NYCHA Budget Woes Could Kill Long-Delayed ENY Facility
The Times has a sad, frustrating story about how the the New York City Housing Authority may be abandoning its plan to build a community center in East New York’s Marcus Garvey housing project. NYCHA tore down a playground in the project eight years ago and started construction on the 5,500-square-foot center that was supposed…
The Times has a sad, frustrating story about how the the New York City Housing Authority may be abandoning its plan to build a community center in East New York’s Marcus Garvey housing project. NYCHA tore down a playground in the project eight years ago and started construction on the 5,500-square-foot center that was supposed to rise in its place. Although the facility is now mostly completed, NYCHA says it may not have the funds to operate the center—or nearly 100 others around the city. NYCHA has taken a big hit, says Councilman Erik Martin Dilan. The children’s programs are obviously in jeopardy, and unless we save them, we might as well set up gang recruitment centers. Kids need their community centers to stay out of trouble. The East New York building, which is supposed to serve the more than 1,048 families who live in the project, has been plagued by delays rooted in rising construction costs and the bankruptcy of a contractor. NYCHA, meanwhile, is facing a $195 million budget deficit this year, which many believe will lead to worsening conditions at public housing around the city.
Promised Brooklyn Community Center May Not Open [NY Times]
NYCHA Funding Shortfall Could Mean Dark Days for Projects [Brownstoner]
I am an employee at NYCHA’s Design Department. I can tell you that NYCHA’s Capital Projects Division is so mismanaged, it’s pitiful. Reoganization after reorganization and every time, it gets more mismanaged. On the bright side, NYCHA has done some wonderful community centers – e.g. Williamsburg. I personally was a Project Manager for three NYCHA centers – two of them were constructed and turned out great. The third was reassigned to someone else during a reorganization in 2004 and the documents just sat in a box for three years until it was resurrected.
The Marcus Garvey center was horribly designed from the start. I went out there to take a look at it a couple of years ago, and honestly, it should be demolished and the Authority should just start over. The construction documents by the consultant architect were abysmal. And to top it all off, David Burney, Chairman of DDC, and former Director of Design at NYCHA, agreed to all of the ridiculous design decisions for this project.
NYCHA now has virtually no new community center projects in the pipeline. A stark contrast to nearly ten years ago when we had like 30 of them going on at one time, either in Design or Construction phases.
NYCHA is planning to tear down 22 of 39 buildings at Randolph Houses and replace it with….ONE building. While NYCHA cries poverty, they’re giving CMs under contract millions and millions in fees. Professional staff are leaving in droves. Unfortunately, NYCHA’s best days are behind it.
NYCHA has made tremendous strides over the last 8 years despite an unrelenting funding assault by the federal govt. NYCHA is not a Mayoral agency and doesn’t receive more that a pittance of city funding (none of it baselined). Over 400,000 NY’ers live in those buildings, a good sized city anywhere else. When the (highly regulated) rent and HUD subsidy = 82% of your operating expenses, guess what? The completely unfunded community centers (and a host of NYCHA provided community and social support services) have to go. And btw there are many community centers built by NYCHA that ARE operated by local non-profits…most of whom have been sucking on the NYCHA capital and operating funding teet for decades. It’s not like there are community groups that can afford to carry the full nut of staffing and operating a community center in these nabes chomping at the bit.
No, 1:27, it is not more or less an accepted fact, at least not in New York City, which has one of the best public housing systems in the country. And BrooklynLove, NYCHA isn’t selling off any developments either.
What we might (operable word) see in New York, is some new buildings added to existing properties that change the economics for NYCHA and the socio-economics of the given development. For example, build a new middle-income building on an under-utilized parking lot. But that’s about as big an intervention as I foresee.
Brownstoner,
This is in Brownsville, not East New York. East New York Starts on the other side of the L train tracks at Van Sinderen
Brownstoner,
This is in Brownsville, not East New York. East New York Starts on the other side of the L train tracks at Van Sinderen
would be interesting to see an econ feasibility study re cost effectiveness to nycha of selling prime location decrepid money draining properties to a developer bundled with the obligation upon the developer to finance at least some portion of development of unbuilt nycha land, re-development of other under-developed nycha property and/or re-development of other decrepid money draining nycha properties. net effect would be more nycha units, higher quality units, and lower maintenace cost per unit, although some units shifted to a less valuable location. not pleasant for uprooted families but maybe a higher quality home in return is a fair/acceptable trade-off.
getting the numbers out there for discussion could go a long way to addressing the bombshell of selling off nycha property as a general concept.
“Unfortunately a lot of the nonprofit community groups that would love to run these centers, don’t have the funds to do it and aren’t getting the funds.”
On what do you base this statement?
Youth gun violence amongst poor asians in chinatown is virtually nil. What have these facilities got to do with that?
Speaks volumes about our priorities. This facility is directly proportional to the solution against youth gun violence.