[BTinSF]

Is your city growing? New York is.

December 12, 2006
The Big Apple, Getting Bigger, Sets New Goals
By ALEX FRANGOS
December 12, 2006; Page B1

New York City has had its share of problems over the years. But its latest challenge isn't about urban decay, crime or terrorism. It's growth.

Long the largest and most densely populated big city in the U.S., Gotham is about to get even more crowded. Already at its highest population ever -- 8.2 million -- the city could grow another nearly 1.3 million souls in the next 25 years, with a commensurate increase in jobs, according to a study from the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, an association of government agencies. The boost in population is a result of young people and empty nesters moving into the city, immigration from abroad, and people simply living longer.

To handle the growth, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg today plans to unveil a set of development goals that envision massive infrastructure investment, land-use reform, and a heavy emphasis on doing it all in an environmentally sustainable way. It will be the initial step toward the first comprehensive citywide growth plan since the late 1960s, city officials say. The move could both create billions of dollars in real-estate investment opportunities and stir up opposition from people concerned that construction could alter the charm or character of their communities.

New York is dealing with a phenomenon that was almost inconceivable for big American cities just a decade ago: success. At that time, urban populations were falling, crime was high and businesses were wary of investing in city centers.

The picture is different today, as businesses, ambitious college grads and culture-seeking empty nesters and retirees return to cities, especially New York. Crime is lower than it has been in the past and the population in New York has exceeded the mark that the current infrastructure -- trains, roads, parks, sewers -- was designed to handle in the 1950s.

Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle are among the big cities that have adopted similar plans in recent years to anticipate growth. A paper published last month by University of Virginia professors William H. Lucy and David L. Phillips found the income of non-Hispanic whites in cities is now higher than their counterparts outside city centers and their incomes are growing faster than suburban counterparts. "This finding reverses the standard belief that most middle and upper income whites had left cities," the study says.

Some New York City officials argue that the time is ripe for a new growth strategy. "We are a city that was built for a capacity of 8 million people and 3.5 million jobs. We had that roughly in 1950," says Daniel Doctoroff, deputy mayor for economic development. A draft plan for future growth in the 1960s was shelved as the city's population declined, crime increased and businesses fled. The city's population hit a low point of just over 7 million in 1980.

Already, several local mega projects that have gestated for decades are nearing construction, giving the city a running start on its growth plans. Just last week, the city sold $2 billion in bonds to finance a subway extension to the far West Side, home to the city's convention center and recently rezoned office and residential district. The subway extension will allow tourists, commuters and conventioneers easier access to neighborhoods near the Hudson River.

The rezoning and subway extension also will also unlock billions of dollars worth of real-estate development. The office space now allowed to be developed there will be almost as much as in downtown Houston, and will generate $60 billion in tax revenue for the city and state over 25 years, according to New York City's estimates.

Some infrastructure dream projects are closer to breaking ground than ever, including new rail tunnels connecting Long Island and New Jersey to Manhattan and a new subway line for Manhattan's East Side. A rebuilt Pennsylvania Station project could include the construction of two rail terminals, a new Madison Square Garden arena and five million square feet of office and retail space. The so-called Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn, though mired in controversy, would include a basketball arena and over a dozen skyscrapers filled with apartments and offices.

Mayor Bloomberg's goals will emphasize building infrastructure such as tunnels, power plants, schools and affordable housing, while sustaining drinking water supplies, reducing congestion and commute times, increasing sewage-treatment capacity and tackling air quality and greenhouse-gas emissions in a time of rising electrical demand.

Many of the major infrastructure projects would rely on federal transportation funding along with local revenue, including the Second Avenue subway's first phase, which will cost $3.8 billion and run up the top half of Manhattan's East Side. A commuter rail tunnel from Long Island will be $6.3 billion. Another tunnel to New Jersey will be $7.2 billion.

But the West Side subway expansion funding could set a precedent. It is fully funded through bonds tied to future city tax receipts, something that's only possible with the bond markets confident in the area's economic future, as is the case now.

To New York City officials, the planning effort has as much to do with simply accommodating growth as staying competitive with cities such as London, Los Angeles and Shanghai. To compete, Mr. Doctoroff says, New York has to "strengthen its position as a global hub of commerce and culture."

To be sure, New York City's plans could run into problems. Mr. Bloomberg's quest for a massive stadium in Manhattan failed, after opponents argued they would alter the city's character and encroach on existing businesses. Redevelopment at the World Trade Center site has only recently begun amid considerable uncertainty, more than five years after the Sept. 11 attacks. Efforts to attract businesses to secondary centers such as Long Island City, Jamaica, and Brooklyn, have met mixed results.

The Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn, run by Forest City Ratner Cos., a division of Forest City Enterprises Inc., could be a preview for those fights. It is slated to use eminent domain, a hot button topic with residents. A vocal opponent of the plan, Daniel Goldstein of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, hopes the mayor's long-term vision changes the way the city approaches megaprojects. He says the city needs to plan projects from the ground up, rather than to follow those that are "developer driven."

Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, a local civic group and member of the mayor's advisory panel, says the city will need "major intensive development," to accommodate the growth. "What all of these plans are about is managing growth and managing success," he says. "The city has to build a half-million units of housing over the next decades."

