For Carl Weisbrod, there’s no where for New York to go but up.
“I think we’ll see some fluctuation in the market here but ultimately I am confident that as it always has, the city is going to come back both in terms of its vibrancy and its wealth,” said the HR&A senior adviser, New York City Economic Development Corporation founder and former head of the City Planning Commission on the most recent episode of Coffee Talk.
Despite that, Weisbrod, who’s been a part of five different administrations, admitted, “Of all the crises I’ve been through, this one that we’re facing now is the most challenging.”
In his conversation with The Real Deal founder Amir Korangy, Weisbrod outlined some of the challenges — and potential solutions — to bringing New York back. “There’s not just one thing that is a magic bullet,” he noted, but did outline the importance of coming out of the quarantine period “as smartly as we can.”
What does that mean? “Not [opening] the city too soon.”
Central to reclaiming the city’s “vibrancy,” according to Weisbrod, is maintaining its status as a “magnet for talent,” which means keeping taxpayers living and working within city limits.
Yet the real estate industry, which Weisbrod noted has long been “the piggy bank for the city’s budget,” is feeling the burden of the pandemic on top of high taxes and an unfriendly development environment in many neighborhoods.
To Weisbrod’s mind, every administration has recognized that New York needs to be pro-growth, meaning pro-development, despite resistance by other political figures. Weisbrod deemed City Council members’ rejections of new development “unfortunate.”
Nevertheless, he outlined a few major steps the government can take to make the city more livable. Watch the video above for a sense of what would be included in Carl Weisbrod’s new New York.