The Regional Assembly

» How can we promote the expansion of the Region’s Central Business District to embrace “Midtown-West,” Long Island City, Downtown Brooklyn and Jersey City?

» What are the successful strategies for reinventing smaller city and town centers, including historic preservation, loft and live-work housing, improved public spaces, arts and cultural attractions and upgrading waterfronts?
» How can edge cities create new pedestrian friendly, mixed-use focal points to fight the negative consequences of sprawl and improve their quality of life?
» How can residential communities in and adjoining these growing centers share in the benefits and avoid the pitfalls of rapid growth?

SESSION I – 9:15 to 10:30

MIDTOWN WEST: MANHATTAN'S LAST GREAT DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY (click on title for the background paper)
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The Far West Side of Midtown Manhattan, a roughly 50-block neighborhood dominated by warehouses, the Lincoln Tunnel, Long Island Rail Road yards and the Jacob Javits Center, is the last great development opportunity on the island. As the rest of Manhattan is built out, “Midtown West” has become the focus of a number of proposals for new commercial and sports-related projects, as well as an expansion of the Javits Convention Center. Unfortunately, these proposals have been made largely in a vacuum, without benefit of a master plan that considers transportation, utilities and other infrastructure needs and the proper balance of commercial, residential and open space of a true downtown. This panel will discuss these issues and the process that will lead to a plan that would have broad-based stakeholder support.
MODERATOR: Richard Kahan, The Urban Assembly
PANELISTS: Dan Doctoroff, Olympics 2012; C. Virginia Fields, Manhattan Borough President; D. Kenneth Patton, New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies, Real Estate Institute; Jane Thompson, Thompson Design Group

COMMUNITY PLANNING AND REGIONAL CENTERS (click on title for the background paper)
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Throughout the Region, communities are taking the lead role in determining the direction and extent of their economic development futures. Several communities have created community development plans to help guide development and protect local residents from the negative impacts of unbridled growth and gentrification. As the Central Business District (CBD) expands to Manhattan’s Far West Side, Long Island City, Downtown Brooklyn and Jersey City, how can community-based planning help to integrate local planning efforts and regional initiatives? How can communities pursue sustainable economic development without losing the cultural integrity of the neighborhood? What role can manufacturing play in the new growth economy, and how can community planning efforts help to sustain the local job base?
MODERATOR: Edward Blakely, Dean, Milano Graduate School of Management, New School for Social Research
PANELISTS: David Givens, Community Board 11 (Harlem); Eva Hanhardt, Muncipal Arts Society; Linwood Ogelsby, Newark Arts Council; Teresa Williams, Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation (SWBIDC)

AFFORDABLE HOUSING: A HUMAN AND ECONOMIC CHALLENGE (click on title for the background paper)
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Lack of affordable housing in the New York Metropolitan region affects quality of life for everyone who lives and works here. One often-neglected aspect of this multi-faceted issue is the plight of the lower level professionals and service workers in our suburban communities. The inability to live near where they work often means long hours on the road. This in turn causes virtually round-the-clock frustration of congestion in many of our communities. Often, communities across the Region have resisted affordable housing projects citing concerns over density. But as the middle class and service workforce move to ever more distant communities seeking viable affordable housing, sprawl becomes the norm, which destroys the charm and rural character of our towns. This workshop will explore methods for overcoming community resistance to affordable housing, providing incentives and modifying local ordinances in order to improve the Region’s affordable housing stock primarily for lower middle-income families.
MODERATOR: James L. Lipscomb, Conning & Company
PANELISTS: Mark Forlenza, AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; John Madeo, Fairfield 2000 Homes Corp.; Robert Holmes, Rutgers Community Law Project

NEW INSTITUTIONS AND FINANCING FOR THE NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY HARBOR WATERFRONT - PART I (click on title for the background paper)
or, download the .pdf file
The 800-mile New York/New Jersey Harbor is the Region’s front yard. There is a widespread regional consensus that transforming the industrial waterfront of the past into a place of new parks, homes, businesses and communities is a key to improving the future livability of the New York Metropolitan area. But how much of the transformation is actually going to happen? Is the level of available funding equal to the task? Does the Region have the right institutional mechanisms to achieve such an ambitious goal and find the right balance between public and private interests? In Part I of this two-part program, RPA will present the draft findings from its upcoming report on new institutions and financing for the New York/New Jersey Harbor waterfront, and panelists will review some of the active Region-shaping initiatives now underway on the New Jersey and New York Waterfront.
MODERATOR: Robert Pirani, Regional Plan Association
PANELISTS: Albert Appleton, Regional Plan Association; Robert C. Janiszewski, Hudson County, NJ; Joanne Witty, Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation

TRAVELS THROUGH A TRANSIT-FRIENDLY REGION - PART I:  A RIDE IN THE COUNTRY (click on title for the background paper)
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Large areas of the Region are settled in patterns and at densities that do not support transit. The primary principle of transit-friendly town planning—that new development should be within a ¼ mile walk of a transit stop—simply is not practical in some areas. What alternative modes of transit are appropriate in suburban environments? What role does suburban design play in creating transit-friendly places? How can public-private partnerships promote suburban transit? Building on RPA’s recent experiences in the Region—including Stamford, Somerset County and Wassaic—as well as featuring best practice experiments elsewhere in the country, this workshop will explore the potential and limitations of transit in lower density environments.
MODERATOR: Robert Lane, Regional Plan Association
PANELISTS: Todd Bressi, Pratt Institute; Steven Dragos, Somerset County RideWise, Somerset Alliance for the Future; Howard Permut, MetroNorth Railroad; Jeffrey Zupan, Regional Plan Association