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/MK-AH617_NYCjp_20061211201221.gif

Write to Alex Frangos at alex.frangos@wsj.com1

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116588791144847137.html

[Jularc]

Wow a construction boom that will last for decades! :tup:

[arbeiter]

Ratner already has used eminent domain for the Atlantic Yards project!

I am happy about this news, but what's built needs to be built to last, and we need to get off our asses and build more subways stat!

[WesTheAngelino]

Good for New York! What is this $2 billion dollar subway they just sold the bonds for??? Haven't heard of it before. It's a cross town line to the convention center?

[BnaBreaker]

So where are the whites going to go? Ahhh yes, that's right, they'll run further and further away. lol

[JivecitySTL]

That city never ceases to amaze me. As if it wasn't big enough, it is actually getting bigger. Jesus Christ.

[WesTheAngelino]

^ And it could get even bigger than predicted. Didn't Manhattan alone once have 2.1 million people?

[hoosier]

Good for New York! What is this $2 billion dollar subway they just sold the bonds for??? Haven't heard of it before. It's a cross town line to the convention center?

Western Manhattan is not served by subways. This new line will service that part of the city and provide even more incentive for development. Go to http://www.wirednewyork.com for more information, or send NYGuy a PM.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Go NYC!!! Great news, I hope Bloomberg can pull it all off.

[Stratosphere 2020]

So where are the whites going to go? Ahhh yes, that's right, they'll run further and further away. lol


I guess to New Jersey, Connecticut or move to the Rockies. The latter has become a hot location spot for white Californians.

[BTinSF]

So where are the whites going to go? Ahhh yes, that's right, they'll run further and further away. lol


Florida

[Jularc]

:cool: History in the making...


December 12, 2006

MAYOR BLOOMBERG DELIVERS SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES AND GOALS FOR NEW YORK CITY THROUGH 2030


Mayor’s Speech Kicks Off Conversation with New Yorkers About the Future of Our City


On Tuesday, December 12, 2006, at an event hosted by the League of Conservation Voters at the Queens Museum of Art, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg delivered a major speech outlining sustainability challenges and goals for the City of New York through the year 2030. The speech included a video presentation and was followed by a panel discussion moderated by NBC News Special Correspondent Tom Brokaw.

The panelists were: Majora Carter, Executive Director and Founder, Sustainable South Bronx; Diana Fortuna, President, Citizens Budget Commission; Edward Ott, Executive Director, New York City, Central Labor Council AFL-CIO; Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig, Research Scientist, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University; and Robert Yaro, President, Regional Plan Association.

“Thanks Marcia. And thank you to the League of Conservation Voters for hosting us today as we look ahead to the year 2030, and to the immense challenges facing our city. Some might think that whatever happens by then won’t be our problem.

“But, speaking for myself, I’m going to be 88 years old, and the kind of city we have will certainly matter to me. (What’s more, my mother will be 121, and she might come for a visit some time.) And that’s why we’ve come together today at the Queens Museum, which plays such a vital role in the cultural and civic life of Queens, and which I also want to thank for their hospitality.

“Because it’s here in Flushing Meadows, in the heart of Helen Marshall’s borough, that more than once, New Yorkers have looked beyond the present, to see the promise of the future. Whether it was at the 1939 World’s Fair, when men and women still feeling the effects of the Great Depression, dared to imagine a dazzling “World of Tomorrow,” or at the 1964 World’s Fair, whose glorious panorama you just walked through, and which featured the futuristic wonders of what people were starting to call ‘the global village.’

“Only five years ago, looking 25 years into the future might have seemed unimaginable. After 9/11, we weren’t sure what even the next day would hold. Instead of looking ahead, many people were looking back, fearful of seeing a return to the days when New York’s dangerous streets, graffitied subways, and abandoned housing were national symbols of urban decay.

“We recalled seeing our city’s population plummet by nearly one million people in just ten year’s time. Many of us remember that era all too well. And many of us have worked hard over the years to bring New York – and new New Yorkers – back – and then some.

“The past five years have truly rewarded our efforts. Building on the successes of our predecessors, we’ve driven crime down to levels last seen when the ‘64 World’s Fair opened. Our welfare rolls are lower than they were in 1964, as well. Today, our streets are cleaner than they’ve been in 30 years. We’ve increased high school graduation rates to a 20-year high. Our bond rating is the best ever. Unemployment is at an all-time record low. New Yorkers are living longer than the average American for the first time since World War II. And the most visible symbol – and source – of New York City’s comeback is that we’re growing again – our population is at an all-time high.

“A generation of dedicated New Yorkers – including many in this room – have all played a role in making this happen. I want to especially acknowledge the strong leadership provided by my predecessors: Mayors Koch, Dinkins, and Giuliani. As a city, we stand on their shoulders – and because we do, we are standing taller and stronger than ever. We should be proud of what we’ve achieved together, not just over the past five years – but over the past twenty-five.

“It would be easy to sit back now and enjoy what we’ve done. To let our successors worry about the future. But we must not become complacent. That’s not how New York became great. And it’s not how I plan to spend the last 1,115 days of my term as mayor!

