Reports
Downtown Brooklyn's Detour: The Unanticipated Impacts of Rezoning and Development on Residents and Businesses 
Pratt Center for Community Development, for FUREE (Families United for Racial and Economic Equality), July 2008
This report highlights the differences between the foreseen impacts declared by the city during its review of the Downtown Brooklyn Plan and the impacts now being felt by many people who have been living and doing business in Downtown Brooklyn. It compares the impacts of the rezoning as they were outlined in the plan's Final Environmental Impact Statement with how the area is now being developed.
Preserving Local Retail: Issues and Strategies
Pratt Center for Community Development, May 2008
This presentation describes different strategies for preserving local retail and discouraging the proliferation of big chain stores. Specific examples from across the United States are used to examine the advantages and limitations of three types of strategies used to protect local businesses: defensive, offensive, and loss-cutting.
New York's Housing Underground: A Refuge and Resource
Pratt Center for Community Development and Chhaya Community Development Corporation, March 2008
Between 1990 and 2000, New York City gained 114,000 apartments that are not reflected in the official number of certificates of occupancy the City granted for new construction or renovation. Many more have almost certainly been created since. These phantom apartments are the city's housing underground: units that have been created in spaces that are not approved for living.
In this report, the Pratt Center and Chhaya outline how this fact provides the city government with an opportunity: it is possible to legalize these basement units while ensuring public safety, restricting additional density under the zoning code, and ensuring that no neighborhoods will be unduly burdened with overcrowded schools and services. The report offers research, analysis and recommendations on how to bring these unauthorized units into the city's regulatory system.
421a: Still Subsidizing Luxury Development
Pratt Center for Community Development, December 2006
This report highlights 54 condo buildings- built in the last few years or currently under construction- that would still be eligible for 421-a tax relief, even if they would have been built after the reforms proposed by the Speaker and the Mayor. These buildings contain more than 6,100 high-priced condominiums, far beyond the reach of average New Yorkers.
Even with the proposed reforms, New York City will be providing substantial tax subsidies to luxury developers and building owners who do no provide affordable housing, and who pay substandard wages.
Building in Good Jobs Report
Pratt Center for Community Development, December 2006
In cities around the country, private sector development and public sector support have combined to create building booms in places that only a few decades ago were in seemingly irreversible decline. However, both working poverty and chronic unemployment in central cities remain disturbingly high.
Workforce "linkage" policies present an opportunity to help people make a lasting exit from poverty by tying economic development projects directly to the creation of quality jobs and training opportunities for people struggling to get ahead.
A new report from the Pratt Center, "Building in Good Jobs: Linking Economic and Workforce Development with Real Estate-Led Economic Development" by Laura Wolf-Powers, provides analysis of workforce linkage policies from cities around the country. The report recommends five measures that municipal governments are taking to leverage the value of urban redevelopment activity in order to address unemployment and poverty.
Time for a
Gut Rehab: How the Next Governor Can Rebuild New York State's Affordable
Housing Legacy
The Pratt Center for Community Development, June 2006
As New Yorkers prepare to elect a new governor, the Pratt Center for Community Development has prepared a report that reviews the Pataki administration's housing policy, reviews what other governors are doing around the country, and explores how the next governor of New York can rebuild New York State's affordable housing legacy.
Reforming New York City's
421-a Property Tax Exemption Program: Subsidize Affordable Homes, Not Luxury
Development
The Pratt Center and Habitat for Humanity NYC, April 2006
The Pratt Center and Habitat-NYC examined buildings with some of the largest tax exemptions throughout the city. This report profiles 10 buildings 7 in Manhattan, 2 in Brooklyn, and 1 in Queens that illustrate the failures of the 421-a program in its current form.
Can Growth Work for
New York's Communities?
Report
The Pratt Center, November 2005
Growth, demographers suggest, is a given for New York City over the coming generation. And it is certainly better than abandonment. In anticipation of the December 1st event, this report addresses a key question: how can New Yorks neighborhoods harness, control, and even shape growth as the city moves forward in the 21st century?
New Markets Tax Credits: Issues and Opportunities
The Pratt Center, April 2005
The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) is the largest new federal subsidy for economic development in depressed areas created in the past thirty years. This report explores how NMTC works and provides some insight into the program, early in its implementation. It includes case studies of ten NMTC deals from around the country, highlighting projects where federal subsidies are making a real difference in low-income areas.