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SESSION II – 10:45 to 12:00

LONG ISLAND CITY:  THE REGION'S NEXT MAJOR CENTER? (click on title for the background paper)
or, download the .pdf file
With its proximity to Midtown Manhattan and its potential to become a hub for intermodal transit service, Long Island City could become the Region’s next major commercial center. However, Long Island City also has more manufacturing jobs than any New York City community outside of Manhattan and stable mixed-use neighborhoods in Hunter’s Point and Dutch Kills. This workshop will explore the following questions: What are the prospects for a new central business district in Long Island City? How can Long Island City balance its potential for commercial development and the importance of its industrial and mixed-use neighborhoods? What type of place could it become, and what should be its role in the Region’s economy?
MODERATOR: Christopher Jones, Regional Plan Association
PANELISTS: Gayle Baron, Long Island City Business Development Corporation; Michael Kwartler,Environmental Simulation Center; Ron Shiffman, Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development (PICCED); John Young, Queens Office, NYC Department of City Planning

REINVENTING THE ROLE OF THE REGIN'S SMALLER DOWNTOWNS:  FORMULAS FOR SUCCESS
The 1990s found that many of our Region’s smaller downtowns had lost their old identity after “Main Street retail” moved to suburban malls and industry and manufacturing were made nearly obsolete by the new economy. Today a number of communities are working to create new downtown purposes, with amenities such as a historic past, a waterfront reclamation, or an arts magnet—attracting visitors and enhancing the community’s quality of life. This panel will explore strategies and approaches that can make our smaller communities viable after the old economic base has been lost.
MODERATOR: Kathleen Madden, Project for Public Spaces
PANELISTS: Helga Crowley, Perth Amboy, NJ Redevelopment Authority; Robert Gregory, Community Development, Milford, CT; David Kapell, Greenport, Long Island; Edward Sullivan, Executive Director, Scenic Hudson

DESIGNING HEALTHY COMMUNITIES (click on title for the background paper)
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More than a century ago came the recognition that the design and management of cities had a direct relationship with the public health concerns of American city-dwellers. While diseases such as tuberculosis, polio and dysentery have all but been eradicated, there now is an epidemic of asthma, diabetes, obesity, heart disease and other illnesses which are afflicting almost half of our residents. Public health professionals have concluded that the growing epidemics are a direct result of sedentary lifestyles, which in turn are related to the automobile-oriented design of most Tri-state communities. How can public health and planning professionals collaborate to promote healthier lifestyles? How can we design communities that promote more physical activity? Can we promote community schools and parks in new and existing communities? Can state and local highway and subdivision designs incorporate sidewalks and other features that will promote walking? RPA’s Robert Yaro and Tom Schmidt from CDC will present a brief overview of the situation, followed by a moderator-led response panel.
MODERATOR: Peter W. Herman, Esq., Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
PRESENTERS & PANELISTS: Richard N. Gottfried, New York State Assembly District 64; Toni N. Harp, Senator, Assistant Senate Majority Leader, State of Connecticut; Tom Schmid, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Peggy M. Shepherd, West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc. (WEACT); Herb Simmens, New Jersey Office of State Planning; Robert D. Yaro, Regional Plan Association

NEW INSTITUTIONS AND FINANCING FOR THE NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY HARBOR WATERFRONT - PART II (click on title for the background paper)
or, download the .pdf file
Strategies adapted from housing programs could help provide the financing needed for successful waterfront development. Linking public and private sector interests might provide a tool for managing privately created public spaces along the waterfront. In Part II of this special two-part session, experts and leaders of successful waterfront development efforts will respond to the recommendations of RPA’s upcoming report on overcoming the financial and institutional obstacles to rebuilding waterfronts in New York and New Jersey.
MODERATOR: Robert Pirani, Director, Environmental Programs, Regional Plan Association
PANELISTS: Albert Appleton, Senior Fellow, Infrastructure, Regional Plan Association; Adolfo Carrión, Jr., New York City Councilman District 14 (The Bronx); Richard Kahan, President, The Urban Assembly, Take the Field; Edward M. Weinstein AIA, Principal, The Hastings Design Group; Kathryn S. Wylde, President & Chief Executive Officer, New York City Partnership

TRAVELS THROUGH A TRANSIT-FRIENDLY REGION - PART II: A RIDE TO THE CENTER (click on title for the background paper)
or, download the .pdf file
The proposition that new development should be in existing centers—where infrastructure and access to transit already exist—is fundamental to sound metropolitan planning. And yet, resistance to increased density and obstacles to small-scale in-fill development keep this strategy unrealized in much of the Region. How can community-based planning processes promote transit-friendly development? What development and zoning practices can stimulate higher densities and in-fill development? How can transit agencies partner with communities for joint development? Building on RPA’s recent experiences in the Region—in Stamford, CT (Glenbrook & Springdale and the Downtown), Hastings-on-Hudson, NY and Rutherford, NJ—as well as featuring best practice experiments elsewhere in the country, this workshop will provide real lessons learned and proven strategies to promote transit-friendly centers of different scales and in varied locations.
MODERATOR: Todd Bressi, Places Magazine, Pratt Institute
PANELISTS: Mark Forlenza, AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; Carlos Rodrigues, New Jersey Office of State Planning; Ken Snapp, NJTransit

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