“Over the first eighteen hundred days, we’ve already begun making the investments that will ensure the City’s long-term future: A $4 billion commitment to finishing the Third Water Tunnel – double what's been spent by the last five administrations combined; $1.6 billion to build the vital Croton water filtration plant; and $13 billion for the largest school capital plan in the city's history.

“We’re turning Fresh Kills, once the world's largest landfill, into the biggest new City park in more than a century. And a few days ago, we sold bonds for the Number 7 line, the first major extension of the subway system in decades, and the first in modern memory paid for by the City. But we also know that much more work needs to be done.

“Last January, I asked Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff to develop a long-term land use plan for the city. At the time, we both thought it was a project that would take just a few months. But as we worked, we discovered the sheer scale of what was ahead – the intricacy, urgency, and interdependency of the challenges we face. We realized that unless we considered the full range of challenges to our city’s physical environment, the progress we’d worked so long and so hard for might be at risk. And it became clear that to secure a stronger, cleaner, and healthier city for our children and grandchildren, we had to start acting now. In short, we realized that New York needed – not a long-term plan for land use, but a long-term plan for sustainability.

“‘Sustainability’ is a word that’s used a lot these days. But at its heart, it simply means striving to make our city greater, not just for ourselves, but for those generations to come. Today, we have a rare opportunity to achieve that goal. Because with the city’s immediate prospects as healthy as they are, and with our Administration not beholden to special interests or big campaign contributors, we now have the freedom to take on the obstacles looming in the city’s future, and to begin clearing them away before they become rooted in place.

“To help us meet that challenge, we created a new Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability. They’re supported by a team from more than 15 City agencies. Joining them have been some of the best and the brightest: independent scientists, think tank scholars, respected academics and city planners, and innovative green builders. And because our focus has been on community-based strategic planning, not central planning, our team has also included neighborhood activists, public interest advocates, labor leaders, and others from the private and non-profit sectors. Some of our partners serve on our Sustainability Advisory Board, while others have played a more informal role. With help from all of them, we’ve studied every part of the city.

“We’ve looked at every playground – all 1,310 of them, and identified which neighborhoods will need more of them going forward. We’ve rated the age and efficiency of all 25 of the power plants serving the city – through 2030. We’ve estimated which of our nearly 250 miles of subway routes will be congested on an average day in 2030. We have, in short, tried to anticipate every physical barrier our communities will experience to maintaining – and building on – the quality of life we enjoy today. And the process has given us a new, deeper, and sobering appreciation of the magnitude of the challenges New Yorkers face.

“Through our work, we’ve identified three major challenges our city will face over the next 25 years: First, we will be getting bigger. By 2030, projections show that our city will add nearly one million more people, along with millions of additional tourists and three-quarters of a million new jobs. Second, our infrastructure will be getting older – more than a century old in many places. And it will be under increasing pressure. And third, as our population grows and our infrastructure ages, our environment – our air, water, and land – will be pushed to new and possibly precarious limits.

“Today, we’ll share what we've learned over the past 11 months. We’ll also present 10 aggressive but achievable goals that we’ve developed – with the help of our extraordinary team of policymakers and advisors. They’re our goals for making New York a sustainable city by 2030.

“We’ll also launch the next stage of this process: Developing, with extensive public input, a detailed action plan to create a sustainable future for our city. A process that we are calling ‘Plan-Y-C.’ Informed by that process, three months from now we’ll present New Yorkers with specific proposals for reaching each of our goals, explaining in full the regulation, legislation, financing mechanisms, or other measures they will require. And then we’ll reach out to our partners in every branch and at every level of government to begin turning those goals into realities.

“The engine driving New York’s future is growth – growth that’s evident all around us. It seems wherever you walk in our city these days, whether it’s Kingsbridge Heights or Lower Manhattan, Queens West or East New York, Fort Greene or here in Flushing, there's new housing being built. Over the last two years, more permits for housing construction have been issued than at any time since the early 1970s, and we will need all of those new units, and more. Because the Department of City Planning projects that by 2010, New York will grow by another 200,000 people. And by 2030, our population will reach more than 9 million – the equivalent of adding the populations of Boston and Miami to the five boroughs. The result is a surge that is taking our population to new heights, and our city into uncharted waters.

“This growth could bring incredible benefits: Billions of dollars in new economic activity will be generated by new jobs, residents, and visitors. But growth also presents challenges: It can undermine neighborhood quality of life, which is why over the past five years we’ve rezoned more than 4,000 city blocks in dozens of neighborhoods, to allow for growth where there’s capacity, and preserve community character when appropriate. Growth can also bid up housing prices. And with more than a third of New York City renters already paying more than half their income on rent, we can’t let that pressure on family budgets grow any worse. In response, we’ve undertaken the largest affordable housing plan of any city in the nation, one that will create and preserve affordable housing for 500,000 New Yorkers by 2013 – that’s more people than live in Atlanta, Georgia. But we know even it won’t be enough.

“Population growth also increases the need for more of the parks and playgrounds that families depend on, even as the competition for land becomes more intense. We have added 300 acres of parkland over the past five years, yet more than 100 neighborhoods still do not have enough playgrounds for the children who live there.

