Walls Street Cutbacks & $2 bn NYC Budget gap

Bullish for Manhattan RE!

It would be interesting to see if discretionary(sacred cow) projects get protected such as World Trade Center , 2nd Avenue subway, #7 subway extension. Maybe we need the 2nd avenue line, but With Wall Street banks retrenching, it seems a rediculous waste of public money to build a mega skyscraper for commercial tenants.

Just bc you lost money gambling why call off your daugter's wedding?

Lowest crime in 50 years, long life expectancy and more bicycles will be good for RE!

“The euro as a conduit to the U.S. economy goes right through New York,” Cochran said. “It hits the European banks with offices in the city and the U.S. banks that hold European sovereign debt.”

The city may experience a net loss of 3,000 private- industry jobs by September, out of a total of more than 3.24 million,

“It’s pretty clear that Wall Street bonuses this quarter will be mild compared with recent years

in November, anticipating the looming fiscal strain, the mayor modified his spending plan to cut education funding by $301 million, which will eliminate programs and some staff in the largest U.S. school system. He also intends to trim $74.6 million from the Police Department, which spends about $4.45 billion a year

All Bullish!!!!

I found the $2billion!

"Revenue from taxes on property sales in New York City has plummeted, to $982 million in 2010 from $3.3 billion in 2007, making budgeting extremely difficult, Bloomberg reported."
http://therealdeal.com/blog/2012/01/05/transfer-tax-revenue-has-dipped-more-than-2b-since-2007-report/

On more bicycles; Bicyclists have surpassed cab drivers as the biggest Awholes on the roads. Both as a pedestrian and a car driver Im am near a point where some deserve intentional physical pain. They break the most traffic laws yet whine the most at other travelers. Im ready to toss my umbrella through some spokes.

"the mayor modified his spending plan to cut education funding by $301 million, which will eliminate programs and some staff in the largest U.S. school system."

It's about time.

Nowhere else in the U.S. do you have a school system where the ratio of teachers to administrators is an absolutely insane 2:1.

The city is in a tough spot. The State controls most of the revenue raising and Andy Cuomo screwed the city in a recent reorganzation of how taxes are collected/allocated(does the state ever look out for the city?), so the choices are raise real estate taxes or come up with creative ways to fine people more or come up with more nuisance fees. The obvious place to go is entitlements and pensions..

"It would be interesting to see if discretionary(sacred cow) projects get protected such as World Trade Center , 2nd Avenue subway, #7 subway extension. Maybe we need the 2nd avenue line, but With Wall Street banks retrenching, it seems a rediculous waste of public money to build a mega skyscraper for commercial tenants."

You realize that almost none of that comes out of the City budget, right?

Our subways need even more attention than the 2nd ave and the #7.
Part of this city's iconic persona is the subway system and all you need is to visit the Hong Kong or Seoul subway to feel thorougly embarrassed.
Particularly as we increasingly make Manhattan individual car unfriendly.

"Particularly as we increasingly make Manhattan individual car unfriendly."

How do you figure? I have a car in the city and it has always become harder to get around by car. In the 90's I would actually drive from one part of Manhattan to another. Now I only use it for my daily commute and when traveling out of the city. (commute and all family are outside of Manhattan.)

As to the Subways. While they are no match of other, much newer, systems around the world, they are much better than they used to be. Breakdowns are fewer, the cars are cleaner, etc. Service levels will probably be challenged but that is due to the high cost of labor.

"Particularly as we increasingly make Manhattan individual car unfriendly."

How do you figure? I have a car in the city and it has always become harder to get around by car.
---

Uhh, so you agree, right?

AVUWS
Ive been driving in manhattan since the 90s as well. 2 major things are making it very individual car unfriendly.
1) Street parking rules; South of 60th street are you paying attention to how many streets have lost and are losing a regular cars ability to park on the street? Whether shifted to commercial meter parking only or no parking anytime, a quick example, flatiron for example because of the obnoxious clubs. And if you can afford parking lots, how many have been lost to new development?
Do you know what a neighborhood looks like with no parking garages? East Village is a great example of this. Try managing parking a car every day for a week somewhere in the east village.

2)The bicycle lanes slowly getting implemented basically remove a lane from the street. 8th ave is a great example. With cruising cabs and cars making turns from the 2nd lane, this no longer a middle 5th lane to dodge these pinball bumpers. Of course what they don't tell you is real purpose of these lanes, they serve as emergency lanes for police. If you'll notice, they are wide enough for squad cars. Not a terrible thing but a 20% loss of street.

On subways, don't disagree with you but if you saw these other subways you'd understand what Im talking about. Laguardia is fairly servicable but when you compare it to ANY other airport, it's the same kind of embarassing.

> 2)The bicycle lanes slowly getting implemented basically remove a lane from the street.

this is awesome. it might help Manhattan to look more like Copenhagen ranked within top 10 consistently (while nyc nowhere near). it should be super easy to commute by bike like they do over there. you get the gym done incorporated into the schedule.

cars are a pain but they do provide nice revenue with the scam of "move it to clean the street" that cost each guy that misses it $75. that revenue lost will have to be made up somewhere else.

> Do you know what a neighborhood looks like with no parking garages? East Village is a great example of this. Try managing parking a car every day for a week somewhere in the east village.

but that's part of the point, isn't it? if you want to live in a walkable / bikable city, the cars have to go or have to become a great source of revenue so that everybody benefits from their presence. they were king since the 50s, it's about time imho. jane jacobs had it right imho, if you want to go anywhere with your car, you might belong in suburbia.

LOL... Not everyone works in the city!

Besides employing some 20 people on Long Isl I do a "reverse commute" every day. I spend and more importantly, contribute a substancial sum for the privelege of living in NYC. All I require is the ability to feel comfortable with my mode of transportation.

I am NYC's wet dream. I contribute more than I take. My car is removed from the island every day during peak hours.I am surely a minority but one that benefits this city.

actually, with the advent of the munimeter, and the more expensive charges, i find it is much easier these days to park when out and about in the city--if one needs to park for a few hours days, it is more difficult than ever---but for running errands, i now take my car more often than i used to---of course, i can afford the higher charges and parking monthly in a garage---for those of lesser means, if you want to have a family car or two, ny aint your city---sadly, ny long ago lost interest in considering working/middle class communities with city policy---it's too bad--much of the soul of the city came from those who borouhgt things other than money to the table

At rush hour, I watch bikers navigate around double parked delivery vans: russian roulette.
>Im ready to toss my umbrella through some spokes.<
Me too, but maybe a double parked van will get 'em first.
I wish Bloomie would stop f'ing with the traffic.