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Air Today . . . Gone Tomorrow Article
Post-9/11 funds must benefit the common
good
By David Dyssegaard Kallick, Op-ed, New York Newsday, April 26, 2005
David Dyssegaard Kallick is senior fellow of the Fiscal Policy Institute and
coordinator of the Labor Community Advocacy Network to Rebuild New York.
What will become of the last flexible funding that the federal government gave
New York to revitalize lower Manhattan after Sept. 11?
Immediately after the attacks, the federal government allocated $2.7 billion to
support the broad revitalization of New York. Most of that money went to
corporate retention and resident retention grants, the intent and effect of
which were to keep rents high.
But a huge chunk of money is still in limbo. Today, about $800 million is left -
enough to make a huge impact by improving parks, building affordable housing,
expanding job opportunities, bolstering local cultural institutions and
community centers and making sure environmental health issues are addressed.
After 3 1/2 years of sophisticated and passionate input from the public, the
Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which controls the funds, recently issued a
report on its funding priorities. The LMDC, which is a public authority
controlled by the governor and the mayor, came to the conclusion that what the
public wants is the same thing major downtown developers want: massive
commercial office development, an underground mall, a series of large-scale
projects around lower Manhattan, and a rail link for suburban commuters and the
JFK airport.
It is an Orwellian distortion of the idea of democratic participation for the
LMDC to take the outpouring of public interest in the rebuilding process and
claim that it supports a program so deeply at odds with what the city wants.
The LMDC's own neighborhood outreach sessions in the summer of 2003 gave a clear
sense of the concern about inequity in the rebuilding process - a lot is being
done to help high-income people, with little or no benefit to low- and
moderate-income people.
People said they want to see projects that will maintain and enhance the
texture, character and diversity of downtown neighborhoods. They want to expand
the capacity of community institutions rather than parachuting in fancy new
"destinations." They want investments that benefit local residents and workers,
not just tourists and commuters. And there has been a real Jane Jacobs, "small
is beautiful" aesthetic to all of the input, with support for small businesses,
schools, libraries, community centers, job-training facilities and day care -
not for Robert Moses-style megaprojects.
Some of the projects under serious consideration for LMDC funding have the
potential to realize this vision of investment in communities. Most notable
among them is the proposal promoted by the Bloomberg administration to upgrade
the East River waterfront. If it's done right - by not building into the water,
by ensuring good standards for wages and benefits to workers and by really
including the community - this could be a wonderful contribution to downtown
Manhattan.
There also has been an array of impressive proposals for projects ranging from a
restaurant cooperatively owned by former Windows on the World workers to a
venture to protect and enhance Chinatown apparel jobs. Some of the remaining
money should be set aside for community proposals like these, which were
solicited by the LMDC but still have received no answer.
On transportation, participants at the LMDC workshops talked about connectivity
among the lower Manhattan neighborhoods, local bus loops and the Second Avenue
Subway - not about a suburban rail link and connection to the airport. The
public is right: Drawing from a pot of $800 million to start a project that
costs $6 billion creates a giant sucking sound aimed at the already
overstretched MTA budget.
And environmental health concerns have not gone away. Residents and workers are
concerned about the inaccurate information provided by government officials, the
lack of adequate testing and the narrow definition of what counts as an
environmental impact due to World Trade Center dust.
Tomorrow, the LMDC is conducting a hearing for board members to hear comments
from the public. In the past, participants have criticized the forums as being
nothing more than an occasion for people to puff on candy cigarettes and pretend
they're in the smoke-filled room making decisions. This hearing needs to be
connected with a real decision-making process, not just a facade of public
input. Tomorrow may be one of the last opportunities for people to say to the
decision-makers once again: This is money to rebuild our communities, not to
subsidize an office complex.
Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/opinion/nyc-opkal264233502apr26,0,1690125.story
FAIR USE NOTICE
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