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Community Development Reports:

Housing and Neighborhoods
Owners of large rental apartment buildings in the city are subject to a higher effective property tax rate than owners of one- to three-family homes, and they bear a disproportionate share of the city’s overall property tax burden, according to this housing and neighborhoods report by NYU’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. 2012-05-08

Parking at East River Plaza
The 1,248 parking space garage at East Harlem's big box mall, East River Plaza, has gone mostly unused, according to this report released by the American Planning Association. Only about a third of shoppers there drive, it concludes, making the garage a waste of public funds and a lost opportunity for additional development. 2012-04-25

Banking in the Bronx
The Bronx has only 145 bank branches, according to this report by the University Neighborhood Housing Program.  2012-04-24

Crime, Safety, Walking and Biking in Bed-Stuy
This report by Transportation Alternatives looks at how perceptions of safety, crime, and violence impact active transportation in Bed-Stuy. 2012-04-10

Design and Architecture in the City
New York City graduates twice as many students in design and architecture as any other U.S. city, but the city’s design schools are not only providing the talent pipeline for New York’s creative industries — they have become critical catalysts for innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth, according to this report by the Center for an Urban Future.  2012-03-22

Tracking Development Deals
The Independent Budget Office has examined annual reports submitted by the Economic Development Corp. on its discretionary deals and has issued a brief summarizing the information on 1,098 projects undertaken between 1994 and this year. In terms of number, it found more projects were in manufacturing than any other sector. However, when one looks at the size of the projects, information and financial services comes out on top. This area accounted for the largest value of new projects during the Koch, Dinkins and Giuliani administrations, but under Bloomberg, stadiums have been the number one beneficiaries. Despite the data provided by the development agency, the Independent Budget Offices says it remains difficult to determine what effects its efforts have had on job creations and retention. 2011-11-09

Chain Stores in the City
Nearly a third of chain stores reduced their presence in the city over the past 12 months, according to this report by the Center for an Urban Future. Dunkin Donuts remains the most ubiquitous chain, but the company did not show a net gain in stores - it held steady with 466 stores across the five boroughs. 2011-11-03

Local Investment by Banks Declines
In spite of a $38 billion increase in local deposits at the city's 20 largest banks over the past two years, reinvestment in the city's communities by those banks declined by $4.4 billion according to this new report by the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development. 2011-09-29

Ticketing Produce
Strict enforcement of laws on vendors, along with confiscation of fresh produce and equipment, pose a major risk to the street market on Forsyth Street in Chinatown, according to a report by the Street Vendor Project of the Urban Justice Center. The report, Spoiled!. estimates vendors at the market, which it calls the busiest such market in a low-income New York neighborhood, have received more than 2,000 tickets in the last two years. Through these actions, the report says, "The city is undeniably undermining its other praiseworthy efforts to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables in low-income neighborhoods like Chinatown."  2011-07-26

Are New Yorkers Happy With Their Neighborhoods?
This survey by the Municipal Art Society found that New York City residents are positive about their neighborhoods and the city as a whole, but that those in outer boroughs are less positive about both New York City and their communities.  2010-10-28

Mortgage Crunch
Between 2006 and 2008, banks and other lenders reduced the amount of prime loans for mortgages and refinancing by 56 percent in New York City's communities of color, according to a new report by NEDAP and six other groups y. Lending in New York's predominantly white communities decreased by 31.2 percent over the same period. The report, "Paying for the American Dream IV," found similar patterns in the seven cities it studied, with Charlotte, N.C., seeing the largest drop in communities of color -- almost 71 percent -- and Rochester, N.Y., with a 52.5 percent drop, the smallest. 2010-05-19

Zoning and New Housing
The massive rezoning carried out by the Bloomberg administration between 2003 and 2007 has created some new housing in the city but the effects vary from borough to borough, according to a new report by NYU’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. The zoning changes increased the city’s capacity for new residential building by 1.7 percent, or roughly 100 million square feet of residential capacity, with Queens gaining the most and the Bronx showing no change. The report also found discrepancies in which areas were upzoned, allowing for greater density, and which ones were downzoned. The administration has tended to allow greater density in black and Hispanic areas while reducing or maintaining it in white neighborhoods.  2010-03-23

Saving Independent Retail
This new report by the Pratt Center for Community Development explores what the city can do to protect independent retailers from high rents. 2009-08-12

