Land – Housing – Initiative 1 – Pursue transit-oriented development –
DCP (Department of City Planning)
Hailed as the city administration’s “Largest-Ever Rezoning” in September 2007, this project is Jamaica, Queens. There was much positive press in 2007, and early 2008 on the progress of the new “Airport Village”, and the boom in its major hotel development, (The Marriot Courtyard with 172 rooms and Residence Inn with 150 rooms,) but in July 2008, Technomart, a large electronics store that had invested in Jamaica, pulled out. The rezoning is still ongoing, but otherwise, there has been no news since July. There have been no updates on the Jamaica rezoning on the DCP’s department since 2007.
As of September 2008, the city is still pushing for the Coney Island rezoning plan to go through, but can’t because of Joe Sitt, who owns most of the area, but has his own development plans. The city’s proposed plan is linked on the frontpage of the site; linked below.
The milestone the DCP was aiming to meet by the end 2009 for this initiative is to “complete current Administration agenda for rezonings and land use study.” The city is certainly attempting to direct growth in areas with strong transit access, but it doesn’t quite seem that this growth is actually happening, but hey, there’s still a year to go.

[http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/about/pr091007.shtml]
[http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2008/04/08/2008-04-08_airport_village_in_jamaica_queens.html]
[http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/be-very-very-scared-coney-island-without-rezoning-warns-city-0]
[http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/coney_island/index.shtml]

Land – Housing – Initiative 2 – Reclaim underutilized waterfronts –
DCP (Department of City Planning)
The DCP has one proposal and one study up on their website, both are linked below; one proposal for the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, and one study for the East River’s Manhattan waterfront. There are no proposals or studies for the East River’s Astoria waterfront up on the site.
The milestone for this initiative by the end of 2009 is also, “complete current Administration agenda for rezonings and land use study.” Nothing physically has been done yet, but it sounds like they’re only aiming to get the planning out of the way by the end of 2009.

[http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/gowanus/index.shtml]
[http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/erw/index.shtml]

Land – Housing – Initiative 3 – Increase transit options to spur development –
MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority)/OLTPS (Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability)/DOT (Department of Transportation)
The MTA and DOT introduced a Select Bus Service (SBS) lanes on 34th street in Manhattan from 1st avenue to 11th avenue, and also on Fordham Road in the Bronx. Additional SBS bus lanes were to be introduced if congestion pricing came through in June 2008. It did not.
The end of 2009 milestone for this initiative is to “implement increased transit options including BRT to spur development.” So far, BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) has only been utilized only in two places in the city. We don’t know if it’s spurring any development, but it’s certainly good progress! 34th street is incredibly congested, and SBS means not having to wait for everyone in line to pay the bus fare one at a time.

[http://www.mta.info/mta/planning/sbs/]
[http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot///html/pr2008/pr08_038.shtml]
[http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c701c789a0/index.jsp?pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fhtml%2F2008a%2Fpr101-08.html&cc=unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1]

Land – Housing – Initiative 4 – Expand co-locations with government agencies –
DCAS (Department of Citywide Administrative Services) /HPD (Department of Housing Preservation and Development)
There’s a proposal out to develop a city-owned location in South Bronx for housing and city administrative services
Milestone for the end of 2009 is “Create database of City, State, and Federal land for co-location opportunities and housing.” It’s not clear how the city’s doing this, but from the way initiative 5 is going, it seems to be working a bit.

[http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/pr2008/pr-10-02-08.shtml]
[http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/downloads/pdf/New-Housing-Market-Place-Plan.pdf]

Land – Housing – Initiative 5 – Adapt outdated buildings to new uses –
DCP (Department of City Planning)/ HPD (Department of Housing Preservation and Development)
1000 Units are preserved for affordable housing for seniors. In Park Slope, where a city-owned parking lot used to be, ground was broken to build a 49 residential studio unit for formerly homeless people.
What is the end of 2009 milestone goal? Use database to identify and execute on initial sites. Considering that plaNYC is aiming to have 6000 units by 2013, 1049 units in one year isn’t bad, even though construction has only started on 49 of them. It’s looking pretty good.

[http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/pr2008/pr-04-30-08.shtml]
[http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/home.html]
[http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/erw/index.shtml]
[http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/supermarket/index.shtml]
[http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/west_shore/index.shtml]

Land – Housing – Initiative 7 – Capture the potential of transportation infrastructure investments –
DCP (Department of City Planning)
The DCP is aiming to “identify rezoning opportunities that arise with new transit projects by the end of 2015.” There’s no study up on the DCP website regarding this initiative.
Considering that the economy isn’t faring too well, and the 2nd avenue subway line is still far from being complete, nothing really can be studied yet.

Land – Housing – Initiative 8 – Deck over railyards, rail lines, and highways –
DCP (Department of City Planning)
The end of 2009 milestone is to “identify which railyards, rail lines, and highways coincide with sustainable development and have capacity for anticipated growth.”
Browsing through the DCP websites, it doesn’t seem they really have identified any of these areas. Perhaps there aren’t any that qualify.

[http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/home.html]

Land – Housing – Initiative 9 – Develop new financing strategies –
HPD (Department of Housing Preservation and Development)
The HPD’s Housing Trust Fund requires 20% of units to be affordable to households that either earn below or above $20,000-$40,000 per year to be eligible for funding.
The milestone for the end of 2009 is to create the Mayor’s New Housing Marketplace Plan to build 165,000 units of affordable housing. Progress is not bad here; the plan has been created, and it funds 82,500 units, which is halfway of next year’s milestone.

[http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/pr2008/pr-09-30-08.shtml]
[http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/pr2008/pr-09-23-08.shtml]

Land – Housing – Initiative 10 – Expand inclusionary zoning –
HPD (Department of Housing Preservation and Development)
The last time the HPD had anything up on inclusionary zoning was in 2006. In Maspeth-Woodside Rezoning, the Inclusionary Housing Program helped create affordable housing. In Greenpoint-Williamsburg, ground was broken to start construction on affordable housing, also under inclusionary zoning.
The milestone for the end of 2009 is to “pursue inclusionary zoning in all appropriate rezonings initiated and reviewed by the city.” It’s not clear where the city is still doing this currently.

[http://home2.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/pr2006/05-25-06.shtml]
[http://home2.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/pr2006/pr-06-26-06.shtml]

Land – Housing – Initiative 11 – Encourage homeownership –
HPD (Department of Housing Preservation and Development)
It’s not clear what the city is doing to encourage homeownership currently, but the milestone for the end of 2009 is also to create the Mayor’s New Housing Marketplace Plan to build 165,000 units of affordable housing. The plan has been created, and it funds 82,500 units, which is again, halfway of next year’s milestone.

[http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/pr2008/pr-09-23-08.shtml]

Land – Housing – Initiative 12 – Preserve existing stock of affordable housing through New York City –
HPD (Department of Housing Preservation and Development)
The Phoenix Estates in the Bronx was foreclosed, but the city stepped in, and now the rental buildings are being rehabilitated to house 125 families. This occured just earlier this month.
Again, the milestone for the end of 2009 is also to create the Mayor’s New Housing Marketplace Plan to build 165,000 units of affordable housing. The plan has been created, and it funds 82,500 units, which is yet again, halfway of next year’s milestone.

[http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/pr2008/pr-12-05-08.shtml]
[http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/pr2008/pr-09-23-08.shtml]