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Long Island and Westchester fight tooth and nail to prevent development: we spend billions to improve train service on LIRR, but no large apartment buildings ca
by pzone 4y ago
Long Island and Westchester fight tooth and nail to prevent development: we spend billions to improve train service on LIRR, but no large apartment buildings can be built near the stations. It’s just single family homes owned by hedge fund guys.
Brooklyn and Queens have huge neighborhoods full of brownstones within minutes of subway stops. Even Manhattan too, in certain neighborhoods like the West Village and Soho.
- mancerayder 4y agoIt's possible to build on multiple brownstones and replace it with a denser multifamily but: You have to own the lots You have to get permits and go through a lot of reviews by the city and possibly the state (if it's condos) You'll still be faced with aging infrastructure. The subway is 2/3 capacity at most and still there are delays and crowded train cars. I'm not questioning the wisdom of higher density, I'm questioning the feasibility of it. How many years and how much did it cost to make a few blocks of 2nd avenue subway? London and Paris appear to be doing a better job at expanding the city outward, adding infrastructure as they go. There is something deeply, fundamentally wrong with modern urban growth in the U.S., and I suspect it has to do with the decentralized nature of the political system. How many layers of approvals do you need here and how much coordination do you need with how many agencies across how many levels of government from local to Federal.