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 Sept. 20, 2007 | Vol 6, No. 16 |
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In This Issue: – Transit is the Way to Grow – Envisioning Gateway This was shown once more in a recent report by a real estate appraisal and consulting company, the Otteau Valuation Group. It found that New Jersey homes that are close to train stations are selling much faster than homes with no train access. This echoes a 2004 study [link to http://www.rpa.org/pdf/spotlightvol3_11.pdf] by this author that showed that homes with better transit service also increase in value quicker. That study showed that, in the wake of new one-seat train ride to Manhattan, properties within walking distance of train stations increased in value by 50% more than properties farther away. While housing prices have been under significant downward pressure in much of New Jersey recently, the only places that are consistently holding up seem to be those that are within an easy and comfortable train commute to New York City (albeit with some exceptions, including Newark). As though on cue, just days after the Otteau report came out, the Texas Transportation Institute released its annual Mobility Report, which reported that drivers in the Tri-State area spent almost four times as much time stuck in rush hour traffic in 2005 than in 1982. Although the TTI report was not addressing train travel, it was easy to leap from one report to the other and understand why people are attempting to live closer to major train lines. It’s simply that as more roads get clogged with more traffic for more hours of the day, the only efficient and "sane" way to access the region's core is by train - hence the real estate values. These studies underscore what RPA has been advocating for 80 years: that the way to make the region's growth more sustainable - economically, in quality of life, and environmentally - depends on strong transit infrastructure. So if we follow this logic of real estate evaluation through, we should be investing in the major backbones of our transit infrastructure in the region, and placing a higher priority on it than on expansion of our highway system. There currently are several very ambitious train infrastructure projects in the works that could benefit from this sort of logic. There is no doubt they are very expensive, but it’s also certain they create significant long-term value both for the region as an amorphous entity, and for individual home owners. Their price tag alone should not frighten us into inaction because they have the potential to be transformative for the region. -- For Long Island and Queens, East Side Access and the Third Track will provide commuters with much faster and more frequent train service to and from Manhattan. Together, the projects will build a third track on LIRR's Main Line and will connect the line to a new station built under Grand Central Terminal, shaving up to 40 minutes off the commute of at least 160,000 people. The pricetag for these two projects is about $6.5 billion, and the East Side Access part of the project will be complete in 6 years (no timeline on the Third Track yet). -- For New Jersey, Access to the Region's Core (or ARC), two new tunnels under the Hudson River and a new terminal station at 34th Street and 7th Avenue, will double the number of passengers that NJ TRANSIT is able to carry into Manhattan at peak times. ARC is expected to cost $7.6 billion and be finished by 2016. It will reduce commuting times and provide one-seat rides to tens of thousands of New Jersey commuters. -- For Manhattan and the Bronx, the Second Avenue subway will relieve the heavily congested Lexington Avenue subway line, which today carries as many daily passengers as the entire Washington DC Metro system. The new subway will eventually run from 125th Street to Hanover Square, will cost $17 billion, and will be done no earlier than 2020. RPA has estimated that the new subway will shorten the commutes of 600,000 daily riders (a value of $1.26 billion in saved time), and provide capacity to support an additional 86,000 jobs in Manhattan (representing $7 billion in wages and $14.4 billion in gross product). RPA's proposed Metrolink, a four-borough new transit system that uses the Second Avenue Subway as its base, would cost even more, but it would also reap many more benefits, particularly for the outer boroughs. Individually and together, these projects will contribute to sustainable land-use, transportation and economic development growth patterns in the region. Better and faster transit for more people will make it possible to build denser downtowns around train stations, like the proposed Nassau Hub on Long Island. It will also stabilize house values, reduce carbon emissions and improve quality of life throughout the region. Envisioning Gateway This must have been what visionaries (including John Keith and Stanley Tankel of Regional Plan Association) were thinking when Gateway National Recreation Area was created in 1972. Like its sister pioneer Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Gateway was intended by Congress to bring the National Park System to the people. The Park encompasses a collection of former military bases, the City’s first airport, expansive wetlands, and sandy beaches along the coast of the outer New York-New Jersey harbor. By some measures, Gateway is a tremendous success. More than 330 bird species depend on this globally significant sanctuary as they traverse the North Atlantic flyway. Park Rangers protect and interpret a broad mix of historic sites, including nineteenth century forts, the nation’s oldest lighthouse, and the ghostly remnants of the City’s first airport, Floyd Bennett Field. Perhaps most in keeping with Congress’s intent, Gateway brings eight million city kids and adults