An Open Letter to Real Estate Contractors in New York

How would you like to live in a nice house, on a nice block, and suddenly have the house for sale next door bought by "somebody" and knocked down. That may not sound so bad if you anticipate another nice house being built. However, in place of the house knocked down, two, three family homes are built, all the trees are removed from the property, and lines for parking spots are made on the sidewalk next to yours, or behind the house. Suddenly, the look of your block has changed. The sun beats down without relief from the leaves of a tree, and you are now facing a parking lot, instead of a the greenery of a backyard.

This type of change has happened over and over again across the city. It happened on our block with two homes. The result is a complete change to the look of what used to be a beautiful block. We lost at least three large trees on the block, shrubs and beautiful backyards.

I have no gripe with developers or contractors in general. We have need of them to keep our city vital, especially with the influx of new residents to the city. What I cannot understand is why contractors have to build almost the same type of condo complex. Most contractors remove any type of greenery in order to have the maximum amount of space in which to build. A few in our area have been more thoughtful, adding planters or small trees to close in the parking area. However, most of the buildings look the same, the rooms tend to be small, and there is really no attention to detail to make the building stand apart from the rest. If I could speak to a contractor in person this would be my advice:

- Build something different from the rest. Be creative, even though it may cost a little more. Keep in mind the look of the neighborhood and make the building "fit in."
- Plant some trees, or leave some greenery or trees around the property. It not only looks nicer, but our city needs it with the sometimes poor air quality.
- Build larger rooms, especially a larger kitchen. People are getting back to cooking these days.

We want to see new building in the City, but we want something creative.