Controversy Follows Proposed Midtown East Plan

That's right, claims of fake news has come to the world of planning.

David is talking about one article in particular, an op-ed by Michael Gruen and Alexander Garvin—the latter of watch should certainly sound familiar to Planetizen readers who might have read his books The Planning Game or What Makes a Great City. Of the op-ed, David has this to say:

The most untrue part of the op-ed is its claim that the city is rezoning what is now called Midtown East to generate money for transit and other improvements. The effort originated with real estate interests worried about the future of the office district, an objective both the Bloomberg and de Blasio administrations endorsed. The decision to link development to transit improvements was the price of dealing with community and political opposition. Virtually nothing else in the op-ed is accurate either.

According to David, these arguments are especially pernicious because, he believes, the neighborhood is headed to decline under the current zoning regime. David also argues that the new Midtown East plan sets up a clear system of public benefits.