Helping community organizations and neighborhood advocates confront the planning, land use and economic development issues facing their neighborhoods is the core goal of the MAS Planning Center. Through public forums, workshops, publications and one-to-one assistance, the Center tackles neighborhood issues at grassroots and citywide levels.

CITI Youth: Future of NYC

July 17, 2008 By Eve Baron

On Wednesday, June 25, in a special awards ceremony featuring music by Dimitri Bartholomew and a rousing inspirational speech by former Planning Center director Micaela Birmingham, MAS honored this year’s crop of CITI Youth Map Technicians. The CITI Youth program trains high school students in the use of Geographic Information Systems and places them in paid internships at their local community boards to provide on-the-spot electronic maps (www.myciti.org) at board and committee meetings. Continue reading...

2008 Yolanda Garcia Community Planner Award Winner is Announced

July 02, 2008

Jeanne DuPont, Executive Director of the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance (RWA) is the 2008 Yolanda Garcia Community Planning Award recipient. This award, which recognizes the often-unsung leaders of grassroots community-based planning, was awarded to Jeanne for her work promoting public waterfront access in the Rockaways.

Continue reading...

Nearly 100 New Yorkers "Crack the Code"

June 06, 2008

On May 10th 2008, nearly 100 New Yorkers attended second annual Livable Neighborhoods Program (LNP) training at Hunter College. The LNP trains community members to pro-actively plan for their neighborhood — tackling issues ranging from affordable housing, to 197-a planning, to the city’s land use review process. Continue reading...

2008 Yolanda Garcia Community Planner Award Call for Nominations

May 05, 2008

The MAS is now accepting nominations for the 2008 Yolanda Garcia Community Planner (YGCP) Award. This $2,500 award was created to commemorate the work of Ms. Yolanda Garcia, a community activist in the South Bronx. Each year the MAS presents the YGCP award to a community planner who has demonstrated his or her ability to overcome the many obstacles to grassroots, community-based planning and has succeeded in bringing neighborhood need and vision into New York City’s planning process. Continue reading...

MAS Presents the Livable Neighborhoods Program

May 06, 2008

On Saturday May 10th the Municipal Art Society Planning Center will launch the second annual Livable Neighborhoods Program training at Hunter College. The Livable Neighborhoods Program, which first launched last May at Hunter College, was created to provide communities with the knowledge, tools, and training needed to transform local vision into effective plans. The program provides participants with in person training, a take home comprehensive community planning toolkit and access to a web-based network for ongoing to discussion.

Come join over one hundred New Yorkers from neighborhoods across the city in a discussion about the issues that matter to you and your neighborhood. Facilitators will include Tom Angotti of the Hunter College Center for Community Planning and Development, Anthony Borrelli of the Manhattan Borough President’s Office, Vicki Weiner of the Pratt Center for Community Development and many more.

Chances are, your neighborhood is rapidly growing and changing. The Livable Neighborhoods Program is designed to help you respond to that change and help your community grow in a more equitable and sustainable matter. For more information and to register online, please click here. If you would like to register by fax or mail, please click here to download the registration form. For more information contact Sideya Sherman at ssherman@mas.org or 212.935.3960 x 259.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

Date and Time: Saturday May 10, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, May 7
Who Can Attend? Registration is open the public, however priority is given to members of grassroots organizations and community boards.
What Is The Cost? Participation in the program is free.
Where Is The Training? The training will take place at Hunter College with special assistance from Hunter College’s Center for Community Planning and Development (CCPD). Hunter College is located at 695 Park Ave (Manhattan). Corner of 68th Street and Lexington Ave.
Will Food Be Served? Yes. We will provide breakfast and lunch.
Can I Bring My Child? Yes. The LNP is designed to be as convenient for participants as possible. We will have a supervised children’s activity room available on both days of training for children school age and up.
How Do I Register? For more information and to register online, please click here. If you would like to register by fax or mail, please click here to download the registration form.

Planning for All New Yorkers: An Atlas of Community-Based Plans

April 25, 2008

The Municipal Art Society Planning Center, with assistance from the Community-Based Planning Task Force, has developed an interactive, online tool that compiles community-based plans in New York City. Planning for All New Yorkers: An Atlas of Community-Based Plans in New York City contains 87 individual plans, created since 1989, the year that the City responded to pressure from communities to simplify and strengthen provisions in the City Charter for 197-a planning (197-a plans are officially-recognized, community-initiated local plans). Continue reading...

CitiYouth Maps the Five Boroughs

April 25, 2008 By Sideya Sherman

On Saturday April 5th, 2008, CITI Youth interns Tiffany Williams, Latoya Herndon, Eric Kenny, and Peejay Howard joined over 100 students from across North America at the 2008 PLANet Youth Conference. This inaugural conference, organized by the Young Planners Network, held at the Brooklyn Academy of Urban Planning in Bushwick, marked the start of "... an international movement to empower young people, educate adults, influence planning trends, and exchange best practices." The conference featured sessions led by young people from various cities, covering topics ranging from gentrification to rebuilding New Orleans. Continue reading...

Creating the City We All Want: A Roadmap

March 17, 2008

The MAS Planning Center is holding a series of forums this spring on the future of community-based planning in New York City. The opening program is titled Elected Officials Respond to Communities That Plan for Themselves, and will be held on Monday, March 24. Click here for more details.

