It’s winter again in Boston. Anyone who was there last year during February and March knows what that means. The ability to move about the city could come to a screeching halt in the blink of an eye. . The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA, or the “T”) completely shut down last winter after repeated large winter storms, […]
Tag Archives: brooklyn
Bridge the Gap
. New York City, arguably the world’s premier global city, is the largest in the richest country in the world. The metropolitan region hosts 23+ million people, more than the population of Australia, and New York’s population continues to rise. The MTA network spans 5,000 miles, with more than 2,000 miles of track—enough to stretch from New […]
A Riel (Estate) Plan for NYC
Riel, 2015 Born and bred in Brooklyn, I firmly believe that the New York region remains the cultural capital of the world. With more people in the metropolitan area than in the entire continent of Australia, New York continues to harbor diverse and creative opportunities due to its inherent dynamism and density, catalyzed by the […]
Progressive Public-Private Partnership Profits
. New York City does not lack visionaries or visionary plans with hindsight, foresight, and insight, but these visionaries lack power. Instead, “borderline criminals” continue to dim our future. America has spent trillions rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan, but when it comes to maintaining the infrastructure of a region with a $1.4 trillion GDP, money can’t seem to […]
Ameraissance of Transportation Finance
“New York never stops. From morning-rush commuters to late-night club-goers, from school children on subways to seniors on buses, millions of people rely on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to get them through their daily lives. Without a robust and well-maintained network of railroads, subways, bus routes, bridges, and tunnels, New York as we […]
Mr. TOD
The Tale of Mr. TOD Once upon a time, Mr. Tod arrived in New York. And the rest was not yet history. The tale is still, obviously, unfolding. Will Mr. Tod be able to create mobile, accessible, and affordable neighborhoods? Or will Mr. Tod only support luxury? Mr. Tod, of course, is Mr. Transit-Oriented Development. He’s more and more popular these […]
(In)formality (In)justice
As many New Yorkers know, the rent is too damn high. The neighborhoods of New York have always been dynamic and ever-changing, and today, this continues to be true, but perhaps, on a level unforeseen in recent memory. Many are being priced out of our neighborhoods that they’ve lived in, sometimes for generations. So I asked Jimmy […]
Downtown Brooklyn Chain Store Surge
DNA Info recently reported that there is a chain store “surge” going on in Downtown Brooklyn. Based on a 2013 report by Center for an Urban Future, national chain stores such as H&M, TJ Maxx, Nordstrom Rack, and Sephora are making beachheads in places such as the Fulton Mall. Overall, Brooklyn saw the […]
Brooklyn’s 1938 “Redline” Map
During the middle of the 20th-century, America’s urban cores were being gutted through fiscal attrition: tax dollars were being sent, for the first time, out and away from cities to subsidize suburban expansion. At the same time, private financial institutions were pulling their funding away from urban home-buyers, business owners and those wishing to refinance […]
1873 Weeksville and Pool’s infamous Picnic
POOL’S PICNIC Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 27, 1873, page 4 When “Big Six” thundered along the pavements of New York, George Pool was her keeper; now he is, if not the “Boss,” a very popular man among the colored people of Weeksville. During the last eleven years, Pool’s picnics have been the great […]