“Our growing population also presents transportation challenges. Strong leadership and major investments over the past 25 years have made our subways cleaner and safer today than they’ve been in decades. But, as a result, ridership has soared – making some commutes more of an ‘up close and personal’ experience than we’d like.

“In short, growth is a challenge that can produce great benefits, but only if we prepare for it and guide it – so that our city stays as open and welcoming as ever. Our population is expected to reach undreamed-of levels. This poses enormous new challenges, and to meet them, we’ve set these three goals:



Creating enough housing for almost a million more people, and finding even more creative ways to make housing more affordable for more New Yorkers.
Ensuring that even as land becomes more scarce, every New Yorker lives within a 10-minute walk of a park, so that every child has the chance to play and be active.
And – so congestion doesn’t bring our economy grinding to a halt, adding to the capacity of our regional mass transit system, so that travel times stay the same – or get better.


“Our growing New York will always be the most diverse city on earth. It will remain a magnet for artists, entrepreneurs, and ambitious immigrants from every corner of the globe. But despite our dramatically varying backgrounds and ambitions, we’ll share so many common experiences as New Yorkers. For starters, we will all go about our days confident in and, in most cases, taking for granted, the systems that underpin this exceptional city.

“For example, think about what you did to get here this morning. Maybe your alarm went off; you turned on the lamp; you ran some water to brush your teeth; picked up the paper, which had been delivered by truck; for breakfast you made some toast; took a phone call (from a Deputy Mayor, telling you not to mess up a big speech you were going to give in Queens); made yourself some hot coffee; then hopped on the subway to get here.

“In other words, you relied on the City’s infrastructure – without ever giving it a single thought. Its millions of components must work seamlessly, every second, day after day, year after year, for all of us to survive. And, for the most part, they do.

“That’s a testament to the genius of visionaries like Thomas Edison, to the skill and muscle of sandhogs who blasted subway and water tunnels through 400 million-year-old bedrock, and to all those who engineered and built our brilliant city. But even their amazing achievements can't outlast the ravages of time. We’re a city that runs on electricity, yet some of our power grid dates from the 1920s, and our power plants rely heavily on outmoded, heavily-polluting technology.

“Our subway system and highway networks are extensive, and heavily-used, yet nearly 3,000 miles of our roads, bridges, and tunnels, and the majority of our subway stations are in need of repair. And even though we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to improve our sewer infrastructure over the past 15 years, at the current pace a full upgrade will take another 500 years. (And hopeful as I am for a long and happy life, even I don’t expect to see that day!)

“By 2030, virtually every major infrastructure system in our city will be more than a century old, and pushed to its limits. It doesn’t have to come to that if we act. Once, infrastructure solutions were pioneered in New York. Now, it's time for us to rise to the challenge again, with a new commitment to upgrading and maintaining New York’s infrastructure.

“Achieving sustainability for our growing city means protecting its foundation – our infrastructure. And to do that, we’ve set these three goals:



Developing critical back-up systems for our water network, so every New Yorker is assured of a dependable source of water even into the next century.
Reaching a full state of good repair for New York City’s roads, subways, and rails for the first time in history.
And providing cleaner, more reliable power for every New Yorker by upgrading our energy infrastructure.


“In addition to a surging population and a straining infrastructure, we also face the challenge of preserving and ‘greening’ an increasingly embattled urban environment. The good news is: We’ve already taken major steps in the right direction.

“Exhibit A is our Solid Waste Management Plan, which – thanks to the active support of the League of Conservation Voters – Speaker Quinn and the City Council passed earlier this year. It was the most dramatic environmental victory New Yorkers have achieved in decades, one that will increase recycling, and also completely end our Sanitation Department’s use of heavily polluting, diesel-burning long-haul trucks.

“Nor is that an isolated achievement. In the past five years, City agencies have cut their greenhouse gas emissions by more than 350,000 tons a year. We’ve made far-sighted investments that will protect the purity of the water we drink. And not far from here, we’re turning the site of the old Elmhurst gas tanks into a beautiful new park – just one example of how we’re reclaiming former industrial sites for open space and housing.

“But the demands of our growing population require us to do far more to protect our environment. Despite the gains we have made over the past two decades our aging sewer network still discharges two billion gallons of sewage into our waterways every year. Even though we have cleaned hundreds of acres of brownfields across the city, there is still much more contaminated land waiting to be reclaimed for new jobs, housing, and parks.

“Our air is cleaner now than it was for much of the 20th Century, yet we have one of the highest asthma hospitalization rates in the country, and its effects are most severe for young children in neighborhoods with high poverty rates. Meanwhile, we've all noticed that the weather seems to be getting more unpredictable, and summers seem to be getting hotter. And longer. Well, that’s not just a perception; it’s a reality.

“It’s called global warming but the impact can be local. We’re a coastal city, and the increase of greenhouse gases in our air is not only lifting temperatures, it may also be contributing to our rising sea level. That means that when major storms hit in the future, the resulting flooding could be worse than anything we’ve seen.

