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Protecting the Public Interest in Public Land
New York City used to be full of vacant land owned by the city – over 100,000 lots by some counts in the 1970s. The reason was simple – private owners simply didn’t think the land was valuable enough to pay taxes on, so the city took it over.
New York City used to be full of vacant land owned by the city – over 100,000 lots by some counts in the 1970s. The reason was simple – private owners simply didn’t think the land was valuable enough to pay taxes on, so the city took it over.
But the New York of 2014 is a vastly different place. We have very few vacant parcels of land left here in New York City, and all of them are extremely valuable. Now the city needs to take a long, hard look before it gives them away.
The city took the right approach recently when it announced that a 25,000 Square Foot city lot on the West Side of Manhattan slated for affordable housing would be sold for one dollar to a local nonprofit, the Clinton Housing Development Corporation.
If the city is going to sell land for a dollar to be developed as affordable housing,making sure it stays permanently affordable should be the first priority. Utilizing our not-for-profit Community Development Corporations is the right way to do this. A $110 million site in a rapidly gentrifying area that is in desperate need of affordable housing is too valuable an asset to be traded away for short-term affordability. You need a mission-driven organization to make sure it doesn’t eventually turn into a cash cow for a private developer down the road. This deal is a win for everyone – the neighborhood gets affordable housing, and the city ensures that the land will be used in the long-term public interest.
Giving hundreds of millions of dollars in free land away to private developers – no matter what the conditions – just doesn’t make sense anymore. There’s no excuse for it, not when there’s other options available. Kudos to the city for getting this one right – let’s hope they continue.