William “Reverend Billy” Talen, the Green Party candidate for mayor, spoke with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer about development issues in New York City. The community leader and performance artist is running on a platform to “keep our neighborhoods livable and vibrant, healthy and safe.” He opposes the upzoning of Harlem for the proposed Columbia University expansion, wants to work to make affordable housing truly affordable and to support local businesses, rather than gentrification. “We have a sense now… if we build up our neighborhood by where we live and we make our neighborhood a better place, that we increase its value and we don’t get to stay there. That social contract must be reinstated,” he said. The mayoral election will take place Nov. 3.

Yesterday’s Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC looked at how foreclosures have hit Brooklyn, particularly minority and low-income neighborhoods. Reporter Cindy Rodriguez talked about the way the foreclosure process affected one homeowner in Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood. Josh Zinner, co-director of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, discussed the impact of foreclosures on the neighborhood more widely.

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The Real Deal‘s Alex Ulam spoke to WNYC’s Richard Hake today about one-stop shops, businesses that provide real estate salespeople, financing, inspections and home appraisal through one company. A high percentage of homes sold through New York City’s one-stop shops end up in foreclosure. Ulam discussed how he found out about the problem; where homebuyers find one-stop shops, which are particularly prevalent in outer borough neighborhoods; and how these all-in-one real estate companies inflate neighborhood prices. Ulam explored these companies in The Real Deal’s June 2008 issue.
 

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