“We know the cost of failing to prepare. It can devastate a great city in just hours, which is why we have created a comprehensive Coastal Storm Plan. But to reduce the threat of dangerous storms, it’s also essential that we do our part to dramatically cut greenhouse gases. To ensure the health of future generations, and to establish New York as a leader in meeting some of the greatest challenges of our time, we must do more to green our city.

“If anyone can innovate when it comes to the environment (or anything else), New York can. And in that spirit, we’ve set these four environmental goals:



Reducing our city’s global warming emissions by more than 30% by 2030, a target we know is achievable even just using technology that exists today.
Achieving the cleanest air quality of any big city in America.
Cleaning up all of our contaminated land.
And, finally, opening 90% of our rivers, harbors, and bays for recreation by reducing water pollution and preserving our natural areas.


“Clearly, we have a lot of hard work ahead of us. I’m not going to pretend that fulfilling these goals will be easy. We know that some of the solutions will be difficult, and some will cost money. But in a very real sense, the predicament of our future is also our hope. The very same population growth that intensifies the challenges we face also offers us the resources for meeting them, and the means needed to help achieve sustainability.

“Doing nothing has its costs, too – economic and environmental costs that will only escalate with the passing years. Refusing to saddle our children with those high costs is what fiscal responsibility is all about. It's why the discipline we’ve shown and the investments we've made for the past five years have given us a strong foundation to face our future. To address the challenges before us, we’ll seek the cooperation of policymakers at every level of government including the Governor-elect and our regional partners. And the really creative solutions to our problems are especially likely to come from the private sector, or from non-profit organizations, or from community leaders who are determined to make a difference. We want to hear all of those voices. And we need to.

“That’s why we are going to conduct a major public outreach effort over the next few months, to solicit ideas, get feedback, and build toward consensus. Today, we are launching that citywide conversation. In fact, the first discussion will take place right here on this stage. We have assembled an impressive panel of experts representing a broad spectrum of disciplines and opinions. And now it's my pleasure to introduce the moderator for this discussion, a long-time resident of our City who loves it as much as his native South Dakota and who believes in its power to innovate and inspire. Please welcome a great New Yorker – and a good friend – Tom Brokaw.

“To help us generate those ideas, we’re now going to go to the real experts – you. New Yorkers in all five boroughs. We’ll also encourage our neighbors in the region to participate, too. Go to our website, look for meetings we'll be holding in every borough, and bring us your ideas. Next week, the city’s daily newspapers will include a brochure that summarizes the challenges we’ve considered today. I want to thank them for helping us start what I hope will be many conversations, on subway platforms, at neighborhood gatherings, and at dinner tables all over town.

“We’re only at the beginning of this process. And if it looks today like we have a steep hill to climb, we do. But the willingness to dream big – and then act on those dreams – is how New Yorkers created the greatest city in the world. Whether it was designing a street grid for one million people at a time when our population was only 100,000 … or unveiling plans for a central park, even though the heart of the city was still a mile to the south … or building one of the world’s largest subway systems, when much of our city was still farmland and fields.

“Previous generations imagined how New York would change, and they delivered. Now it's our turn. It was exactly 44 years ago this week that President John F. Kennedy stood just a few steps from where we are today and helped launch construction of the U.S. Pavilion for the 1964 World’s Fair. That Pavilion was called "Challenge to Greatness,” and asked Americans not to remain content with victories from the past, but to face the hazards and embrace the hopes of the future.

“Today, our future presents us with new challenges. And meeting them requires greatness from all of us, too: greatness of spirit, of purpose, and of vision. Now it is up to us to look ahead, as earlier generations did, and to begin planning for a better, stronger, and more sustainable future for our children, and for theirs.

“It is our city. It is our future. It is our choice. Thank you.”


Copyright 2006 The City of New York (http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c701c789a0/index.jsp?pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fhtml%2F2006b%2Fpr432-06.html&cc=unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1)

[Jularc]

Click on the image for the PLANYC offical website...

http://www.nyc.gov/html/planyc/includes/site_images/features/home/timeline.gif (http://www.nyc.gov/html/planyc/html/home/home.shtml)

[antinimby]

Bloomberg can talk all he wants.

The NIMBYs will kill or at least deflate most of his grand development plans.

No way NIMBY New Yorkers will allow that kind of growth.

They think things are already too crowded as it is.

[waterloowarrior]

really great stuff.. thanks for the articles

[mhays]

I was in New York this weekend. It was impressive as always. But I was also struck that even in NY there's plenty of room for growth on the scale discussed here, through teardowns and even by developing vacant lots.

[GVNY]

I really admire Mayor Bloomberg. All joking aside, I hope he remains mayor until he is 88. New York City needs a leader of great vision who possesses the will to see those visions through, and I believe Mayor Bloomberg meets these requirements and then some.

[James Bond Agent 007]

I remember seeing a 60 Minutes piece about that 3rd water tunnel back in the 80's. It'll be amazing when it ever gets finished.

[liat91]

I guess to New Jersey, Connecticut or move to the Rockies. The latter has become a hot location spot for white Californians.

So according to that article the New York CSA will go from over 12 million white people to about 8 million. Thats 4 million people moving away over 25 years. Translates to over 200,000 white people per year. New York is still attracting every race and the few immigrants still coming from Europe are going to New York in high proportion. So this projection is a bit of a stretch.

