CSI’s Staten Island Project Convenes Conference to Address Housing Questions
on the Island
April 8, 2008
Staten Island’s future promises a much larger population, raising
questions of where these new residents will live, how development
will be managed, and how the borough can continue to offer
affordable housing to the middle class. These issues, among others,
will be addressed by experts and community members at the fourth
annual policy conference of CSI’s Center for the Study of Staten
Island/Staten Island Project on Friday, April 11 in the College’s
Center for the Arts. Registration begins at 8:30am. The conference
is free and open to the public.
Richard Flanagan, Center associate director, says that the
conference will “bring together policymakers, academics, and the
community, students, and faculty to discuss [housing and
development] issues.”
 Mirella Affron, Center director, notes that this conference “is
centered on the connections among development, transportation, and
employment on Staten Island. The centrality of the issue of housing
at this moment, in which affordable housing and the ability of
people to hold on to their houses in this crisis of mortgages and
loans, is particularly acute.” Affron adds that as other Center
conferences have addressed Staten Island “transportation, economy,
and social capital, this year’s conference makes a circle back to
our first very successful conference and Working Paper on
transportation.”
The conference will consider a draft paper on the borough’s housing
situation, based on research by CSI faculty member Associate
Professor of Finance Jonathan Peters and Senior Lecturer in Finance
Cameron Gordon, University of Canberra, Australia. This research was
generously funded by New York State Senator Diane Savino,
Assemblyman Michael Cusick, and former New York State Assemblyman
the late John Lavelle.
Confirmed panelists at the conference include, so far, Drs. Peters
and Gordon; Rae Rosen, Federal Reserve Bank of New York; R. Randy
Lee, Leewood Real Estate Group; Vicki Been, NYU; Jonathan Bowles,
Center for the Urban Future; Michael Friedman, NYS Mortgage Agency (SONYMA);
Margaret Becker, SI Homeowner Defense Project; and Claire
Mitchell-Dumas, Neighborhood Housing Services of SI.
The mission of the Center for the Study of Staten Island is to serve
the community by integrating the work of the College with the public
affairs concerns of the people of Staten Island. Designated a
College Center in April 2005 by The City University of New York, the
Center creates a bridge that joins the scholarly work of College
faculty, staff, and students with the aspirations of Staten Island
leaders and residents. The Center partners with organizations and
agencies in the government, not-for-profit, and business sectors to
address issues vital to the future of Staten Island, and to better
prepare the Borough for the challenges ahead.
For more information and a detailed program of conference events,
please call 718.982.2727. The Center can be found online at
www.csi.cuny.edu/csisip
and www.sipindicators.com
By Terry Mares
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