The following commentary written by Ross Sandler is from the November, 2009 issue of CityLand.
Bloomberg Wins: Land Use Challenges
Three days after the voters elected Michael Bloomberg to a third term, Sam Roberts in the New York Times chronicled the difficulties experienced by the last three-term mayors, Fiorello La Guardia, Robert Wagner and Ed Koch, and the last three-term governors, Mario Cuomo and George Pataki. Some of these three-term veterans blamed boredom, the wearing down of the governing team, decline of energy, too much exposure, voter fickleness and bad economic luck.
It is challenging to serve three terms. At the eight year point negatives begin to exceed positives. One area where negatives and positives are piling up is land use, and it is not certain which category will prevail.
The Bloomberg Administration has had a broad land use agenda. In this issue alone, CityLand reports three decisions aimed at widely divergent goals. They are the Council's approval of a 1,050-foot mid-block tower next to the Museum of Modern Art which will house a hotel, residences and MOMA galleries; Landmarks' proposal to extend two large historic districts, Greenwich Village and SoHo; and the Planning Commission's approval of a zoning scheme to encourage grocery stores to locate in underserved areas.
Pursuing such divergent polices is not without controversy. The City is now defending in state court Landmarks' approval of St. Vincent's Hospital's hardship application needed to modernize the Greenwich Village hospital. Ironically, Landmarks is simultaneously proposing to expand the Greenwich Village Historic District to cover even more of Greenwich Village.
A large number of developments have stalled. New Council legislation will extend the life of building permits for stalled projects, a measure intended to allow quick startup of construction when the economy permits. Stalled projects are not merit badges, and it remains to be seen whether the projects will be realized. Credit for private development goes to the mayor in office. Failure may likewise be attributed to the mayor in office.
Other question marks include Atlantic Yards, the No. 7 Line extension, Moynihan Station, and the World Trade Center site. The results of November 3rd inevitably put these and other land use projects in Mayor Bloomberg's lap. They are challenges enough, even for a first term mayor.
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