[BTinSF]

I really admire Mayor Bloomberg. All joking aside, I hope he remains mayor until he is 88. New York City needs a leader of great vision who possesses the will to see those visions through, and I believe Mayor Bloomberg meets these requirements and then some.

It figures. Mike and I are fellow alums (he was in the class ahead of me). The only difference is he gave our school $100 million and I have given them . . . . Well, not $100 million. ;)

[MolsonExport]

Looks like the greatest city in the US will become even greater in the future.

[brian_b]

I wish Chicago was as ambitious in their plans to expand public transportation. All we've got is a plan for a new circle line that will probably be just a bus route so they don't have to spend any money.

[Jularc]

Bloomberg Prepares for a 25-Year Boom in the City


http://www.nysun.com/pics/45076_main_large.jpg
A task force convened by Mayor Bloomberg to study
the city’s growing needs has found that by 2030 the
city’s roads, bridges, tunnels, subways, energy supply,
housing, and water delivery system will all be at
capacity if nothing is done. The mayor has outlined
a set of goals to prepare the city for expected
population growth. Above, an aerial view of Manhattan.



BY JILL GARDINER - Staff Reporter of the Sun
December 13, 2006

Mayor Bloomberg outlined a sweeping set of energy and infrastructure goals yesterday designed to prepare the city for population growth expected in the next 25 years.

Some of the initiatives, such as improvements to the water and electrical supply systems, will be hard for the average New Yorker to detect but will prevent catastrophes, in the same way that a new roof or a new boiler in a home would. Others, such as new parks, tunnels, and subway lines, will be clearly visible on the landscape of this city for generations. There was no price tag put on the combination of projects, but given the magnitude the costs will be many billions of dollars.

"It would be easy to sit back now and enjoy what we've done," Mr. Bloomberg told a group of city commissioners and civic leaders during a speech at the Queens Museum of Art. "But we must not become complacent. That's not how New York became great. And it's not how I plan to spend the last 1,115 days of my term as mayor."

The outline, which comes almost a year after the mayor convened a task force to study the city's growing needs, found that by 2030 the city's roads, bridges, tunnels, subways, energy supply, housing, and water delivery system will all be at capacity if nothing is done.

The bumper-to-bumper rush-hour traffic that already chokes the city's highways could, for example, last up to 12 hours a day in 2030 if transportation upgrades are not made. The city's aging power plants will not be able to keep up with energy demands — in fact, energy demand could outpace supply by as early as 2012. And subway lines where commuters are already squeezed will be "crammed beyond capacity," according to the city. The population, now at 8.2 million in the five boroughs, is expected to exceed 9 million by 2030.

"By 2030 virtually every major infrastructure in our city will be more than a century old and pushed to its limits," Mr. Bloomberg said, adding, "It doesn't have to come to if we act."

The mayor's 10 goals include: reducing the city's pollution emission by 30%, cleaning up all of the city's brownfields, developing backup systems for the city's water delivery system, upgrading energy infrastructure, investing in subways and highways, and creating enough parkland so that all city residents live within 10 minutes of a park.

The goals are ambitious and could meet intense community resistance and funding opposition in Albany and Washington once they are more specifically defined. But they come as the city is awash in higher-than-expected tax revenues and at a competitive crossroads, with cities such as London, Hong Kong, and Shanghai gaining economic ground.

Yesterday's speech — which was splashed with video footage of city construction projects and even included pictures of Mr. Bloomberg in a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers using energy for basic tasks like talking on the phone and making toast — was a first pass. The mayor said in three months the city would present specific proposals and outline costs and legislation that will be needed to turn the goals into realities.

Mr. Bloomberg, who will turn 88 in the year 2030, billed the event as a beginning of a public conversation that will include a campaign to solicit ideas and get feedback from New Yorkers.

The one idea floated by civic leaders immediately was charging drivers to get into Midtown Manhattan — the concept known as congestion pricing. The president of the Regional Plan Association, Robert Yaro, and the head of the Citizens Budget Commission, Diana Fortuna, both said it should be explored.

Within hours of the speech, Environmental Defense, a non-profit group, released a statement calling on the mayor to consider congestion pricing for New York. As recently as last week Mr. Bloomberg said it was not politically realistic to get congestion pricing passed in Albany, but yesterday he said all ideas would be considered.

"With our administration not beholden to special interests or big campaign contributors, we now have the freedom to take on the obstacles looming in the city's future," Mr. Bloomberg said against a backdrop with the slogan "New York City 2030: Accepting the Challenge."

The mayor, who is often peppered with questions about his presidential ambitions, also used the speech to tout the infrastructure commitments he's already made to the city: A new plan for garbage removal that will reduce truck traffic and $4 billion to finish a new water tunnel that has been under construction for decades, to name a few.

The study, which was led by deputy mayor Daniel Doctoroff, was supposed to be completed in April 2006, but ended up expanding its scope and delving into almost every facet of development and infrastructure in the city. It is just as much a political test for Mr. Doctoroff, the architect of the city's failed Olympic bid, as it is for the mayor.