out-of-doors, making it one of the most visited National Parks in the country. But most observers have felt that Gateway has never lived up to its potential. While the Park has some truly astonishing and accessible places – you can take the A train to see thousands of fall migrants at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge for one – areas like Floyd Bennett Field and Riis Park have never received intended capital or operating dollars, and suffer from limited facilities and services. A disparate geography is a challenge for those seeking to elevate the Park in the public’s eye. Gateway’s 26,000-plus acres make the National Park Service the largest owner of waterfront property in the Region. Who knew? To help create this brand, and shore up political support for Gateway’s capital and operating needs, the National Parks Conservation Association, Columbia University, and Van Alen Institute have sponsored a design competition intended to spur the Park Service as it initiates its new, and perhaps more visionary, General Management Plan. You can check out winning entries from the competition, and rank them at www.npca.org/gateway. The six finalists – young and eager designers – have all proposed a dramatic rethinking of the Park from the water-in. New wetlands and tidal channels, restored ecologies, and a Harbor orientation would guide park resources. This is perhaps not so surprising. Improving water quality has spurred dozens of popular new open space initiatives in New York and New Jersey. There is growing recognition of the importance of coastal wetlands for sustaining threatened fisheries and absorbing floodwaters. Its miles of prime waterfront should make Gateway a true gateway to the Harbor’s recreational and environmental assets. Thirty five years after its creation, Gateway is still a work in progress. And while what it is now is wonderful, it’s clear that the application of some re-thinking of its original vision could make it even better for the summers to come. Asking questions of strangers back then taught me something about what manners were in a crowded and sometimes dangerous city. They weren’t the same as where I had been living previously, and perhaps not the same as they are now here in the city. I was a graduate student at Columbia University then, and a wide-eyed and enthusiastic explorer of my new beloved home. When I was walking the streets, I would often approach strangers and ask for directions, maybe the time or some other odd bit of information. Being a good southern boy, I would inevitably preface my requests with at the very least an “excuse me,” and sometimes more than that. And after the words had left my mouth, I would often see my intended recipient stiffen, and a shadow of fear cross their faces as they wondered “what does this big guy want?” “Should I be on guard?” “Is this some kind of con,” and various other thoughts, or so it seemed to me. Seeing this happen time and time again, I decided that in a big city I needed to be even more polite, so I would begin with an even longer preamble. Approaching someone on a subway platform, I would begin by saying, “I hate to bother you, but I was just wondering if you could . . .” This, to my surprise, worked even worse. They would stiffen even more. Sometimes, they would turn and walk away, completely ignoring me. I would always feel stunned when I was cast into the role of urban predator or con man. Being six foot seven, I was aware that I was a somewhat dominating presence. What could I do to make my presence more innocuous? It finally hit me after awhile. Be less polite. I realized through experimentation that if I asked short questions very directly, the people I asked would not have time to be scared of me. My mother would not have approved, but it worked in New York. Henceforth, I would come up to people and bark out questions with an unsmiling, neutral countenance, imitating some stereotypical image I had in my brain of New Yorkers. “What time is it?” “Where’s the subway?” “Which way is uptown?” I would ask, catching the person’s eye, in a sort of gruff, what’s-it-to-you voice. It worked. Getting directly to the point bypassed the questionee’s defensive barriers. They didn’t have time to make assumptions about me. Instead, the question went instantly into their brain, where they could evaluate it quickly as an innocuous one, and then respond with the desired answer of “3:15 pm,” or “Next block over,” or “That way.” New Yorkers did tend to be helpful, I found, once engaged. They just didn’t want to waste time or get mugged. Does less polite still work better in New York? Does stripping one’s language, both verbal, body and facial, of ornamentation still help? My suspicion is, not as much. As the city has become safer and more prosperous, ornamentation has returned to our conduct, like the addition of plaster curlicues to a bare frame building. We smile more now on the sidewalks and squares, we say excuse me and thank you more, and allow small talk to pass between us and strangers on the subway. It’s a good thing. Despite this change, I still ask questions pretty directly though, when on the street. Seems to work.
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Thursday, September 20, 2007 September 25, 2007 September 25, 2007 Thursday, September 27, 2007 Friday, September 28, 2007 Friday, October 5, 2007 October 12, 2007 Friday, October 12, 2007 Tuesday and Wednesday, October 16 and 17, 2007 Wednesday, October 24 Tuesday, November 13, 2007 Friday, November 16 Friday, February 29, 2008 Thursday, February 15 |
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Spotlight on The Region A publication of Regional Plan Association, Robert Yaro, President, Alex Marshall, Senior Editor 212-253-2727, x360 alex@rpa.org www.rpa.org |
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