JR scoops the Advocate!

There's an article on the Advocate website about the slowdown in construction that has left several downtown projects unfinished, including City Place. Sound familiar?? I wrote a post about this exact subject over at Mr. Stamford.

Some interesting tidbits from the article:
The Urban Redevelopment Commission has been mired in legal battles with Curley's diner, which it planned to seize. The developer was forced to redesign around the diner when the state Supreme Court ruled the city could not seize it in 2002.

Why did the city go through the Kafkaesque seizure process, which ultimately failed anyway? Why didn't the developer just offer the owners of Curley's a million bucks for their land?

37 of the apartments will be rented at rates affordable to those who earn 50 percent or less of Stamford's median income, or $58,900 for a family of four. That translates to rents of about $1,636 per month.

WOW - only $1636 a month? What a steal! I'm joking of course. My wife and I make just under $100K a year and we would be hard-pressed to afford that rent!

Now if you do the math, $1636 x 12 months = $19632, or about a THIRD of the income for a family making $58,900 - and that's the TOP income limit to qualify. How are people making so little going to be able to afford that rent and still put food on the table, clothes on their kids' backs, etc.?

On a side rant, I don't believe that people should get endless handouts or endless government help, but there has to be a better solution to help the working poor to provide for their families and improve their lives and the lives of their children. It also pisses me off when these developers make a "swap" (like Antares wants to do) so that the affordable units don't have to sully their pretty little rich bubble.

Anyway, why does it seem like everybody is only building "luxury" these days? Whatever happened to building a nice average apartment building?