Appleseed blog

Valuing Central Park's Contributions to New York City, May 2009

In May, the Central Park Conservancy released a report on Central Park's impact on the economy of New York City. The report, which was prepared by Appleseed, highlights the multiple ways in which the Park contributes to the City's economic vitality – as a major enterprise in itself; as a magnet for visitors, a location for film and TV production and a venue for major events; as a resource for New York City residents; and through its impact on property values and City tax revenues.

Most of the research and analysis presented in the report was completed in 2008, before New York City began to feel the full impact of the current recession. Some of the details of our analysis would of course be different if we had been using 2009 data. Retail and office rents in the area around the Park have declined, for example, and a sharp slowdown in the sale of apartments and commercial properties has meant less revenue from real property transfer taxes.

On the other hand, because changes on taxable assessed values always lag behind changes in real market values (both on the way up and on the way down), the real property tax revenues that the City derives from properties near the Park (and in effect, from the Park itself) are actually higher in 2009 than they were in 2007.

In other ways as well, Central Park's contribution to the City's economy is probably even more important today than it was at the height of the boom.

In 2008, Akamai Technologies began publishing a quarterly report on the State of the Internet based on connections to its massive network. The company's report on the fourth quarter of 2008 confirms what a lot of us have read about the U.S.'s relative broadband competitiveness, but also offers a surprise about Appleseed's home state of New York.

As of the fourth quarter of 2008, the U.S. ranked ninth worldwide in the percentage of all Internet connections with speeds of 5 Mbps or greater (25 percent). Not surprisingly, the top two countries during the same time period were South Korea (69 percent) and Japan (54 percent).

% of Internet connections above 5 Mbps, top ten countries(Source: Akamai State of the Internet, 4th Quarter 2008)

Here's the surprise: as of the fourth quarter of 2008, all New York State Internet connections averaged 5.37 Mbps, with 46 percent of connections averaging more than 5 Mbps. On a list of states ranked by the percent of Internet connections faster than 5 Mbps, this puts New York in third place, behind Delaware (62 percent) and New Hampshire (56 percent).

% of Internet connections above 5 Mbps, top ten states(Source: Akamai State of the Internet, 4th Quarter 2008)

To put this in perspective, if New York State were a separate country, it would rank third in the percentage of Internet connections faster than 5 Mbps – just behind South Korea and Japan.

While we wrap up our next post in the bike parking series, we thought we'd point out this amazing bicycle parking solution: the bicycle tree! (As seen on Bike Commute Tips Blog.)

To be sure, the bicycle tree does have drawbacks: it likely draws a lot of power; it requires technological (and literal) overhead; and it looks a bit like a futuristic mushroom -- an eyesore to some, no doubt.

Streetsblog today linked to what could be a more sensible solution for most sites: bike lockers. San Francisco's BART is going to install 200 bike lockers at six of its stations this summer. According to the article, bicyclists will be able to rent them by the hour with a pre-paid swipe card.

Part one of a series

This is the first post in a series about bike parking in New York City. In future posts we will discuss: 1) sites where expanding bike parking could make the most sense; 2) other issues the City should consider in the provision of bicycle parking; and 3) approaches the City might want to consider to get the private and non-profit sectors involved in developing bike parking initiatives.

The New York Times reported on January 17 that the 34th Street Partnership business improvement district is working with Stonehenge Management to reserve a 2,600 square foot lot on West 33rd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenue to develop an attended bicycle parking lot. Although there are some wrinkles to iron out, this is a promising development for bicycle commuters (and would-be bicycle commuters) looking for a more secure place to park their bikes after their morning ride to Midtown Manhattan.

Mayor Bloomberg's PLANYC sustainability plan proposes to invest in bicycle facilities – including bike lanes, greenways and bike parking – in order to increase bicycle commuting in the City. Although a small percentage of New Yorkers commute to work by bicycle (about .47 percent of employed New York City residents and .85 percent of employed Manhattan residents as of the 2000 Census), the number is growing and could play a role in relieving crowding on congested subway lines. Since 2000, the number of bicyclists crossing the Manhattan central business district "cordon" on weekdays between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. has grown by 74 percent to 22,300 riders in 2006.

