City has housing on its mind.City Council Committees held hearings this week about two of the city's largest developments, one yet to be approved the other already underway--sticking points of both are do they include enough affordable housing. The City Council Subcommittee on Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York. Lower Manhattan is generally defined as the area delineated on the north by Chambers Street, on the west by the Hudson River (North Redevelopment held a hearing on the progress of the World Trade Center site redevelopment with testimony from officials representing the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, self-sustaining public corporation established in 1921 by the states of New York and New Jersey to administer the activities of the New York–New Jersey port area, which has a waterfront of c. , New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of City's Economic Development Corporation, and the City's Department of City Planning city planning, process of planning for the improvement of urban centers in order to provide healthy and safe living conditions, efficient transport and communication, adequate public facilities, and aesthetic surroundings. . The City Council's Land Use Committee, meanwhile, examined the West Side rezoning plan, with testimony being heard from U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, public advocate Public Advocate is a governmental position similar to an ombudsman. Depending on the jurisdiction it could be an elected or an appointed position. Betsy Gotbaum Betsy Gotbaum is the New York Public Advocate. A longtime civic leader, this is her first elective office. She is a Democrat. Gotbaum, a trained teacher, became involved in civic affairs in the 1970s, while serving on the staff of former Mayor John Lindsay. , Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, and City Planning Commission Chair Amanda Burden Amanda Jay Mortimer Burden (born 1944) is the director of the New York City Department of City Planning and chair of the City Planning Commission. She is a proponent of revitalizing Lower Manhattan, improving public access to the Brooklyn waterfronts, improving commuter . Gotbaum spoke for many community members when she called for more affordable housing be included in West Side plan, in addition to the changes made by the city recently to increase the amount of affordable housing in the plan by 50%. "The Mayor and Deputy Mayor boast that they've revised the plan to include more units of affordable housing," said Gotbaum. "But they're still sticking with an artificial limit instead of listening to the demands of the marketplace, so the West Side will likely end up with far fewer units than it could support." Schumer said that making the plan economically viable means a precise mix of commercial, retail and residential. Several years ago Schumer created a task force, called the Group of 35. When the Group released its report in 2001, it projected the City would need 60 million square feet of new office space by 2020 to keep pace with projected job growth. For the Far West Side, the Group specifically proposed creating at least 20 million square feet of new office space within the area west of 9th Avenue between 28th and 42nd Streets, expanding the Javits Center, rezoning the area, assembling development sites, creating open space and pedestrian-friendly corridors, creating an Urban Business Campus, and extending the #7 Line to connect with Grand Central, Penn Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal The Port Authority Bus Terminal often referred to merely as "The Port Authority" is the main gateway for interstate buses into Manhattan in New York City. It is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. . "The Group of 35 grappled with the question of reaching the right mix of business and residential, a central issue in urban development, found that at least 20 million square feet should be used for commercial space," Schumer told the committee. "This proposal calls for 26 million square feet. While the Group of 35 only propose 20 million sq feet, the 26 million square feet that has been proposed seems reasonable, particularly in light of the need for financing the extension of the #7 train." This week, Pratt University also disputed the city's projection that developers will build some 2,600 units of affordable housing, and that it is likely that only about 600 units will be built. In the Subcommittee on Lower Manhattan Redevelopment the particular focus of was to consider how current and future plans might best include all concerns that the community and various advocacy groups have. With the City's downtown occupancy rate skyrocketing to 15.9 percent in November, it may not be in the City's best economic interest to open l0 million square feet of space solely for the use of office spaces. While Lower Manhattan has added over 6,500 units of housing below Canal Street since 2000, little or none of it was affordable to low and moderate income families. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has allocated only $50 million in HUD Hud (h  d), a pre-Qur'anic prophet of Islam. Hud unsuccessfully exhorted his South Arabian people, the Ad, to worship the One God. CDBG CDBG Community Development Block Grant funds, creating only 300 units of middle-income housing.
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