NYC Mayor To Overhaul Pro-Condo Program

"On Feb. 23…Mr. Bloomberg announced the establishment of a task force to overhaul a Lindsay-era program (the term of art is the 421a program) established back when there was little hope of attracting new construction in the city.

In recent years, hundredsâ€"if not thousandsâ€"of market-rate condominiums have sprouted up across the city on the public’s dollar under the program. It had been a Band-Aid, really, and Mr. Bloomberg was ripping it off."

"The way Mr. Bloomberg introduced the changes was innocuous enough. 'Because our population is growing, demand for housing has outstripped the supply, and for many New Yorkers, incomes are not keeping pace with increasing rents,' he said. 'The problem before us is no longer abandonment but affordability.'"