Singapore, which calls itself a "global schoolhouse," has been particularly aggressive in recruiting students and scholars from around the world. The island city-state has made international education a central element of its economic development strategy. Since 2002, it has increased international student enrollment from fewer than 50,000 to more than 80,000--more than any city in the U.S. Its goal is to increase international enrollment to 150,000 by 2015--not bad for a country of just 4.5 million people.

Both to expand opportunities for its own citizens and to strengthen its position as an "exporter" of higher education, the government has also persuaded 16 major universities--including MIT, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, the University of Chicago, Stanford, the Wharton School and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts--to establish programs in Singapore. U.S cities that have historically been leaders in international education-- including New York, Boston, and Los Angeles--should consider whether they might have something learn from Singapore's success.

Appleseed's September Blog Post discussed trends in international student enrollment in the U.S from 1999-2006, including the decline in 2002-03 and 2005-06. The latest data from the Institute of International Education's "Open Doors" report, released on November 12, indicates that enrollment for 2006-07 rebounded to its highest level since 2002-03. While this growth is a positive sign, it's worth digging a little deeper to see whether this growth means that the U.S is regaining its attractiveness relative to other nations competing for the same talent.

On September 4, Governor Eliot Spitzer called on the Legislature to extend the 52-year-old franchise under which the New York Racing Association operates three thoroughbred race tracks – Saratoga, Belmont and Aqueduct. The Governor also recommended that the State separately select an experienced gaming company to operate 4,500 "video lottery terminals," or VLT's – essentially video slot machines – at Aqueduct. Revenues from this new gambling operation would be used to finance improvements at all three tracks, to enrich purses, to subsidize NYRA's money-losing operations and to provide assistance to New York's thoroughbred breeders. Governor Spitzer stated that his proposed approach would "ensure that we have the best possible operator for both the racing and the gaming franchise."

Given the dramatic progress that NYRA has made in recent years in cleaning up the corruption and mismanagement that had long plagued its operations, the Governor might well be right that extending its franchise is the best available option – at least from the perspective of the state’s racing industry. New York State will also benefit from increased franchise fees, and from the tax it levies on pari-mutuel wagering and VLT gambling.

But if we step back and ask not what’s best for the racing industry, but what’s best for New York’s economy, it’s not at all clear that the Governor’s proposal represents the best possible outcome to the long-running debate over the future of the three tracks. For New York City in particular, the real question is not whether NYRA should continue to run Aqueduct. It’s whether Aqueduct should continue to be used for racing at all – or whether there might instead be much more productive uses for the land the track now occupies.

A declining business

At the end of August 2007, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings visited Chile and Brazil to encourage high school students in those countries to consider applying for admission to U.S. colleges and universities. She and other U.S. officials made similar trips to India and China during the past year. While this element of the immigration policy debate has attracted less attention than border fences, factory raids and arguments over the meaning of "amnesty," Spellings' visits remind us of the (sometimes overlooked) impact of international students on the U.S economy.

In this post we discuss how international students contribute to the U.S. and local economies – briefly review the recent decline in international student enrollment in U.S. colleges and universities – highlight trends in international student enrollment in New York City institutions – and suggest some ways in which the decline in international student enrollment might be reversed.

We invite your comments, and your suggestions about how the U.S., the country's colleges and universities, and state and local officials should deal with this issue.

In June 2001, the Group of 35 – a committee of business, civic and community leaders convened by Senator Charles Schumer – issued a report on the development of commercial office space in New York City. Citing estimates that the City's office-based industries could add 300,000 jobs by 2020, the G35 report concluded that the City would need to add 60 million square feet to its existing supply of office space in order to accommodate the projected growth. But to produce new office space on that scale – an average net increase of 3 million square feet annually – the City would need to move aggressively to address a variety of barriers to new development, including zoning constraints, high construction costs and high property taxes.

While the G35's analysis was right on target, its timing was unfortunate. By the time the report was issued, the City's economy was already slipping into recession. The demand for office space was beginning to cool. And in the aftermath of Al Qaeda's attack on the World Trade Center, the issues raised by the Group of 35 seemed far less urgent.