Land Use and Housing Breakfast Series
The Center sponsors a series of breakfast meetings that bring together government officials, the business community, leaders of non-profit organizations and academic researchers to discuss and debate current controversies over land use and housing in New York City.
Spring Semester 2005
In Spring 2005 the subject of our breakfast series was predatory lending. On March 10, Sarah Ludwig, Executive Director of Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, Phyllis Rosenblum, Senior Vice President of Community Development at HSBC Bank, and Sarah Gerecke, Chief Executive Officer of Neighborhood Housing Services tackled the magnitude and dimensions of predatory lending.
The second breakfast in the series, which took place April 12, featured an in-depth discussion of possible solutions. Participants included Michael Bosnick, Assistant Commissioner, NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development; Barbara Kent, Director of Consumer Services and Financial Products, State of New York Banking Department; Mark A. Willis, Executive Vice President and Director of JP Morgan Chase's Community Development Group; and Josh Zinner, Director of the Foreclosure Prevention Project of South Brooklyn Legal Services.
Fall Semester 2004
In Fall 2004, our breakfast series focused on inclusionary zoning and featured Councilmember David Yassky, who spoke on October 19th about his Affordable Housing Zoning District proposal, and Amanda Burden, Chair of the Department of City Planning, who spoke on December 1st about the Department’s Strategic Plan. The plan highlights rezoning initiatives throughout the City, including the Williamsburg/Greenpoint waterfront rezoning that would be subject to Councilmember Yassky’s proposal.
To round out our discussion of the controversy over inclusionary zoning, our January 19th breakfast featured Ronald Moelis, a principal of L & M Equity Participants, who spoke about the competing approaches to inclusionary zoning proposed by Councilmember Yassky and the City Planning Commission from the perspective of a financer and developer of both market rate and affordable housing.
Prior speakers at the breakfast series have included Jerilyn Perine, then New York City’s Commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development; Shaun Donovan, then a Visiting Scholar at NYU, now New York City’s Commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development; Martha Stark, New York City’s Commissioner of Finance; and Daniel Doctoroff; New York City’s Deputy Mayor of Economic Development.