The Rental Ripoff Hearing Report’s recommendations would harm the private rental housing sector New York City needs to thrive.

New York City’s Penn Station is the ultimate transportation planner’s nightmare, dysfunctional on multiple levels and seemingly impossible to fix.

The mayor inherited favorable trends, but much remains to be done to keep the better times going.

Though it punts on the biggest issues, the bipartisan legislation marks a rare instance of constructive dealmaking in Washington.

Block by Block, the housing plan released this week by the Mamdani Administration may produce significant new construction and some useful reforms, but it remains constrained by ideological commitment...

The neighborhoods south of Prospect Park have the transit capacity for far more housing—if the city allows it.

But he’s unwisely betting he can keep spending more than the city takes in.

In this episode we talk with Eric Kober, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and former director of housing, economic and infrastructure planning at the New York City Department of City Plannin...

While staying true to his socialist roots, New York City’s mayor has chosen one of the worst possible options to achieve his affordability goals.

As private employment growth slows, Gotham’s fiscal challenges will become harder to solve.

Michelle Wu is backing a bad housing policy that refuses to die.

The governor’s environmental-review reforms will speed up new construction—if the state legislature cooperates.

The distressed buildings need income and currently have no way to get it.

Many policies advocated by Zohran Mamdani as a New York City mayoral candidate were viewed skeptically by commentators who do not share his democratic socialist politics.[1] Within my own areas of exp...

Approval of pro-housing-development ballot measures suggests that the old “home voter” coalition is dead.

City Council’s fear campaign shows why the Charter proposals are needed.

Some of the city’s most valuable land is tied up in manufacturing zones.

The council is making a last-ditch effort to hold on to certain powers.

In July 2025, the New York City Charter Revision Commission (NYC CRC) appointed by Mayor Eric Adams approved five November ballot questions proposing revisions to the city charter, the document establ...

The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 gutted investment in rent-stabilized units.

The political bases of Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo help reveal why there’s no center-right alternative.

"To address the problem of member deference, land use approvals could be taken from the Council’s jurisdiction. I suggest the creation of a new city position, the Zoning Administrator, who would be en...

Not one—including Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo —is willing to level with voters about the need to make the city affordable for young adults.

The Trump administration has announced a takeover of the improvement project, but it will require more than just federal muscle.

In my 38-year career as a city planner in New York City, I often sensed the bemused shade of the master builder, Robert Moses, commenting ironically on the futility of promoting growth in the face of ...

This follow-up testimony addresses two questions put to me by Commission member Carl Weisbrod when I testified at the February 24, 2025 public session: Summary of Recommendations I suggest that this C...

Though New York City planners want to live in the world of Jane Jacobs, they plan around the physical legacy of the master builder.

One of the most rewarding aspects of being a city planner in New York City, as I was for 38 years, is participating in the stewardship of Midtown Manhattan, one of the most dynamic and exciting places...

Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Eric Kober. I retired in 2017 as director of housing, economic and infrastructure planning for the New York City Department of City Planning and am...

New York City Mayor Eric Adams wants to allow certain homeowners to add extra dwellings in their backyards, attics, and basements.

New York City’s embattled mayor Eric Adams scored a big victory in late 2024, as the city council approved much of the “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” (COYHO) zoning reform plan, earlier approve...

The New York governor has proposed restricting institutional investors’ ability to purchase homes.

As the cost of living dominates politics, dozens of residents offered plans to bring down the price of housing, child care, transportation, cultural life and more.

New York City is dealing with its worst housing shortage in decades. The diverging fates of two developments offer a window into the crisis.

Little more than a week after a national election that brought forth commentary about how Democratic politicians’ misrule of large cities harmed the party’s credibility with voters, the New York City ...

Eric Adams’s “City of Yes” plan now faces an equivocal city council.

In a recent Manhattan Institute brief, I wrote that newly enacted state housing legislation and New York City’s “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” (CHO) zoning amendment (if passed as proposed): sh...