step in. just as John Catsimatidis said in the interview, he won't build housing affordable to low and middle income brooklynites because it's not profitable enough to make it worth his while. note the word "income." that means these people are working.

i don't see you suggesting that they get raises! you try looking for an apartment for your family in a safe neighborhood pretending you make $35G a year, which would qualify them for one of these below market units at below 60 percent median income. that's what cops make to risk getting shot to protect you. don't you know a lot of the people living in mitchell lamas work for the government? or are providing some service to you from the private sector? all these people are working for you! and only making enough to scrape by in this city. at least be somewhat grateful.

Posted by: giselle_bk at July 17, 2008 1:18 PM in response to John Catsimatidis: Tough Guy For Tough Times

Most of the people living in subsidized housing have jobs, and they can't afford market-rate housing because their jobs don't pay enough. They don't pay enough partly because the products and services produced by those jobs need to be kept affordable to the consumer, and in other part, so the shareholders, business owners, and high level excutives (i.e. people living in market rate housing here) recieve a greater level of profit/ pay.

Now if all these people you like to call low lifes were getting paid $100G, maybe they could afford unsubsidized housing, but then prices on everything would go up and your paycheck and/ or stock dividens would go down, therefore you wouldn't be able to spend as much on both ends. And then you'd complain about that. You would say they don't deserve to get paid $100G for bagging groceries or teaching schoolkids or taking your money at the cash register, or cleaning up the dirt left by your shoes after you walk down the hallway. But then you also say they don't deserve to have the government step in and help create housing that is affordable to them so they can live in the city that they work. What exactly is the solution?

Don't you see that the government is also helping to subsidize your high-end lifestyle? And union construction wages.

And I would also like to point out that it's the developers asking for all these subsidies to create apartments that cost less than $600G. I'm sure that most low and middle income people would prefer not to have the stigma of living in housing that the government helped create, but the cost of housing is so expensive now, and there's such a limit of decent, affordable housing on the market, that the government does have to

Posted by: giselle_bk at July 17, 2008 1:08 PM in response to John Catsimatidis: Tough Guy For Tough Times