In Other News: Shelters Do Affect Property Values, Tolling Suggestions, Sanitation Pickups and more
- A crazy FedEx delivery in Bay Ridge has many scratching their heads. The fake delivery man tied up residents and snatched $130k.
- Independent Budget Office has released a report saying that if you live within 1,000 feet of two or more shelters your property value drops by almost 20% – at least in Manhattan. This could be an argument against clustering shelters (see the two opening in Park Slope), as the effect of just one shelter nearby was between 6-7%. This contradicts previous report from NYU finding shelters and transitional housing have no effect on property values.
- Man who set the Kings Plaza garage on fire gets five years behind bars. Conditions at the Plaza’s garage still hazardous.
- Regional Plan Association has released a report on how to implement congestion pricing, coming to lower Manhattan, possibly as soon as 2021. Here is a very good summary, and you can read the full report here with a lot more detail. The suggestion is to establish two-way tolling, with rates varying on time of day and by size of vehicle and eliminate toll shopping. They also suggest implementing transit and bicycle improvements prior to starting congestion pricing.
- Something I’ve been reading as we work on the homelessness stories – why is homelessness such a big issue in California. Some of it is due to the single-family zoning. NY Daily News ran a piece recently arguing against it as well, using images from Ditmas Park’s mansions. I’m wondering though, as the super expensive developments take place – where is the new immigrant family to settle? The new rentals are small in addition to expensive and don’t really allow you to have the extended family all sharing space, many generations at a time. More on this another time.
The Downtown Revitalization Initiative is infusing local communities with funding for transformational projects to grow businesses & enhance life for residents.
Toured ongoing projects, including an innovation center, as part of the $10M DRI in downtown #Cortland w/ @MayorTobin. pic.twitter.com/Adk6B2OehQ
— Kathy Hochul (@LtGovHochulNY) September 25, 2019
- Community Board 12 laments slack Sanitation pickups from Yeshivas in Borough Park on Twitter. A resident questions the many private functions that take place at them and the amount of garbage generated and improperly put out:
And the saga continues… pic.twitter.com/Hsoki5yIuf
— Community Board 12 (@BrooklynCB12) September 20, 2019