Gentrification Displaces Students
Five high schools closings in East New York, Canarsie and Far Rockaway could be attributed to gentrification, according to a new report from the Institute for Children and Poverty. Titled "Pushed Out: The Hidden Costs of Gentrification: Displacement and Homelessness," the report suggests that students can often be displaced by gentrification. According to the report, about 2,150 students from East New York and 2,400 students from Canarsie will have to find other schools, because the city has phased out "larger, lower-performing high schools." 2009-04-28

Guide to Planning Successful Pedestrian Streets
Transportation Alternatives just released a report that studied a number of events that took place this past summer that opened streets up to pedestrians. The study shows that these type of events are a boon to retail, improve the perception of the streets, build the community and encourage walking. 2009-04-14

A Blueprint for Growth
"One City/One Future: A Blueprint for Growth That Works for All New Yorkers" is the product of four years of collaboration by civic leaders, neighborhood advocates, community development organizations, labor unions, affordable housing groups, environmentalists, immigrant advocates, and others. It offers policy 54 recommendations. For the full report, visit here. 2009-03-31

Food, Hunger, Health, Jobs and the Environment
The Manhattan Borough President recently unveiled a six pronged plan to combat obesity and overweight. Among his recommendations are: creating an Office of Food Policy; including food indicators in accountability efforts, similar to those of crime and drug use reporting; expanded food and nutrition education; and the exploration of land use and zoning incentives to encourage to development of food markets in needy areas. 2009-02-13

A Changing Lower East Side
Rapid development on the Lower East Side threatens to wipe out the area's longstanding identity as a lower-income immigrant community, according to a new report. The report, "No Go for Local Business," by the Urban Justice Center and Good Old Lower East Side, found that three quarters of small businesses felt their profits were not increasing enough to meet rising rent and utility costs. The report outlines a number of proposals aimed at helping the small businesses, including rent guidelines and new city zoning laws to encourage commercial diversity. 2009-02-04

Art Groups' Infrastructure Spending
The $1.4 billion dollars spent on building by the city's cultural institutions from '03 to '05 resulted in the creation of 3,460 jobs, $560 million in wages, and $40.6 million in taxes paid to the city over the same period, according to a new report by the Alliance for the Arts. The report goes on to estimate that the institutions will spend $1.7 billion from '06 to '10 which the say would create 2,500 jobs, $670 million in wages and $48.5 million in taxes. 2009-01-15

Prevailing Wages for Affordable Housing?
Imposing government determined prevailing wages for affordable housing construction could increase total development costs by about 25 percent, according to a recent report by the Citizens Housing and Planning Council. They also found no evidence to suggest that construction safety or quality would improve, as some have argued, by imposing the wage rates. The report further suggests that many black and Latino laborers could lose their jobs if the higher wages were imposed, since they are disproportionately found in the lower wage sectors of the construction industry. 2008-12-29

Supportive Housing and Property Values
Supportive housing - affordable housing that offers on-site social services - does not affect the property values of surrounding homes, according a new report by The Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. Indeed, they found property values rose in the years after construction. The report examined the impacts 7,500 supportive housing units over the course of 20 years. 2008-11-07

Illegal Vendors at Ground Zero
An average of 15 illegal street vendors operate daily within the no-vending zone surrounding Ground Zero, according to a survey by the Manhattan Borough President's office. One Sunday afternoon, the office found 53 illegal vendors in the zone, which was created by the state legislature in 2004 to honor those who died there. 2008-10-23

Training the Workforce
Federal funding for workforce development has fallen by nearly a third in the last two decades, according to an analysis by the Center for an Urban Future, and New York City has seen a lot of that loss. For one job training program in particular, the city has lost 35 percent of its funding for adult development and 31 percent for youth. While the private sector has stepped in to cover some of the costs, the federal government must assume its role in assuring workers can keep long-term employment, says the report. 2008-09-24

Job Growth Ranked by ZIP Code
In a ranking of job growth by ZIP code, the Center for an Urban Future has found that the outer boroughs had the largest percentage job gains while lower Manhattan performed the worst. Fifteen of the 40 ZIP codes with the largest gains were located in Queens. Four of the five ZIP codes with the worst job losses were in lower Manhattan. 2008-09-04

