Weekly Link Round Up

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The weekly link roundup is a collection of links related to Newburgh, revitalization, urban planning and anything else that might inspire change or create dialogue. “Burn barrel” Photo by Brian Wolfe

Why Habitat For Humanity Isn’t Building As Many Houses As It Used To [Fast Co.Design]
No One’s Very Good at Correctly Identifying Gentrification [City Lab]
Four Cities Making the Most of Alley Spaces [Urbanful]
The Greening of a Suburban Downtown [Huffington Post]
Philadelphia’s riverfront reclamation continued [Architect’s Newspaper]
60 Years of Urban Change: Midwest [Institute for Quality Communities]

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2 Comment

  • From: No One’s Very Good at Correctly Identifying Gentrification:
    “Concentrated poverty is a particular concern because all of the negative effects of poverty appear to be amplified in neighborhoods composed primarily of poor people. Poverty anywhere and in any amount is a problem; but concentrated poverty is often intractable and self-reinforcing.”

    And yet the Land Bank, RUPCO, the Cornerstone and all the poverty industry players before them (NCAC, HOGAR, PODER, Lander Street Housing) made sure that the poor stay in concentrated areas in Newburgh. And for the most part, this renovated housing didn’t go to Newburgh residents living in inhumane conditions, they went to relocated poor from NYC and outside towns. All those projects did was expand the poor population and actually promote it as income stream for administrators, most of whom do/did not live here. The poverty industry feeding off itself, attacking any potential of Newburgh’s sustainability.

  • ‘We gentrifried some folks…’ Seriously, let’s get real. The “definition” is irrelevant and the underlining basis for any measurement has been skewed in consideration of massive subsidies, credits etc.. Those gentrifying are doing so because they themselves are effected by inflated costs. What’s the problem?
    -As per H4H: I’ll venture to say that the cited land price increases are weighted due to the States that have been participating in the U.S. energy boom. Well, that wealth effect is currently being kicked in the shins as the price of oil declines (btw, the only fracking ‘red flag’ NY seen was no profit). There’s going to be huge ripple effects on the overall economy. Land prices have just started to decline… https://www.lincolninst.edu/subcenters/land-values/land-prices-by-state.asp
    Aside, Newburgh’s H4H’s premise of building or renovating single family houses needs reconsideration given the City’s, ‘er, not so affordable tax rate. I think they’re getting hip to that and, in deciphering the ‘word clouds’ raised by the local ptb, I see an expanded quasi joint effort in the future to tap into the City’s inventory of vacant multi-family houses and/or commercial buildings for residential housing. They already invited a local bank into the brain storming sessions… or was it the other way around? H4H is already doing it in Brooklyn, with granite counter tops no less. Regardless, if you buy into the ‘desirable, denser, walkable communities’ speak, then there you have it. Yes, it may all come together for the ‘Burgh…new codes, free 2 year college(including dorms), a return of easy mortgage terms, immigration amnesty, tbtf settlements… . One problem, the century old infrastructure begs to differ and the ‘City is pushing max water capacity as well. However, the City’s ‘advisories’ are being discriminate in the Environmental Assessment data in order to tone down the impact of higher residential density. ‘Houston,we have a problem…and gentrification isn’t it.’
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcBi5b6V09U (starts at 1:51:50, key 1:57:40, 2:02:22 )