Archive for the ‘ Economic Development ’ Category

The Ruse of the Creative Class

Alec MacGillis has written an article (that I haven’t yet read) for The American Prospect titled The Ruse of the Creative Class. The byline: Cities that shelled out big bucks to learn Richard Florida’s prescription for vibrant urbanism are now hearing they may be beyond help. [ READ MORE ]

Chomsky on Crisis and Hope

Haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but Chomsky has a new article in Boston Review. [ READ MORE ]

City Council Rejects Kingsbridge Armory Plan

Straight from WNYC: City Council Rejects Kingsbridge Armory Plan by Matthew Schuerman NEW YORK, NY December 14, 2009 —The City Council has rejected the Bloomberg administration’s proposal to convert a former national guard armory in the Bronx into a shopping mall. It was the first time, city council members said, that an economic development initiative spearheaded by Mayor Bloomberg [ READ MORE ]

America’s hungry

The Agricultural Department has released a report that roughly 15% of American households have trouble putting food on the table at some time during the year. Fifteen percent! In one of the richest nations history has ever seen. And that just counts the poverty generated here! [ READ MORE ]

Pfizer to leave New London

And now after winning its eminent domain case, destroying a neighborhood, and exacting tax concessions, Pfizer has decided to abandon its New London campus and move 1400 jobs across the river to Groton. “I’m sure that there are people that are waiting out there to say, ‘I told you so,’ ” Mr. Pero said. “I don’t know [ READ MORE ]

NYCEDC Launches NYCEDC Economics

From the press release: NYCEDC’s Economic Research and Analysis Department has launched NYC Economics on NYCEDC.com. With this initiative, our readers and clients will get more out of our products and NYCEDC’s economic research will become more accessible. The content is organized around four modules: Data Resources, Economic Impact Analyses, Publications, and Frequently Asked Questions. Data  Resources  With  [ READ MORE ]

Coney Island saved?

The city has made a deal with Thor Equities to purchase 6.9 acres in the heart of Coney Island for $95.6m. Fortunately, this will put the redevelopment of Coney Island a little closer to public input, or at least it would if Bloomberg were not the mayor. [ READ MORE ]

Kelo update

Update on the 3,000+ job-creating Kelo eminent domain action: Nothing happened. (Doesn’t say if they reelected their local representatives or not though.) [ READ MORE ]

Aggressively local chains a new development model?

The NYTimes has an article on the boutique-y chain stores opening up in limited geographical areas (i.e., neighborhoods) in Brooklyn. The idea is more like the development of an open-air brandname mall than franchise replication. Rather than sell the same good or service elsewhere, the store owner diversifies into related niches in the same area, [ READ MORE ]

Minsky moment

The Boston Globe has a short piece on Minsky’s theory of capitalism and finance. It reports Minsky’s argument that instability is inherent to capitalism, that stability encourages reckless behavior that precipitates collapse, and that a critical solution to a crisis is a “bubble up” approach in which anyone who wants to work is provided a [ READ MORE ]

Lifestyle destination bust

The NYTimes has a story today on the decline of Bend, Oregon as immigrants from California discover that their quest for a better life has run aground in the current economic storm. Along the lines of Richard Florida’s destination cities for the economically productive, these families sold (or tried to sell) their houses in California [ READ MORE ]

Industrial fragmentation

In contrast to the preceding post, WIRED’s editor-in-chief has a column that suggests that on the business side of things, the crisis has revealed the vulnerability and growing inflexibility of industry giants and that going forward production is likely to fragment into “pop-up shops” (my term, not his). To all the usual reasons why small companies [ READ MORE ]

Geography of Job Gain and Loss

This is a compelling time series map of employment gain and loss over the last five years. The effect of Katrina is apparent, and the downturn of the current crisis is downright dismaying. [ READ MORE ]

Growing by shrinking

The NYTimes reports that Flint may be about to aggressively shrink itself down to a most cost effective and attractive form. [ READ MORE ]

Giant Pool of Money

On the basis of Barry Wellman’s ComUrb listserve recommendation, I just listened to The Giant Pool of Money, a production of This American Life. It’s an excellent insight into the people and system that generated the current crisis. Highly recommended. [Update: Looks like Blumberg and Davidson are back with a new program called Bad Bank on [ READ MORE ]