MAS Planning Center Launches New Community-Based Planning Blog

March 14, 2008

The Community-Based Planning Task Force is leading the effort to create a more meaningful role for communities in New York City’s planning and decision-making processes and recently launched a new blog as a locus for community-planners to learn about and discuss the latest in community planning news.

To learn more about the campaign, visit the blog at www.communitybasedplanning.wordpress.com.

Imagine Flatbush 2030 Movie Now Online

February 01, 2008
Imagine Flatbush 2030

Click on the play icon at right to begin watching the movie.

Click here to learn more about the Imagine Flatbush 2030 initiative.

Imagine Flatbush 2030 Kicks-Off

January 02, 2008 By Eve Baron

Imagine Flatbush 2030 kicked off at Temple Beth Emeth in Flatbush, Brooklyn, on November 19, with a preliminary stakeholders’ meeting of 50 groups.

Following a discussion of the meaning of neighborhood sustainability, the Mayor's PlaNYC 2030, and why neighborhoods need to create their own agendas to work in tandem with this plan, workshop attendees formed groups to talk with their neighbors about both things they cherished about Flatbush and things they perceived as challenges. A second workshop on December 12 focused on collectively identifying sustainability goals for the neighborhood. To watch a video about the Imagine Flatbush 2030 initiative, featuring footage from the first workshop, click here. Continue reading...

Imagine Flatbush 2030: a Community Visioning Project

November 12, 2007

The Mayor’s PlaNYC2030 is a citywide sustainability agenda that lays the groundwork for achieving and maintaining affordable housing, open space, good transportation, clean air, water, and land and reliable energy. It affords an enormous opportunity to rethink the development of the city. As part of Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York, MAS will work with the residents, business owners, and civic leaders of Flatbush, Brooklyn, with the partnership of the Flatbush Development Corporation, to assist in creating neighborhood sustainability goals and tools to measure progress toward consensus-based goals. Flatbush is one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the city, growing at a rate of eight percent annually, and mirroring the needs and attributes of a growing population within a district that is both architecturally and historically distinct. Yet the lack of affordable housing undermines the ability of the neighborhood to stay diverse, the resident to open space ratio is among the highest in the city, and heavy vehicular traffic compromise the quality of life. If you live in the Flatbush area and would like to get involved, contact Sideya Sherman at ssherman@mas.org.

Click here to learn more about the project and to hear thoughts from people in the neighborhood. Continue reading...

197-a Planning Helps Implement Citywide Planning Goals

November 01, 2007 By Eve Baron

Seeking to capitalize on existing neighborhood assets and plan proactively to secure good jobs, affordable housing, community health, and access to quality schools and services, West Harlemites living and working in Manhattan Community District 9 (Manhattanville, Morningside Heights and Hamilton Heights) have developed a consensus-based plan for their neighborhood’s future through a 197-a plan. The official community planning process, 197-a planning is a key part of the city charter allowing community boards to create comprehensive neighborhood plans guiding local growth and development. If implemented, the community’s plan would play a big part in implementing the city’s forward-thinking sustainability agenda. Continue reading...

Neighborhood Planning Heats Up

July 01, 2007 By Eve Baron

Over the course of two Saturdays in May at Hunter College, the MAS Planning Center trained more than 100 New Yorkers, from community board members to city newcomers, from neighborhoods across the city, to become part of the next generation of community planners. Continue reading...

The Iron Triangle: Magnet for New Development

June 04, 2007 By Eve Baron

The MAS submitted comments on the Economic Development Corporation’s draft scope of work for Willets Point in Queens on May 14. The draft scope is the first step in the city’s environmental review process. The comments urged the city to be more specific about the costs and benefits of the EDC proposal, analyze the number of existing jobs and the impact of their loss on surrounding communities, consider the impact of the decentralization of automotive uses, and to consider alternative development scenarios that would result in the city’s first business incubator for sustainable automotive care and alternative fuel development. The EDC anticipates that the ULURP process will begin sometime in December 2007. Click here to read the comments.

The Livable Neighborhoods Program - Sign Up Now

May 09, 2007 By Eve Baron
Interested in learning more about how to tackle planning and development challenges in your neighborhood? Want more information on how to create proactive plans? Register now for the MAS Planning Center’s Livable Neighborhoods Program — resources and training for community-based planners. The final training session for 2007 is scheduled for Saturday, May 19. Continue reading...

Community Planners Celebrated at Awards Reception

April 23, 2007 By Eve Baron
Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director of the United Puerto Rican Organization of Sunset Park and a tireless advocate for the city’s environmental justice movement was presented with the 2007 Yolanda Garcia Community Planner Award on April 19. A standing-room-only crowd paid tribute to her efforts along with the work of others who practice the art of community-based planning. Continue reading...

The Campaign for Community-Based Planning

The Campaign for Community-Based Planning is leading the effort to create a more meaningful role for communities in New York City's planning and decision-making processes. Based on the premise that the people who live and work in a neighborhood are among the best-equipped to plan for the future of that neighborhood, the Campaign for Community-Based Planning is laying the groundwork for the formal adoption of community-based planning as official New York City policy. Continue reading...