The Value of Street Life
A report by Transportation Alternatives that argues that livable streets - which prioritize pedestrian activity over driving - are a boon to the economy. It finds that pedestrian only zones result in higher foot traffic and retail sales. Property values are also higher on quieter streets, those with calmer traffic, and in areas with more open space. 2008-08-13

Small Businesses Closing in Downtown Brooklyn
Although small businesses in Downtown Brooklyn survived "large-scale disinvestment" in the '80s and '90s, they are having trouble staying open during the current real estate boom, according to a new report by the Urban Justice Center. Thirty-five of the 61 small businesses surveyed have been displaced or closed due to rising rents or redevelopment. The 2004 rezoning of the area has contributed to this, the report says. 2008-08-01

Bronx Boom - or Bust?
Recent investment in the Bronx has done little to benefit the largely black and Latino residents of the northwest part of the borough, according to a report by Urban Justice Center and the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition. The report found, for example, that almost a third of the community's residents are unemployed and not looking for work, and that 79 percent of those unemployed and looking for a job had been unemployed for at least six months. To remedy the problem, the report calls for jobs that pay a living wage, programs to train residents and prepare them for work, and better information on job opportunities in the community. 2008-07-31

Equal Opportunity in Construction
Three years after Mayor Michael Bloomberg created his Commission on Construction Opportunity to bring more women, blacks, Hispanics and Asians into construction jobs, a report by David Jason Fischer of the Center for an Urban Future examines the progress to date. In "Something to Build On," Fischer finds the commission has fallen short of many of its goals but has created a foundation for expanding opportunities in the construction industry. 2008-02-13

Rezoning Harlem's 'Main Street'
The city planning commission will hold hearings today on a controversial proposal to rezone much of 125th Street. The plan covers from 124th to 126th streets between Broadway and Second Avenue. The zoning changes proposed by the city planning department would allow for taller buildings and increased density for homes, and also seek to spur foot traffic. Critics charge the community was not adequately consulted on a plan that some charge would change the character of this famous thoroughfare. The planning department's report includes information on the hearing as well as the complete rezoning proposal. 2008-01-30

Development in the Bronx
Last year $1.3 billion was invested in private, commercial and institutional development throughout the Bronx, according to a report by the borough president. The borough also issued 914 new addresses in that time. The highest month for investment was June, when $453 million was invested. Last December, which wasn't included in last year's numbers because those statistics end in November, $150 million was invested in development and 75 addresses were issued. 2008-01-11

Luring Suburban Shoppers
Ethnic shopping centers in New York City are attracting shoppers from the suburbs and so are helping to boost the city economy, according to a report by the Center for an Urban Future. The report found that ethnic shoppers from around the region frequent once modest shopping districts, such as Flushing and Jackson Heights. After decades when city dollars went to the suburbs, this activity has boosted the number of businesses in these areas and created new jobs. 2007-11-14

Progress at Ground Zero
The majority of projects in the 16 acre footprint of the World Trade Center are moving along according to schedule, according to the latest progress report by the Port Authority. The report does note, however, that it is still unclear how the fire at the Deutsch Bank building will impact the construction of the building that will take its place. Also, the decision over what to do with the staircase left over from the Twin Towers has still not been made. 2007-10-05

Department of Youth and Community Development Losing Sight of Beacon Centers
An audit by Comptroller William Thompson finds that the Department of Youth and Community Development has not maintained adequate oversight and monitoring of Beacon Program contractors to ensure they are providing services and activities to achieve program goals. Beacons are school-based community centers where young people can go when school is not in session. They are operated by community-based organizations and are expected to provide a combination of services and activities consistent with their respective neighborhood needs and interests. 2007-07-03

Rethinking Environmental Review
The Manhattan Institute's report "Rethinking Environmental Review” lays out steps to improve the City Environmental Quality Review process. Environmental review was instituted so that public officials would understand the full environmental implications of a project and could plan for any necessary changes to municipal infrastructure and services. Over time, the report argues, the process has evolved to focus solely on legal disclosure as a kind of "litigation insurance” and needs to be reformed and streamlined. 2007-05-18

Economic Impact of Times Square
Times Square generates $55 billion a year for the city's economy - more than the gross domestic product of Bolivia and Panama combined -according to a report by the Times Square Alliance, a privately-funded non-profit dedicated to improving the area. Times Square also contributes $1.1 billion in annual taxes to New York City, more than the budget for the Parks, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Community Development, Aging, and Small Business Services Departments and the public libraries combined. Eighty percent of all tourists visit the Times Square area. 2007-05-08