A Preliminary Planning Analysis
of the Brooklyn Atlantic Yards Project
Executive Summary
Addendum on the MOU
The Pratt Center, March 2005
The proposed Brooklyn Atlantic Yards (BAY) project, a large-scale development featuring a 19,000 seat arena, as well as housing, office and retail space, would have profound impacts on adjacent neighborhoods and the fiscal condition of the entire city. The Pratt Center conducted a preliminary assessment that informs public discourse about the BAY project by examining current assumptions and projections about its costs and benefits. The analysis examines the project's potential physical, economic, fiscal and other impacts and reiterates community concerns.
Remaking New York City: Can Prosperity be Shared and Sustainable?
Brad Lander & Laura Wolf-Powers, November 2004
Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration has launched redevelopment strategies in over 20 New York City neighborhoods that seek to open the city up for new commercial office and luxury housing development. While the plans offer many benefits for the city's future, few real benefits (e.g. affordable housing, living wage jobs) will reach the less-wealthy 80% of the population. The paper suggests how the proposed redevelopment plans could be reshaped to create more shared and sustainable prosperity in New York City.
Increasing Housing Opportunity in New York City: The Case for Inclusionary Zoning
Executive Summary
The Pratt Center & PolicyLink, October 2004
Inclusionary zoning - setting aside affordable units in new housing developments - could create more than 15,000 units to address New York City's housing crisis. This report, which analyzes the housing needs, development opportunities and market conditions in New York City, makes a strong case for inclusionary zoning as a successful strategy for expanding affordable housing opportunities.
Prospect Heights Neighborhood Survey Summary Report
Executive Summary
Appendix
The Pratt Center, October 2004
Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, has been the focus of significant media attention after the unveiling of the proposed redevelopment of the Brooklyn Atlantic Yards Project by Forest City Ratner Companies. The multi-billion dollar plan includes a 19,000-seat Arena and basketball sports complex, commercial space for office and retail and market-rate housing. The Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council (PHNDC), a local community advocacy group, commissioned the Pratt Center to design an extensive survey of people who live and work in Prospect Heights about existing conditions, as well as their concerns and vision for future development of the neighborhood.
Neighborhood and Housing in Lower Manhattan
Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown New York, July 2004
The Architecture Research Institute, Rebuild Downtown Our Town (R.Dot), and the Pratt Center for Community Development, in concert with its Civic Alliance partners, held the roundtable "Neighborhood and Housing in Lower Manhattan: Recommendations for the Mayor's Housing Plan" on November 10, 2003. Over 75 people attended, including community leaders, planners, architects, developers, bankers, and neighborhood residents, to discuss and learn about the Mayor's housing plan for Lower Manhattan. This report summarizes the recommendations that arose from the forum.
Transforming the Southern Bronx River Watershed
Joan Byron, Pratt Center Senior Fellow, June 2004
In early June 2004, Director of the Sustainable Development and Environmental Justice Initiative, Joan Byron, participated in Walk21-V: Cities for People Conference. Her presentation discussed livable, walkable cities in the context of social and environmental justice and how organizations based in low-income communities of color are leading the drive toward sustainability, by insisting that environmental benefits and burdens are distributed equitably.
New York to Europe Planning Delegation: Report of Findings
The Pratt Center, January 2003
In November 2002, the Pratt Center organized a study tour through Europe for New York City officials and community leaders to explore successful, innovative planning and municipal practices employed by European cities that may be applicable to community building and renewal efforts in Lower Manhattan and the region. Some 50 representatives from diverse constituencies of New York City participated in the week long tour. The report covers the delegation's findings and recommendation's for New York City on matters including urban design, transportation, green building, and social inclusion and equity.
Listening to the City: Report of the Proceedings
Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown New York, August 2002
The Pratt Center co-sponsored the historic event, "Listening to the City," in July 2002, when over 4,600 people from New York City and the surrounding region gathered in a 21st Century town meeting to consider plans for the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan. The Pratt Center partnered with the Regional Plan Association, AmericaSpeaks, the New School University and New York University, along with the Civic Alliance, a coalition of more than 85 civic, labor, business, environmental groups and other academic institutions, to sponsor this event. The final report synthesizes the hopes and concerns of thousands of people, from the five boroughs and beyond, who voiced their opinions on how to redevelop Lower Manhattan.
Making it in New York: Manufacturing Land Use & Zoning Initiative
The Pratt Center, June 2001.
The Pratt Center prepared an exhaustive study of manufacturing areas in New York City for the Municipal Art Society (MAS). Community-based organizations, manufacturers, environmental justice organizations, real estate professionals, and trade associations joined forces with MAS and the Pratt Center to put forth a comprehensive set of land use and zoning recommendations in an effort to retain manufacturing areas in the city.
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