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nychuman t1_j658l2r wrote

Reply to comment by treesareweirdos in Hamilton Ave in Red Hook, before and after the construction of the Gowanus Expressway and BQE in the 1940s-50s by TheSandPeople

When a single city councilman/woman could stop development in its tracks, NIMBYism is still alive and well.

We need to pass laws at the state level which may override the ability for local lawmakers to have a defacto veto on any new projects in their district. It’s absolutely absurd and should not be possible.

The market desperately wants to build more housing and businesses, but politicians and stakeholders to the Ponzi scheme that is residential real estate won’t let them.

And yes, NYC DOB has too much power and the codes/regulations are choking us to death. Do away with stringent building standards and zoning laws as well as rent stabilization/control (in addition to the above neutering of NIMBYism) and there’s your solution.

Getting there is the hard part.

I realized I went off on a tangent about the housing shortage, but the lack of mass transit development has a lot of similarities.

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payeco t1_j65qmte wrote

> When a single city councilman/woman could stop development in its tracks, NIMBYism is still alive and well.

> We need to pass laws at the state level which may override the ability for local lawmakers to have a defacto veto on any new projects in their district. It’s absolutely absurd and should not be possible.

No law is needed. The council member veto over projects in their district is a gentleman’s agreement, not something based in law. It’s how the city council overrode the veto for the new blood center on the UES.

Which building codes and regulations do you want to do away with?

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Burner_I_Barely_Even t1_j67z4b8 wrote

Not that dude, but getting rid of height restrictions would work wonders

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payeco t1_j68bxd3 wrote

I think even just a compromise like we have on the UES. High rises on avenues only, nothing over 7 stories on the cross streets. It allows for plenty of tall building while preventing the neighborhood from ending up feeling like you’re living in Midtown.

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Freddy-Sez t1_j65gzoq wrote

I agree but there’s still a political calculation being made when city council members block projects. Yes they only have to worry about one re-election but it isn’t the end of the line. They’re all gunning for higher office.

I think we’re going to see member deference begin to erode in the coming years. We saw it happen once already with the UES blood center last year. KRJ is facing a primary challenge over the Harlem thing and Tiffany Caban approved Hallets North in what seemed like an acknowledgement that the rest of the council may not have backed her opposition to it

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