After all, you can’t afford a normal tiny apartment when your entire life is spent working making sure the fruits of your labor are ‘distributed’ to someone else.

Mayor Bloomberg Thinking Small, As In New NYC ‘Micro’ Apartment Initiative
Hizzoner Wants To Build 80 Units, Each 275 To 300 Square Feet In Size

There is a new initiative to help New Yorkers live small and more affordably. Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to build “micro” apartments, one-third smaller than what current regulations allow.

Bloomberg’s new housing plan is not for claustrophobics, but he does have a down-sized approach to the new apartments he wants to build for small nesters.

“Today, there are 1.8 million one- and two-person households in our city, but there are only about 1 million studio and one-bedroom apartments. You notice the mismatch,” Bloomberg said.

To deal with the problem the mayor is thinking small. He launched a pilot project seeking designs to build apartments that are only 275 to 300 square feet in size. Current zoning laws require apartments to be at least 450 square feet.

“Our design guidelines stipulate that the apartments have simple access, have ample access to fresh air and sunlight, that development teams also think of making good use of shared space …” Bloomberg said.

Just like prisoners.

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13 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. dennisl59 says:

    The illustration is awesome! Especially where the single bee is looking right back at you!…Cool and Creepy!

    Who is the Artist?

    posted 7/10 445pm Texas[What’s that buzzin’ sound?]Time

  2. Maynard says:

    This sort of thing bothers me from both ends. On one hand, a big part of America’s problem is that we’ve been seduced by the siren song of bigger and more and bigger and more. We consume more than we need, and — more to the point — we consume more than we produce. It’s the imbalance that’s destroying us. However, we’re not going to solve anything by more government micromanagement to force us into the “good” mold. We got here in large part because Uncle Sam has become the ultimate enabler, “helping” people buy those houses they can’t afford or get those loans they can’t pay back. So of course the people that created this problem in the first place don’t want to back off the enabling; instead they’ll just create additional mandates. It would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic: Yesterday they create a crisis by helping us buy those big houses; today they’re solving the crisis by cramming us into sardine cans. By the way, housing stock in NYC has long been severely crimped by their crazy rent control programs, which create all sorts of weird little underground transactions. For example, here is an amazing news story about a lucky soul who pays $55 a month for his SoHo apartment. This apartment would normally rent for about $2500 a month. But stuff like that can’t be solved, oh no, so instead they want to move people into anthills.

  3. strider says:

    The guy just seems to lurch from one weird idea to another.

  4. FrankRemley says:

    Good ole Mayor Bloomberg. The one politician who would make me vote for the Dumb Bastard.

  5. Patricia says:

    Will they get free TV, healthcare, and library privileges? Next thing the Bloomer will make peeps with too much space share with those who don’t. We have got to stop this runaway train at all the depots throughout America!

  6. DouggieJ says:

    I’m sure Bloomberg would think my apartment (a co-op, i.e. owned by me in a weird sort of way) is too big for me and try to take it from me. What are we living in? Communism?

  7. Shifra says:

    Well, in a weird way, this makes sense to Bloomberg: People living in apartments too small to hold a 32 oz slurpee.

  8. Gordon says:

    Some would call an apartment that size a “jail cell”!

  9. trevy says:

    It’s strange that the rest of the world wants to have the American way of life; big cars, big houses, etc. But we have “leaders” who want to make us live like 3rd world countries; small or no cars, tool shed for a house, etc.

  10. dennisl59 says:

    ‘A Borg Hive’

    posted 7/11 1047am Texas[Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One]Time

  11. […] Little Cells For All Those Liberal Worker Bees: NY’s Bloomberg Wants ‘Micro’ Apts … After all, you can’t afford a normal tiny apartment when your entire life is spent working making sure the fruits of your labor are ‘distributed’ to someone else. […]

  12. Piratin says:

    This doesn’t bother me at all. I’m sure there’s a market for this kind of thing. Some people would like tiny apts as a 2nd residence. And it gives more ppl the chance to live in NYC, where there is a lot of opportunity.

    Only thing I don’t understand: Why is Bloomberg pushing this? Shouldn’t it be a commercial venture with no politician involved?

  13. makeshifty says:

    This is what’s going on in my city. It’s called “densification,” a.k.a. “Smart Growth.” They’re apartment towers with small units near transportation corridors (or at least planned ones). It’s based on a failed Soviet Eastern Bloc model of development, but you know that already.

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