklyn Paper reports that "North Brooklyn has  
been hardest hit by the downturn," with over 25% of stalled sites;  
while the NYTimes reports that Aptsandlofts.com was forced ask  
"developers to turn their condos into rentals or cut prices" to find  
residents.
 
 
 
A March 2009 report from ACORN ("The Impact of Foreclosures on  
Neighborhood Crime in New York", which is foreboding enough) pointed  
out that in some neighborhoods, like Jamaica, Queens, foreclosures in  
2008 were one for every thirty-five homes. When no one is around to  
look after the place, the place goes to whoever is around to exploit  
it. "Abandoned homes," the reports stated, "have been shown to attract  
looters, squatters, and criminals." And some neighborhoods do not need  
to try all that hard to attract these elements in the first place.
 
 
 
"High-foreclosure neighborhoods are at risk of experiencing a  
breakdown in their fundamental community structure," the report  
continued, illustrating with charts and grafts that Southeast Queens,  
Bed-Stuy, and Easy New York were suffering the most through the hard  
times, with home auctions almost tripling.
 
 
 
Nevertheless, across Newtown Creek, in Queens, the city is moving  
forward with the waterfront plans at Hunters Point South. "After four  
years of planning and delays, the city will start soliciting bids" for  
the project, the NYTimes reported Monday.
 
 
 
(Fortunately, Bloomberg did agree to concede to the huge public  
disgust at his administration's proposal to charge the homeless rent,  
so this massive building project in the face of hard times does not  
seem so hard-hearted.)
 
 
 
And in Manhattan things are really going wonderfully. A Reuters  
release Wednesday noted the increase in office leasing in the borough  
during May, seeing the least vacancy since 2006. Apartment sales in  
Manhattan, also, are "rebounding" and "surging," with more apartments  
sold in 2010 than this time in 2009; a 57% increase, says Crain's.
 
 
 
And in Midtown, Extell is moving ahead with the $1.3 billion  
skyscraper that will make Trump Tower look like a 3-story railroad.  
NYCurbed reported that the building, to be on 57th Street overlooking  
Central Park, is primarily funded by "Aabar Investment, a company  
controlled by the Abu Dhabi government" who "paid Extell for a  
majority stake in the project." Hopefully the emirate will bring some  
of its good fortune (if not Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan) to the Apple,  
with the IMF recently predicting that Abu Dahbi's economic "growth  
will return to 3.4%."
 
 
 
As a recent front-page story in Greenpoint's The Greenline made  
evident, the city is making the decisions around here, and the  
community's preference does not much matter. The Greenline story,  
"Community Pushes Back," details the fate of the site of the former  
Greenpoint Hospital, and "the city's baffling decision to choose a  
private developer with no community history to develop" the site.
 
 
 
When the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development  
(HPD) finally acquiesced to a community meeting - after making the  
decision on the developer without community input - the conflict was  
explained. The Greenpoint Gazette wrote that HPD's "process makes no  
stipulations about prioritizing community groups for designation of  
city-owned sites." Only the deranged might remember a government of  
the people, by the people, for the people. A government that is the  
people.
 
present condition of the city's real estate market seems  
schizophrenic. At one end, Brooklyn is suffering through the  
consequences of the huge pre-recession boom, with abandoned lots all  
over the borough. The Brooklyn Paper reports that "North Brooklyn has  
been hardest hit by the downturn," with over 25% of stalled sites;  
while the NYTimes reports that Aptsandlofts.com was forced ask  
"developers to turn their condos into rentals or cut prices" to find  
residents.
 
 
 
A March 2009 report from ACORN ("The Impact of Foreclosures on  
Neighborhood Crime in New York", which is foreboding enough) pointed  
out that in some neighborhoods, like Jamaica, Queens, foreclosures in  
2008 were one for every thirty-five homes. When no one is around to  
look after the place, the place goes to whoever is around to exploit  
it. "Abandoned homes," the reports stated, "have been shown to attract  
looters, squatters, and criminals." And some neighborhoods do not need  
to try all that hard to attract these elements in the first place.
 
 
 
"High-foreclosure neighborhoods are at risk of experiencing a  
breakdown in their fundamental community structure," the report  
continued, illustrating with charts and grafts that Southeast Queens,  
Bed-Stuy, and Easy New York were suffering the most through the hard  
times, with home auctions almost tripling.
 
 
 
Nevertheless, across Newtown Creek, in Queens, the city is moving  
forward with the waterfront plans at Hunters Point South. "After four  
years of planning and delays, the city will start soliciting bids" for  
the project, the NYTimes reported Monday.
 
 
 
(Fortunately, Bloomberg did agree to concede to the huge public  
disgust at his administration's proposal to charge the homeless rent,  
so this massive building project in the face of hard times does not  
seem so hard-hearted.)
 
 
 
And in Manhattan things are really going wonderfully. A Reuters  
release Wednesday noted the increase in office leasing in the borough  
during May, seeing the least vacancy since 2006. Apartment sales in  
Manhattan, also, are "rebounding" and "surging," with more apartments  
sold in 2010 than this time in 2009; a 57% increase, says Crain's.
 
 
 
And in Midtown, Extell is moving ahead with the $1.3 billion  
skyscraper that will make Trump Tower look like a 3-story railroad.  
NYCurbed reported that the building, to be on 57th Street overlooking  
Central Park, is primarily funded by "Aabar Investment, a company  
controlled by the Abu Dhabi government" who "paid Extell for a  
majority stake in the project." Hopefully the emirate will bring some  
of its good fortune (if not Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan) to the Apple,  
with the IMF recently predicting that Abu Dahbi's economic "growth  
will return to 3.4%."
 
 
 
As a recent front-page story in Greenpoint's The Greenline made  
evident, the city is making the decisions around here, and the  
community's preference does not much matter. The Greenline story,  
"Community Pushes Back," details the fate of the site of the former  
Greenpoint Hospital, and "the city's baffling decision to choose a  
private developer with no community history to develop" the site.
 
 
 
When the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development  
(HPD) finally acquiesced to a community meeting - after making the  
decision on the developer without community input - the conflict was  
explained. The Greenpoint Gazette wrote that HPD's "process makes no  
stipulations about prioritizing community groups for designation of  
city-owned sites." Only the deranged might remember a government of  
the people, by the people, for the people. A government that is the  
people.

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Last updated  New York, NY 10.06.10  by Joel Chaffee

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