While the MTA and Upper East Side residents are at odds over Second. Ave relocation measures, the authority has a cash reserve in place to mitigate moving expenses. According to a report in the Daily News, the MTA has set aside $10 million to compensate residents for the inconvenience and headaches of a move.
Pete Donohue has more:
The MTA has set aside $10 million to move and compensate residents forced out of 60 apartments being cleared to make way for Second Ave. subway construction. The six-figure package averages out to about $160,000 for each upper East Side apartment in four buildings subject to eminent domain proceedings. Payments are likely to vary widely, according to a Metropolitan Transportation Authority description.
In one possible scenario, a tenant in a market-rate apartment would get $21,000 to cover higher rents over a 42-month period. In another, a tenant in a rent-regulated apartment would get $153,000 based on a more complicated formula including age, income and higher rent over a 36-year period.
“On paper, I think it’s fair,” area Councilwoman Jessica Lappin said of the plan, noting some who don’t mind moving out of the area stand to receive “a nice payout.”
Because the figure was set before the housing bubble burst, the MTA does not expect to need the full $10 million. The money, however, should meet the federal standards for “comparable housing” and “additional assistance.”
While this fund shows that the MTA is concerned with the residents in the area and are trying to meet the eminent domain requirements, it comes as a stark contrast to the ways in which Second Ave. businesses have been marginalized. When I last wrote about the economic impact of the Second Ave. construction, a reader challenged me on my defense of residents and my disregard for businesses. After all, businesses have a right to their just compensation too, and while eminent domain is a federal requirement, the businesses are economically vital for the area.
So should the MTA or city be compensating impacted businesses as they are residents? They aren’t federally required to, but the current vitality of the Upper East Side may depend on it as construction stretches through the next decade. In light of the MTA’s economic position, a cash outlay seems unlikely, and maybe business pains are the cost of constructing a new subway line. But while we will all benefit from a new subway line, we should remember how residents and business owners struggle to cope with it.