The Raymond "Ready" Martinez Communnity Center.

Solved.

Those of you who believe in free markets, here's an idea: the city can the cavernous indoor space to a flea market, where anyone could sell their food, trinkets, and other wares. Anarchy you say? Sounds like laissez faire to me!

Related already has one mall in the Bronx. Why should the city give it a second one?

let the nest play there

Heres an idea if you want a living wage get a college degree. Stop trying to raise a family working retail

Let's say you're a high school student in the Bronx. If your parent or parents work in retail, most likely you live in poverty. Well, children raised in poverty have very low rates of graduating high school, never mind college. So, you will most likely not go to college. You will probably end up working a poverty-level retail job. Then you might have children of your own. If you have a poverty-level job, your children will most likely do very poorly in school. And the cycle goes on.

This is when the cycle must stop.

See? Now you get to debate the social uplift of an empty building.

yeah BUT you know how to stop the cycle. its not a mystery. also give a living wage and person gets the means to move out of proverty will move out. Social capital is lost

"Workers earning this wage will need to enroll in public assistance--food stamps, medicaid, etc.--to make ends meet."

As a former resident of this neighborhood I can tell you that is already the case. I'd rather see them work minimum wage jobs and get a food stamps subsidy than be completely on public assistance.

Now that the city gets to keep the empty armory they also get to keep paying for the ongoing maintenence because that place is falling apart. Further deterioration will only make future potential developers bid to pay even less than Related.

Furthermore, now Bronxites can continue going to places like Westchester County to do their shopping and we can loose out on that tax revenue as well. High Five!

Better a development like this which benefits the community year round versus two baseball stadiums for wealthy entities that could have built them on their own.

This post leaves out several key facts:

This project was going to receive $14 million in public tax subsidies--your tax dollars--from the city. Additionally, the city was giving the developer a $15 million discount on the purchase of the city-owned building and property. Plus, your tax dollars funded $30 million in capital improvements to the property in 2003, improvements that the developer would have inherited.

This project was receiving substantial public subsidies, but the community was not going to benefit enough to justify the expense. If the developer would like to open a mall without subsidies, the developer can pay whatever they like. But if they are going to get millions and millions of our tax dollars, we should expect some sort of community benefit in return.

Because jobs, investments, and places to shop aren't a "community benefit". Enjoy your vacant building, douche.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply, NannyState. The problem with the project is that the retail jobs created will pay very low wages. The average wage of a clothing retail worker in the Bronx is about $17,000 a year.

Workers earning this wage will need to enroll in public assistance--food stamps, medicaid, etc.--to make ends meet. So the taxpayer will be subsidizing the developer--who will be enjoying a handsome profit on the retail rents--twice.

Again, these are your tax dollars. I just think that we can find a better use for them than padding the profits of a developer. A better use would be to create jobs that actually pay a wage that allows a family to eat, have a roof over their heads, and some health care.

As for the city-owned building, perhaps we can get someone to buy it for the full value, rather than 1/4 of the value.

Yes, either buy it full value or provide living wages. Bloomberg just gives away pubic land to his rich buddies. Atlantic yard rent is $1 a year, he gave ringling brother rent free space in Coney Island to abuse elephants, etc. then a private restaurant in Union Square Park. enough of this theft. Sell the land at full market value.

i'm with felix and JPJP on this one.

@nannystate, it's not just some vacant building, it's the freaking kingsbridge armory. the bronx needs poverty solutions, not projects that perpetuate it.

Industrial jobs pay more but the same politicians and activists flip anytime anything industrial is even planned.

In any other capitalist country, every member of the New York City Council who voted to kill this would be committed to an asylum for the criminally insane.

$300 fucking million bucks - no maybe in a socialist society.

Are there really any capitalist countries any more?

They should be committed to the empty Kingsbridge Armory.

I guess the $10. an hour business did the plan in.