A Thousand Cuts: Workforce Development Funding
A report by the Center for an Urban Future tracks the decline in funding for workforce development, programs designed to help students, jobseekers and workers gain new credentials and skills. The study follows cuts in 28 active funding streams, administered by 11 different agencies within state or federal government. The report (in pdf format) concludes that "New Yorkers do not derive as much value as we could from these investments" because of a lack of attention and coordination of efforts. 2007-03-27

Failure to Comply: The Disconnect between Design and Implementation in HRA’s WeCARE Program
Research Report from Community Voices Heard finds implementation failures in the New York welfare system’s $200 million Wellness, Comprehensive Assessment, Rehabilitation and Employment (WeCARE) program. 2007-03-05

Immigrant Entrepreneurs
Businesses started, owned and operated by immigrants are boosting the city’s economy according to A World of Opportunity, a new report by the Center for an Urban Future. The reports finds that many immigrants are self-employed and that their businesses have created jobs and play a key role in neighborhoods throughout New York. However the report says there is more that government, businesses and non-profit organization could do to help these entrepreneurs. 2007-02-07

The Poverty Report
This report by the Mayor’s Commission for Economic Opportunity, officially entitled "Increasing Opportunity and Reducing Poverty In New York City," includes a “snapshot” of poverty in the city – over 1.5 million New Yorkers (“almost three times the entire population of Boston”) live below the poverty line; many of the poor are children; many poor adults are employed, etc. – and a set of recommendations focused on three groups: young adults 16 to 24, children under six, and the working poor. 2006-09-19

An Uneven Recovery
In its State of Working New York 2006, the Fiscal Policy Institute finds that real wages in New York State are below 2002 levels, despite increased worker productivity and output. Different areas of the state are also faring very differently from one another, the report finds. 2006-09-07

Street Fairs
New York City street fairs all seem similar because they are, according to a report, “Rethinking New York’s Street Fairs,” by the Center for an Urban Future. The study found that the same vendors appear at many of the fairs; for example 20 vendors hold 46 percent of all the permits to sell food at street fairs. The report recommends that the city make major changes to the fairs so that they will include more city-based entrepreneurs and artists. 2006-08-07

State of the City's Housing and Neighborhoods
The number of apartments in New York City within the reach of moderate-income families dropped by 17 percent between 2002 and 2005, according to this report by Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University. The report also examines a range of housing-related issues on the neighborhood level. 2006-06-21

New Space for Manufacturers
As many as 120 industrial businesses could be housed if two vacant government warehouses in Sunset Park are developed for manufacturing, argues this report by the Center for an Urban Future, entitled "The Final Frontier for Manufacturers." Manufacturers are being forced out of New York City because of higher rents and increasing conversion of industrial buildings in residential developments. 2006-06-16

Inheriting Jobs from the Baby Boom
Thousands of baby boomers are preparing to retire over the next few years in New York. Many of these work in key industries like construction and health care. In this report, the Center for an Urban Future discusses what it sees as a great employment opportunity for the city's 200,000 "disconnected youth", who are neither in school nor working. 2006-05-05

Staten Island Yankees, Deadbeats?
The Staten Island Yankees owe New York City at least $570,000 in electricity, sewage, water and other payments, and still are not providing an accurate count of attendance at their games (which determines how much rent they’ll pay the city), according to this audit by the City Comptroller. The Staten Island Yankees, five years into their 20-year lease with the city for the Richmond County Bank Ballpark, are a minor league baseball team affiliated with the New York Yankees, which is a minority shareholder in the team. 2006-04-25

Strain on Working Families
Over a quarter of New York State’s working families earn less than twice the national poverty standard, this report from the Center for an Urban Future finds. In New York’s economy, job growth has been concentrated in low-income fields, while better-paying fields lose jobs and housing costs increase. New York should focus its energy on making it easier for its residents to develop the skills needed for higher paying jobs, in order to make the state more attractive to these industries, the report concludes. 2006-03-24

