Tag: economics

  • Creative Class Controversy

    Creative Class Controversy

    What happens when a university, which emphasizes active citizenship and creativity, ironically destroys creative space behind closed doors? It’s not the same as when a university takes over a transportation hub, or when a university takes over a neighborhood — be it in Boston or New York. No, this is a catch-22 expansion into the domain…

  • The MTA’s Missed Opportunity

    The MTA’s Missed Opportunity

    Long Islanders cheered Andrew Cuomo when he intervened in the recent dispute between the MTA and LIRR workers, who had threatened a strike over demands for wage increases. When negotiations stalled between the LIRR, which had demanded a 14% raise over six years, and the MTA, whose offer to spread the same raise over seven…

  • (In)formality (In)justice

    (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…

  • Economics and Affordable Housing

      Do urban planners know enough about urban economics? Just mentioning economics is often enough to cause most eyes to glaze over. Why should planners’ eyes be any different? One reason that urban planners don’t tend to study economics too much may be that economics is currently depicted as a conservative mode of thinking, while…