The Mission of the Manhattan Institute is
to develop and disseminate new ideas that
foster greater economic choice and
individual responsibility.

Center for Rethinking Development.

Ideas that shape the city’s planning, housing, and development

Julia Vitullo-Martin
Director
Julia Vitullo-Martin is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and Director of the Center for Rethinking Development. Her work focuses on development issues such as planning and zoning, housing, rent regulation, environmental reviews, building and fire codes, and landmark preservation.

Hope Cohen
Deputy Director
Hope Cohen is Deputy Director of the Center for Rethinking Development. With over a decade of experience in New York City government at the Department of Parks and Recreation and MTA New York City Transit, she brings invaluable experience navigating the complex city bureaucracy and an acute ability to solve complex problems by building consensus among multiple stake-holders.

MORE FEATURED TOPICS >>

Debating Development in New York: Selected Articles and Comments
Maybe Beloved Shops Don't Have to Disappear, City Limits, 07-21-08
Hold 'em Accountable: Developer Filing Proposed, City Limits, 07-14-08
Thompson says other developers might join AY; "I'm not sure what that project is any longer", Atlantic Yards Report, 05-02-08
125th Street Rezoning Raises Concerns About Preserving Harlem's Affordability, Columbia Spectator, 04-24-08
Harlem reborn, The Economist, 03-13-08
Battle for soul of Harlem's famed 125th Street, Guardian, 03-11-08
World Service, BBC Radio, 01-30-08
Once Synagogues, Now Churches, and Ailing Quietly New York Times, 01-28-08
Columbia's $6 Billion Expansion Likely to Win Approval From NYC Bloomberg.com, 11-26-07
When the Gown Devours the Town New York Times, 11-16-07
Forest City Enterprises: Deals and Ideals Governing Magazine, November 2007
Time for Some Jane Jacobs Revisionism? New York Times, 11-06-07
Not so Superblock Built Environment Blog, 10-19-07
Atlantic Yards Report: Vitullo-Martin Takes a Second Look at Jane Jacobs New York Times, 10-15-07
Study Finds Disparities in Mortgages by Race New York Times, 10-15-07
Razing West Harlem, Daily Standard, 08-09-07
The Politics of Public Housing The Brian Lehrer Show, 08-09-07
Hard Times in the Projects Gotham Gazette, 08-20-07
Environmental Reviews for Small Developments The New york Times, 08-19-07
The Future of New York's Past New York Times, 05-15-07
Brooklyn gets affordable housing boost AM New York, 04-25-07
The First Reductions of Street Homelessness in 20 Years Wall Street Journal, 02-15-07
*subscription required
Blight off the Block? New York Post, 12-04-06
Up in arms about the Yards Economist, 09-21-06
New York's Post-9/11 Liberty Bond Program Gets Mixed Grades Bloomberg News, 09-11-06
First Tribute Wall Street Journal, 09-11-06
In Big Slow Brooklyn Build, Is It Affordable Housing Last? New York Observer, 09-11-06 by Matt Schuerman
Blight on the Block: Helter Shelter New York Post, 09-05-06
Congregations turn creative as they learn how to leverage holdings New York Business, 07-31-06
*subscription required
Feds could hobble affordable housing New York Business, 02-20-06 Editorial
New York's Home Front New York Sun, 11-11-05 Editorial
Beyond Brooklyn: Ratner’s Stadium The Columbia Spectator, 10-13-05 by Erin Durkin
In a Still-Growing City, Some Neighborhoods Say Slow Down New York Times, 10-10-05 by Janny Scott
Not Your Typical Landmark New York Post, 10-05-05 Letter to the editor by Peg Breen, President New York Landmarks Conservancy
The Eminent Domain Fight-Back New York Sun, 10-05-05 Editorial
How Dense Can You Get? Governing Magazine, August 2005
Time May Drive Suburban Flight Newsday, 08-21-05
Environmental Groups and the Economy Friends of Hudson, 08-10-05 Letter to editor by Susan Falzon, New York Times

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CRD REPORT
Raise the Roof, Lower the Costs: Construction Costs and Housing Affordability in New York City
by Rosemary Scanlon

CRD NEWSLETTER
Albany and City Hall: Here's What You Can Do to Slow Down Construction Costs
by Hope Cohen, July 2008

PODCAST
Hope Cohen of the Center for Rethinking Development interviews Rosemary Scanlon [Part I] [Part II]
CRD DISCUSSION
The report was released on July 9 at a panel featuring Rosemary Scanlon, architect Mark Ginsberg, financier and developer Michael Lappin and construction attorney Barry LePatner. Please click here to listen to the panel.
RADIO
A discussion of "Raise the Roof, Lower the Costs" on WNYC news.
TESTIMONY
Testimony re: Changes to City Capital Contracting Rules Testimony of Hope Cohen to City Council Contracts Committee, 09-19-08
OP-EDS
Cutting the High Cost of Housing Rosemary Scanlon and Hope Cohen, Gotham Gazette, 09-16-08
Bulldozing Through New York Rosemary Scanlon and Hope Cohen, The New York Sun, 08-07-08

IN THE PRESS
New School Year Brings New Seats for 11,000 Students, New York Sun, 08-28-08
What to Do About Those Rising Construction Costs, The New York Observer, 07-30-08
Report Urges Nonunion Labor Use Peter Kiefer, The New York Sun, 07-10-08
Construction Costs Put Crimp on Affordable Housing Crain's New York Business, 07-09-08


