Williamsburg

HPD Green Owners Forum

Event on October 26, 2011

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and the North Brooklyn Development Corporation invite you to the Green Owners Forum.

The Green Owners Forum is an opportunity for residential property owners to get information on such issues as green financing, water & energy conservation, recycling, weatherization, utility incentives and much more.

Agenda:

Event Details

Wednesday, October 26, 2011 - 5:30pm to 8:00pm

The Polish National Home, 261 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

A Luxury Housing Subsidy New Yorkers Can't Afford

Issue Brief last updated June 6, 2011

The legislature is poised to renew a tax break to New York's real estate industry that shortchanges affordable housing

The tax abatement on new multifamily residential real estate development known as 421-a cost New York City nearly $755 million last year in foregone taxes, or two-and-a-half times the level of property taxes forgiven under the program just five years earlier. The abatement, prized by the Real Estate Board of New York, expired last December. Now, the state legislature is poised to revive the tax break in exchange for the renewal of rent regulation, which expires June 15. As Albany trades 421-a renewal for the rent laws that protect the access to affordable housing of more than 1 million tenants in New York City alone, it is critical to understand the actual value of the tax abatement to developers and the ways in which the program as currently constructed gives out its benefits indiscriminately, in most cases without leveraging anything in exchange.

This issue brief from the Pratt Center details the cost of the 421-a abatement to New York City and recommends measures to better target the benefit to generate affordable housing and transit-oriented development.

prattcenter421a.pdf

RenewableNY: Bringing Manufacturing Businesses the Power to Retrofit

Report last updated April 27, 2011

In 2005, the New York Industrial Retention Network (NYIRN), now a program of the Pratt Center for Community Development, launched RenewableNY, an initiative to encourage industrial companies in New York City to implement energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, including solar electric and thermal installations, lighting replacements, and boiler upgrades.

The success of the program is now documented in a report from the Pratt Center, "RenewableNY: Bringing Manufacturing Businesses the Power to Retrofit." With a combination of project management and nearly $1 million in strategically timed small grants, NYIRN helped 39 NYC companies, employing more than 3,000 people, to implement energy efficiency projects. The projects leveraged an additional $2 million in private and public investment.

renewableny.pdf

Brooklyn Greens

Page last updated January 24, 2011

Brooklyn Greens is an initiative of the Brooklyn Community Foundation that supports community development groups in three north Brooklyn neighborhoods. They have joined forces with the Pratt Center to improve their respective environments through a powerful combination of education, participatory planning, community organizing, and weatherization to advance energy efficiency.

El Puente in Southside Williamsburg, Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, and Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation have each committed to an ambitious strategy to shrink the areas' carbon footprints, to use environmental improvement to create employment opportunities, and to make environmental sustainability a core value in local culture.

Northside Town Hall Community Center

Past Project last updated June 23, 2009

Engine 212 – “The People’s Firehouse” – served North Brooklyn for more than a century; the Pratt Center is now helping transform it into a community and cultural center.

Built in 1869, Engine 212 was threatened with forced closure in the 1970s by a cash-strapped city government. New York City’s poorest neighborhoods were then suffering waves of arson and destructive fires. At the same time, City services, including fire-fighting, were being slashed.

Sustainability Seeds are planted in Brooklyn

News last updated August 9, 2011

On August 10, The Brooklyn Community Foundation (BCF) officially launched “Brooklyn Greens,” a three-year $750,000 commitment to help three low-income communities in Brooklyn to become models for environmentally responsible, sustainable living.

Energy Efficiency Comes to New York Neighborhoods

News last updated November 24, 2010

City Council Speaker helps Pratt Center and partners launch citywide green home upgrade program

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn joined the Pratt Center, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and other partners on November 16 in the front yard of Theresa Braithwaite's Hancock Street house to inaugurate Retrofit NYC Block by Block, a new initiative to get New Yorkers to reduce their energy use through smart investments in their homes. Energy retrofits — home improvements that reduce the use of heating fuel, electricity, and water — can significantly reduce energy bills, make homes healthier and more comfortable, and reduce greenhouse gas and other emissions.

The New York City Council is sponsoring a one-year program that calls on community development groups in Staten Island, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens to enlist property owners in their neighborhoods to undertake retrofits, with the help of incentive programs from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), utility company programs, and federal grants and tax credits.

"When we saw the opportunity to fund $400,000 to help hundreds of homes throughout the City, particularly for underserved neighborhoods in the outer boroughs, we jumped at it," Speaker Quinn said. "This is a great initiative that I’m proud to support and I want to thank Pratt Center for Community Development and all the neighborhood partners for making our City green — one home at a time.”