StamfordCT

Is LVT the answer? It depends what the question is.

The title for this post was prompted by an article in the NYT about people not raised on farms deciding to become farmers, particularly in places near large cities.  It seems that local food was said to be the answer to a number of questions.  I'm generally in favor of it, but I'm not sure it is the answer to as many questions as its supporters claim.  That doesn't make "local food" a bad thing; just not the answer to as many questions as it might seem.

But the title for this post sprang to mind.  It seems to me that Land Value Taxation is the answer to a lot of very important questions.

The Taxpayer at 72nd and Madison

In a recent NYT, there is an article about the building on the southwest corner of 72nd and Madison in NYC. Twice in the article and once in the caption to the photos, the building is referred to as a "taxpayer" or "taxpayer-style building."

The article describes the 2 buildings which have occupied the 48' by 100' lot on the sw corner of 72nd and Madison: the first was a 5-story mansion built in 1894, which was occupied by an ex-wife of William K. Vanderbilt II.  On the northwest corner stood Louis Tiffany's grand house, and Gertrude Rhinelander was building her chateau, now the Ralph Lauren store, on the southeast corner.  The mansion remained a private home until 1951, when it was

... replaced with a two-story-high taxpayer-style building, designed by Boak & Raad with severe simplicity.

Ralph Lauren acquired the old Rhinelander mansion for its flagship store in 1986, and seven years later took over the taxpayer on the site of the Cutting house. It has operated a store there since then.

Redirecting Sprawl

The Hartford Courant published an editorial yesterday entitled "Let's Redirect Sprawl."  The title is taken from a statement by Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell.

The editorial says, in part,

Advocates for smart growth often cite the need for "infill development." But "redirect sprawl" gets the message across better. One of the aspects of smart growth that is sometimes forgotten is — growth. To redirect sprawl is emphatically to keep growing, but in places that don't waste energy, add to traffic congestion or ruin the view.

How do we do this?  The editorial doesn't say.  It does mention the underused land in our cities:

That should be part of a strong and focused effort to redirect sprawl to the empty and underused sites that pockmark nearly all of our urban areas. The central part of Hartford, for example, has acres of land that is severely underused as surface parking.  

It usually does cost more to build in town centers and transit corridors. But it is the right thing to do. If we rebuild cities to a healthy urban density, we won't have to drive as much, and thus will save energy and cause less pollution. Cities will be safer and more walkable. There will be less pressure to develop the last of our farms.

"People want to live in cities, if you do it right," Mr. Rendell said.

This ought to be the next phase of the smart-growth movement in Connecticut, and Mr. Rendell may have provided the catchphrase.

Assessments that favor the big landholders

It is apparently standard practice for assessors in some places to value large parcels of land very generously.  I'm not talking about special valuations for farms or forests (even if they are long-fallow and in areas where land sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars per acre).  Rather, I am talking about valuations which treat the portion of an owner's land beyond the minimum zoning size as if it were worth perhaps 10% of its real value.

This happens in fairly dense suburban neighborhoods and in places where much larger lots are the minimum.    

Connecticut: Should Cities Use a Sales Tax?

Newspapers in New London ("Urban Mayors Push For Local Sales-tax Option") and Stamford ("Malloy: Cities should have sales tax option") had articles today describing 4 Connecticut cities' mayors' aversion to increasing the property tax.

Four urban mayors, including Kevin Cavanagh of New London, urged the legislature Monday to give municipalities the ability to levy a local sales tax of up to 1 percentage point to raise revenue without resorting to property-tax increases.

The articles quote Dannell Malloy of Stamford, Kevin Cavanagh of New London, Bill Finch of Bridgeport, and Dan DeStefano of New Haven as endorsing the idea.

Malloy, along with mayors Bill Finch of Bridgeport, John DeStefano of New Haven and Kevin Cavanagh of New London, said cities need other options for raising revenue besides burdening constituents with more property taxes.

City, suburb or rural?

I had a call from a polling organization last night; my phone number had been randomly selected, and I was the adult in the family whose birthday occurred next.  One of the questions, for classification purposes, was whether I lived in a city, a suburb or a rural area.  I puzzled over it a little.  Stamford is certainly a city, at 120,000 population.  But much of its character comes from its situation as a suburb of NYC.  And where I live, the neighborhood association seeks to maintain the "rural character" of the area.