No Parking, Ever, Hope Cohen, The New York Times, August 18, 2008


Yes! Redevelop Willets Point September 2008
Rezone the Rockaways—They've Waited Long Enough June 2008
Expanding a Hospital in Historic Territory May 2008
Redeveloping Public Housing March 2008
125th Street: Rezoning an Icon February 2008
Mayor Bloomberg: Right on Neighborhoods, Right on Immigration January 2008
A Town without Churches? December 2007
Four Jane Jacobs Ideas that Should Have Made a Difference September 2007
Fix the Drains (and Trains and Bridges)—and Train the Fixers August 2007

MORE NEWSLETTERS>>

A Change For A Cleaner Queens, New York Post, 09-24-08
Behind The Latest Harlem Renaissance, New York Daily News, 09-07-08
NYC Public Housing in Crisis, New York Daily News, 08-20-08
He Changed The World (Everyone Says So), New York Post, 08-17-08
East Side Overload New York Post, 08-11-08
Rescuing Rockaway New York Post, 07-02-08
Revenge Of The Bad Old Days New York Post, 06-29-08
"Home Girl" New York Post, 06-29-08
In the Heights: Vitality and Diversity at Manhattan's Tip Gotham Gazette, 06-23-08
Urbanism II: Remaking Harlem Monocle, July/August 2008

MORE ARTICLES>>

Raise the Roof, Lower the Costs: Construction Costs and Housing Affordability in New York City
by Rosemary Scanlon
June 2008

Battling Traffic:
What New Yorkers Think About Road Pricing

by Bruce Schaller
December 2006

Up From the Ruins: Why Rezoning New York City's Manufacturing Areas for Housing Makes Sense
by Regina Armstrong with Tina Lund
June 2005

New York City’s Housing Gap: The Road to Recovery
by Peter D. Salins
June 2004

 

On Thursday, November 1, 2007, the Manhattan Institute's Center for Rethinking Development hosted Mayor Michael Bloomberg as the keynote speaker of a conference entitled "Thinking Big for New York City." Julia Vitullo-Martin moderated the panel of Amanda Burden, Chair of the City Planning Commission, Kenneth Jackson, Columbia University Professor of History, and Felix Rohatyn, Senior Advisor to Lehman Brothers.

Click here to watch video of the Mayor's address, or to read his prepared remarks. Click here for event audio [PART I] [PART II].

 

Hope Cohen Participates in Discussion of Bloomberg's State of the City speech, 01-21-08

CRD NEWSLETTER:
Thinking Big for New York City, October-November 2007
PODCAST:
Hope Cohen discusses the future of Coney Island, a theme from the October-November CRD newsletter.
OP-ED:
A Tale of Two Cities, New York Post, 11-04-07
IN THE PRESS:
Astroland Saved!, New York Magazine, 11-01-07
West Side Residents vs. Bloomberg over Rezoning Plan, New York Daily News, 11-05-07
The Revolutionary, Newsweek, 11-03-07
New York defiant as boomtime melts away, Financial Times, 11-03-07
How Is Bloomberg Like Pope John XXIII?, The New York Times City Room Blog, 11-01-07
Coming to a Neighborhood Near You, Gotham Gazette Wonkster Blog, 11-01-07
At Manhattan Institute, Bloomberg Praises Big Ideas, Denounces Autocratic Urban Planning, New York Observer Politicker Blog, 11-01-07

Click here for a comparable event on upstate issues, 'Can Upstate Cities Save Themselves?'

FEATURED TOPIC: ENVIRONMENT & INFRASTRUCTURE

Rethinking Environmental Review: A Handbook on What Can Be Done SELECT MEDIA:
One to One, CUNY TV, 01-21-08
TESTIMONY:
Testimony re: Safety of New York City's Bridges
Testimony of Hope Cohen, September 17, 2007

CRD REPORT:
Rethinking Environmental Review: A Handbook on What Can Be Done
By Hope Cohen, with a foreword by Richard Ravitch

New York City's environmental review process was instituted so that public officials would understand the full environmental implications of a development project and could plan for any necessary changes to municipal infrastructure and services. Over time, the process has evolved to become a hindrance to all developers, especially small-scale ones. The Center for Rethinking Development offers simple and effective suggestions for reform in a new report, "Rethinking Environmental Review."

Was AKRF's Work for Ratner a Hindrance to Hiring by ESDC? No, It Was a Justification Atlantic Yards Report, 08-15-08
Fix the Drains (and Trains and Bridges)—and Train the Fixers Hope Cohen, Center for Rethinking Development newsletter, August 2007
Podcast: Hope Cohen elaborates on the themes of the August newsletter
Building Blocks by Richard Ravitch and Hope Cohen, The New York Times, 08-05-07
Ensuring It Doesn't Happen Here by Hope Cohen, New York Post, 08-03-07
A Start on Trading Cumbersome (City) Environmental Review for the Civic Work of Planning Atlantic Yards Report, 05-18-07

 



The Center for Rethinking Development (CRD) fosters a new understanding of the importance of development to New York City's well-being. Focusing on such areas as zoning and planning, environmental review, building codes, historic preservation, and public housing, CRD conducts research, hosts forums, and offers concrete, feasible proposals for reform.

The city has adopted many of CRD's specific recommendations for zoning changes. CRD's work on bottlenecks to building continues to frame policy discussions in the development world—public, private, and not-for-profit.

New Yorkers have become far more development-friendly in the past few years, but are rightly troubled about New York's decaying infrastructure—roads, subways, bridges, tunnels—so necessary to support an expanding city. The costs of housing—rehabilitation as well as new construction—worry everyone concerned about keeping and attracting jobs and business. CRD explains and makes a case for the importance of reconnecting environmental reviews to infrastructural planning and implementation, targeting incentives to neighborhoods that are still weak rather than those that are strong, and tempering historic preservation with economic reason. Addressing these common-sense concerns is key to the city's future.

For more information please contact Hope Cohen (hcohen@manhattan-institute.org), (212) 599-7000, fax (212) 599-3494.


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