What Would You Do to Make New York City More Affordable?
Good morning. It’s Monday. Today we’ll look at some readers’ ideas for making New York City more affordable, and more livable.
Is New York City running out of ideas to solve its affordability crisis? That was the question behind a recent Times story that focused on a related question: What could be done to break the logjam and lower the city’s sky-high cost of living?
My colleague Eliza Shapiro put the second question to dozens of New Yorkers. Among them were economists, educators, food delivery workers and social services experts.
Along the way, it became clear that the answer to the first question was no, New York is definitely not running out of ideas.
Here is more proof of that. After publishing Eliza’s article under the headline “40 Big Ideas to Make New York City More Affordable,” we asked readers to send us their ideas. What follows are nine of them. Makaelah Walters edited and condensed them for clarity.
To improve streets, transit and culture
Make the subways free
It should be free to ride all subways and buses every day. In the long run, it would make the city much more affordable for millions of residents.
— John Hunka, East Village
No more free parking. Period.
Pay for all these ideas by ending free street parking. I bet even modest meters or permit programs would take in billions. And use cameras to ticket more traffic and parking violations. It seems like half of Brooklyn streets are clogged with double parking, usually in bike lanes.
— Alexander Davis, Brooklyn
To make housing more affordable
Make pre-approved building plans available
Pre-approve a variety of housing and building plans that meet environmental and code regulations. Make them available “off-the-shelf” to developers to rapidly roll out without costly delays from city bureaucracy.
— David A. Lynch, Bellingham, Wash.
Build affordable units, get short-term rentals
Given the fact that the demand for short-term rentals in the city is so high, developers might voluntarily build affordable units in exchange for permits that allow a certain percentage of their units to be short-term rentals. A quid pro quo whereby it’s tourists that are subsidizing affordable housing rather than the local, state or federal government.
— William C. Mantis, St. Paul, Minn.
Deduct the rent, or at least some of it
Allow deductions on taxes for money paid toward rent under a certain threshold, similar to Massachusetts.
— Lauren Dierker, Brooklyn
Turn storefronts into apartments, and fine absentee owners
I would love to see a relaxing of zoning rules. Convert the rows of vacant storefronts that sit there for months while people can’t find a decent apartment into housing! I would also like to see stiff penalties for absentee property owners who don’t either rent out or live in their properties for a certain amount of time.
— Chris Torgersen, Queens
To make the city more livable
Increase quality-of-life ticketing
Start ticketing people for “quality-of-life infractions” like littering, not cleaning up after your dog or letting it run off-leash in the park. Or ticket motorists for insanely loud mufflers and excessive honking. Impound illegal motor scooters and auction them off for funds. You’ll have to have a payroll for “quality-of-life officers,” but hopefully it’ll pay for itself and then some.
— Sam Jenkins, Brooklyn
Underwrite services for those who need them most
Fund more home care ancillary services for our most vulnerable populations and the elderly, and fund more programs to make it easy for them to have access to care, like free M.T.A. cards or vouchers for rides to appointments.
— Kasun Navarathna, Queens
And Finally …
Is the big city too big?
The fix will take good urban planning and patience to let the plans happen. Politicians don’t get votes asking for patience. Could it be that the city is at its population limit?
— Morris Altman, Queens
Weather
Expect mostly sunny skies with a high of 47 degrees. In the evening, it will be mostly cloudy with temperatures dropping to the low 40s.
ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING
In effect until Feb. 12 (Lincoln’s Birthday).
The latest Metro news
METROPOLITAN diary
14th Street bus
Dear Diary:
He was sitting on the 14th Street bus looking out. When it stopped, he saw a woman outside Lot-Less sorting a mound of purchases on top of a shopping cart.
The woman looked up, noticed the bus and started to run while pushing the cart and motioning for the driver to wait.
She made it onto the bus and pushed her cart up aisle toward the man who had been looking out the window in her direction. She sat down across the aisle from him in a two-seater.
She put the package at the top of the cart on the seat near the window and repacked the rest of her stuff so that it fit into the cart more snugly.
At that point, the cart began to roll away down the aisle. She reached to grab it, but the man had already stopped it by extending a long leg out.
“I’ve got this,” he said.
She mouthed a “thank you” and continued to reposition her packages in the cart.
When she finished, she moved to the closest single seat facing the aisle, which allowed her to hold the cart close while leaving room for other riders to pass.
She and the man began to chat. Their conversation meandered from bus routes to the bargains available at Lot-Less.
He said his stop was Abingdon Square.
“Me too,” she said.
As he helped her off with the cart, they talked about local places to drink Guinness, half-price sushi day and a diner on Gansevoort that she thought had closed.
He invited her to join him there for lunch the next day, and she agreed.
Just one thing, he said as she pushed away. Please don’t bring the cart.
— Noreen Ash Mackay
Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.
Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B.
P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here.
