Mayor Bloomberg today announced a major revision to the Midtown East rezoning plan, which is currently churning through the city's approval process. The proposal hinges tearing down older office buildings to make way for newer, taller ones, while at the same time tacking on fees for developers that would go towards beefing up the area's transportation and infrastructure. Critics argued that the benefits were tenuous and would take too long to materialize anyway, so Bloomberg has decided to lay out the monies for improvements before the developers even pay into the fund: "By advancing a significant portion of the money, the public can experience the benefits of the plan?a transformed Grand Central with benefits throughout the Lexington subway line and improvements to streets and public spaces?far more quickly." [NYDN; previously]
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