City Council Member David Weprin, the chairman of the finance committee, called it a "bold vision"but said the city would have to look at the projects in the context of the budget. "There's no question that we'll have to prioritize because we can't do everything at once."

Mr. Yaro, the head of the Regional Plan Association, noted that the challenges are not unique to New York. He noted that the entire metropolitan area is expecting huge population bursts and that competitors like London, which already has a similar plan in place, are too.

He called the mayor's plan "every bit as ambitious" as the plan London's mayor, Ken Livingstone, has laid out. "We're just getting started," Mr. Yaro said.


© 2006 The New York Sun, One SL, LLC. (http://www.nysun.com/article/45076)

[Antares41]

Bloomberg is a great visionary. It is no coincident that NYC greatest building boom since the late1920's-early 1930's is taking place under his administration.
He will go down as one of the greatest mayors ever!:yes:

[MtnClimber]

I guess to New Jersey, Connecticut or move to the Rockies. The latter has become a hot location spot for white Californians.


I hope New yorkers stay out of the rockies. Last thing they need is more people.

[Jularc]

ISLE TAKE STATEN
24% POPULATION SURGE TO BE TOPS IN APPLE: STUDY


By STEPHANIE GASKELL
December 14, 2006

By the year 2030, the number of people living in Staten Island will soar by more than 24 percent - more than any other borough, a report released yesterday shows.

Last year, Staten Island's population was 475,000. The number will jump to 552,000 by 2030, according to the city Department of Planning.

Manhattan will jump by 19 percent, Queens by 15 percent, Brooklyn by 10 percent and The Bronx by 9 percent. The increase citywide will be 14 percent - a boost of about 1.1 million New Yorkers over the next 25 years.

On Staten Island, people are not only moving to the city's smallest borough, but staying there because it has all the conveniences of the suburbs - yet is only a short ferry ride to the hustle and bustle of Manhattan.

"Staten Island is a good example of a place that's accommodating growth but also protecting the quality of life," said Joseph Salvo, the department's population director.

Salvo said the borough's population surge would be sustainable as long as city planners stay focused on improving schools transportation and preserving parks and playgrounds.

Connie Plutchop agrees.

The 43-year-old mother talked to The Post as she dropped her 13-year-old daughter off at school.

"People who come here want more space but they don't want to give up living in New York City," she said. "It's all about having a little bit of country."

Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro said the borough is becoming an urban suburbia.

"We're planning for tomorrow," he said, adding that the biggest priority is to accommodate the borough's 247,000 cars.

Another plus is housing. Staten Island has the lowest average rent of the five boroughs, and housing costs have risen more slowly.

Meanwhile, by 2030, The Bronx will have almost the same number of residents as it did before its decline in the 1970s.

In 1970, there were 1.47 million people living there.

That number dropped to 1.16 million in 1980. But by 2030, Salvo said he expects it to grow to 1.46 million.

"We are the comeback kid of New York City," boasted Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión. "Through smart investment and strong development The Bronx has made strides that years ago no one could imagine."

Brooklyn's increase is projected to give it a population of 2.72 million residents, keeping it the largest borough. Queens is expected to be a close second, with 2.57 million.

Manhattan will have 1.83 million residents.

What's perhaps most striking about the figures is the number of elderly people the city will have to care for in 2030 - it will soar by 44 percent.

The baby-boomer phenomenon will be in full effect over the next decades, when nearly 15 percent of the population will be made up of people 65 and older.

Staten Island and Manhattan will see the most growth in the elderly population.

On Staten Island, it is expected to more than double from 51,000 in 2000 to 103,000 in 2030. But Brooklyn will still have the largest number of elderly - about 410,000.

The number of school-age children is shifting, as well.

It's declining in The Bronx and Brooklyn - but will increase in Queens and Staten Island, as those boroughs become even more family-friendly.

Still, the total number of school-age children will drop from 17.4 percent in 2000 to just 15.4 percent in 2030.

Mayor Bloomberg, who gave a comprehensive report on the future of the city on Tuesday, said, "Our momentum is likely to continue, so we must make smart choices."


Copyright 2006NYP Holdings, Inc. (http://www.nypost.com/seven/12142006/news/regionalnews/isle_take_staten_regionalnews_stephanie_gaskell.htm)

[oreoman85]

Re-doing NYC, awesome. Its only gonna get better folks, completely new infrastructure, new subways, new roads, new bridges and tunnels, new cabs (hybrids), new arenas, new stadiums, and new people.

[oreoman85]

cant forget new buildings too.

[WesTheAngelino]

Re-doing NYC, awesome. Its only gonna get better folks, completely new infrastructure, new subways, new roads, new bridges and tunnels, new cabs (hybrids), new arenas, new stadiums, and new people.

WHOA. You just said something I NEVER thought of....hybrid cabs. The way we encourage hybrids here in California is so retarted. For a fee, you can drive your hybrid in the HOV lane....but that is when they are least efficient!!!! NYC cabs see a lot of stop and go, ideal for saving gas in a hybrid. Is the city doing anything to subsidize them?

[MolsonExport]

ISLE TAKE STATEN
24% POPULATION SURGE TO BE TOPS IN APPLE: STUDY


By STEPHANIE GASKELL
December 14, 2006

By the year 2030, the number of people living in Staten Island will soar by more than 24 percent - more than any other borough, a report released yesterday shows.