Brooklyn's Produce Shortage
Fresh fruits and vegetables can be hard to find in North and Central Brooklyn, according to a health department report. About 80 percent of the food stores in the area, which includes Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick, are bodegas. Only a third of those bodegas carry low-fat milk and fewer than a third stock fresh apples, oranges and bananas. About 30 percent of adults in the community are obese, the report says noting, "the availability, price and quality of neighborhood food would have a strong impact on healthy diet." 2006-02-20

9/11 Loan Boondoggle
Loans meant to aid businesses affected by the terrorist attacks of September 11th went to a South Dakota radio station, a Virgin Islands perfume shop, a Utah dog boutique and more than 100 Dunkin' Donuts and Subway sandwich shops in various locations, according to a report by the Inspector General of the Small Business Administration, the federal agency that administered the Supplementary Terrorist Activity Relief (STAR) program Meanwhile, small businesses near Ground Zero in New York couldn't get the assistance they desperately sought. 2005-12-29

Can Growth Work for New York's Communities?
Growth, demographers suggest, is a given for New York City over the coming generation. And it is certainly better than abandonment. In anticipation of the December 1st event, this report by The Pratt Center addresses a key question: how can New York’s neighborhoods harness, control, and even shape growth as the city moves forward in the 21st century? 2005-12-01

City Faces New Development Grant Cuts
New York City depends on its federal Community Development Block Grant allocation to fund a range of housing, social service, economic development, and other programs. Since peaking in 2001, however, the total appropriations for these federal grants nationwide -— as well as the grant specifically for New York City -- have fallen markedly, according to this report by the Independent Budget Office. Although appropriations for federal fiscal year 2006 are still being debated, it seems likely that the grant amount will fall at least another six percent to nine percent -- with potentially significant impacts on city services that rely heavily on this funding. 2005-10-12

Remaking Chelsea
The western edge of Chelsea has changed dramatically in recent years. A key factor was the opening of Chelsea Market, the former factory that is now a wholesale and retail center for New York food manufacturers. In this report, the developer of the market discusses the planned High Line development, the future of manufacturing in New York and whether the food vendors being displaced at the Bronx Terminal Market could form the basis of another market-style development. 2005-10-10

Issues And Proposals For The Candidates
Three leading New York civic groups have issued a report on key policy issues that they believe York’s next mayor will face over the next four years. The report, “Framing the 2005 Mayoral Debate: Issues and Proposals for the Candidates,” by the Regional Plan Association, the Center for New York City Affairs at Milano Graduate School and the Center for an Urban Future, considers major problems in such areas as education, economic development, child welfare and homelessness and presents possible solutions. The groups say the report is intended to encourage substantive discussion of policy issues in this year's municipal campaigns. 2005-08-25

What Small Businesses Need For Success
Small business owners are so dissatisfied with the cost of doing business in the city that one in seven would relocate for a cost savings of less than 10 percent, according to a statistically representative survey of 400 small businesses in New York City (and 401 in Northern New Jersey) sponsored by the Citizens Budget Commission and the Federal Reserve Bank Of New York. “What Firms Value Most” found that small businesses broadly agreed on three factors that are the most important to their success – the cost of doing business, proximity to markets and clients, and access to a skilled labor market – and that they were relatively satisfied with the last two factors at their present location, but not the first one. The most frequently named destinations for businesses considering moving were Miami or Los Angeles. The survey also found that 40 percent of the small businesses in New York City “are routinely hampered by transportation congestion or delays.” 2005-08-02

Manhattan's Community Boards
The 59 community boards in the city are designed to be strong voices for the neighborhoods of the city, but their performance is uneven and accountability nil, according to a report by Assemblymember Scott Stringer, "Elevating City Government: A Blueprint to Reform and Empower Manhattan's Community Boards"(Stringer is, not coincidentally, running for Manhattan borough president). The report finds that most boards are subject to pressures by unregistered lobbyists, and do not even have the full complement of members. 2005-06-21

Space Available: The Realities of Convention Centers as Economic Development Strategy
A report of The Brookings Institution observes that dozens of American cities are engaged in "a type of arms race with competing cities" over convention business, with billions spent to build convention halls, even though the convention industry is contracting, attendance is falling and "a recovery or turnaround is unlikely to yield much increased business for any given community, contrary to repeated industry projections." (Recently, as the NY Times notes, the New York State Legislature approved a $1.4 billion plan to add 575,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.) 2005-01-18