Last year, Staten Island's population was 475,000. The number will jump to 552,000 by 2030, according to the city Department of Planning.

Manhattan will jump by 19 percent, Queens by 15 percent, Brooklyn by 10 percent and The Bronx by 9 percent. The increase citywide will be 14 percent - a boost of about 1.1 million New Yorkers over the next 25 years.

On Staten Island, people are not only moving to the city's smallest borough, but staying there because it has all the conveniences of the suburbs - yet is only a short ferry ride to the hustle and bustle of Manhattan.

"Staten Island is a good example of a place that's accommodating growth but also protecting the quality of life," said Joseph Salvo, the department's population director.

Salvo said the borough's population surge would be sustainable as long as city planners stay focused on improving schools transportation and preserving parks and playgrounds.

Connie Plutchop agrees.

The 43-year-old mother talked to The Post as she dropped her 13-year-old daughter off at school.

"People who come here want more space but they don't want to give up living in New York City," she said. "It's all about having a little bit of country."

Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro said the borough is becoming an urban suburbia.

"We're planning for tomorrow," he said, adding that the biggest priority is to accommodate the borough's 247,000 cars.

Another plus is housing. Staten Island has the lowest average rent of the five boroughs, and housing costs have risen more slowly.

Meanwhile, by 2030, The Bronx will have almost the same number of residents as it did before its decline in the 1970s.

In 1970, there were 1.47 million people living there.

That number dropped to 1.16 million in 1980. But by 2030, Salvo said he expects it to grow to 1.46 million.

"We are the comeback kid of New York City," boasted Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión. "Through smart investment and strong development The Bronx has made strides that years ago no one could imagine."

Brooklyn's increase is projected to give it a population of 2.72 million residents, keeping it the largest borough. Queens is expected to be a close second, with 2.57 million.

Manhattan will have 1.83 million residents.

What's perhaps most striking about the figures is the number of elderly people the city will have to care for in 2030 - it will soar by 44 percent.

The baby-boomer phenomenon will be in full effect over the next decades, when nearly 15 percent of the population will be made up of people 65 and older.

Staten Island and Manhattan will see the most growth in the elderly population.

On Staten Island, it is expected to more than double from 51,000 in 2000 to 103,000 in 2030. But Brooklyn will still have the largest number of elderly - about 410,000.

The number of school-age children is shifting, as well.

It's declining in The Bronx and Brooklyn - but will increase in Queens and Staten Island, as those boroughs become even more family-friendly.

Still, the total number of school-age children will drop from 17.4 percent in 2000 to just 15.4 percent in 2030.

Mayor Bloomberg, who gave a comprehensive report on the future of the city on Tuesday, said, "Our momentum is likely to continue, so we must make smart choices."


Copyright 2006NYP Holdings, Inc. (http://www.nypost.com/seven/12142006/news/regionalnews/isle_take_staten_regionalnews_stephanie_gaskell.htm)


It is great to learn of this fantastic densification occuring in what is already a very dense urban fabric.

[UncleRando]

New York faces all-day rush hour by 2030
CNN.com / ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 13, 2006

NEW YORK (AP) -- By the year 2030, New York City could have so many people straining its infrastructure that it won't have enough electricity or housing to meet demand, and rush hour traffic will last all day.

The city of 8.2 million people must start planning and building now for the expected growth of 1 million more over the next 25 years, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a panel of experts warned.

"We now have the freedom to take on the obstacles looming in the city's future and to begin clearing them away before they become rooted in place," Bloomberg said Tuesday.

Some of the findings presented Tuesday by a team of city planners, academics, scientists and environmentalists who have spent the past year studying the city's infrastructure and assessing its viability to cope include:

•In 25 years, rails and roads will be "crammed beyond capacity" and won't be able to accommodate the swarm of commuters during what is now considered normal rush hour. Lawmakers must act now to not only expand the road network but also to update the subway system, which was built starting in 1901 and still uses signal and switch technology developed before the 1940s.

•The city will need thousands more housing units. And it has to be affordable -- already, more than a third of city renters fork over more than half their income for rent, the group said.

•Energy demand could exceed supply by as early as 2012, and by 2030 the majority of the city's power plants will be more than 50 years old. The city needs to improve efficiency, use alternative energy sources and modernize its grid, which was built in the 1920s.

New York must not only meet the needs of its growing population but has to stay competitive as a global city, said Robert D. Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, a nonpartisan planning group.

"We can't put our head in the sand," he said. "We know that Shanghai and London and other great world cities that are competing with us are making plans like these and are doing a great job of building new economies and building the infrastructure systems."

Suggestions offered by the expert panel included taxing vehicles that drive into Manhattan's most heavily trafficked neighborhoods, called congestion pricing; and charging residents by the pound for the trash they throw out.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/13/nyc.population.ap/index.html

[UncleRando]

This kind of growth for this established of a city is trully impressive IMO. I am amazed by NYC everytime I hear another story....just plan it out, and NYC will continue to be the best!

[Vangelist]

Haha Los Angeles shamefully has had "all-day rush hour" since 1990