Hope Cohen is Deputy Director of the Center for Rethinking Development. With over a decade of experience in New York City government at the Department of Parks and Recreation and MTA New York City Transit, she brings invaluable experience navigating the complex city bureaucracy and an acute ability to solve complex problems by building consensus among multiple stake-holders.
Supplementing her professional work as a public servant with voluntary public service as a Board member, Land Use Committee Co-Chairperson, and Board Chairperson of Manhattan's Community Board 7 (Upper West Side), she represented her neighborhood's land use and zoning concerns to a variety of city agencies, always working to get the multiple interested parties to a place of consensus and cooperation. She also developed recognized expertise on land use issues, ranging from the inclusionary housing bonus to the use of sidewalk space.
As Chairperson, she reorganized the Board structure, introduced streamlined processes, and recruited ambitious, civic-minded new members to represent the community. A major achievement of her administration was a review of the city's Solid Waste Management Plan that included acceptance of a role for the West 59th Street Marine Transfer Station, but also highlighted solid waste management as one of several key issues that need to be addressed seriously in the context of the city's development. She is intensely interested in the development and maintenance of the infrastructure required to make New York City work.
She holds a B.A. from Harvard and an M.A. from the University of Chicago.
Select Media
- MSNBC Live, 6-23-09
- ateline Washington, Radio America, 4-16-09
- Dateline Washington, Radio America, KOMO News, 4-10-08
- "World Service", BBC Radio, 01-30-08
- "One to One", CUNY TV, 01-21-08
Articles/Op-eds
- Property Taxes: Business Killer, New York Post, 06-06-09
- Give our regards to Broadway: Bloomberg's on the right track with radical plan; now, go further, New York Daily News Online, 05-26-09
- Putting The Sub Back In Substations, Architect's Newspaper, 02-18-09
- Yes, Mayor Bloomberg, streamline environmental review, New York Daily News Online, 02-13-09
- Growing NYC's Grid, New York Post, 01-24-09
- Cutting the High Cost of Housing, Rosemary Scanlon and Hope Cohen, Gotham Gazette, 09-16-08
- No Parking, Ever, The New York Times, 08-17-08
- Bulldozing Through New York, Rosemary Scanlon and Hope Cohen, The New York Sun, 08-07-08
- Clearing New York City Streets Gotham Gazette, 04-14-08
- The Critics of Mayor's Toll Plan Get Silly, New York Post, 03-31-08
- A Simpler Alternative to Congestion Pricing, Gotham Gazette, 01-07-08
- Public Transit Should be Cheaper Option, NY Metro, 08-06-07
- Building Blocks, Richard Ravitch and Hope Cohen, The New York Times, 08-05-07
- Ensuring It Doesn't Happen Here, New York Post, 08-03-07
- A Fill potholes in congestion pricing plan, New York Daily News, 07-26-07
- Improve Transit Before Congestion Pricing, Gotham Gazette, 05-07-07
- We Will Clog You, Bruce Schaller and Hope Cohen, New York Times, 12-17-06
Center for Rethinking Development e-Newsletters
Testimony
- "Time to Return Tolls to East River Bridges," to New York City Council December 16, 2008
- On Changes to City Capital Contracting Rules, to New York City Council Contracts Committee September 19, 2008
- On Congestion Pricing, to New York City Council March 24, 2008
- On Congestion Pricing, to Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission, January 16, 2008
- On Safety of New York City's Bridges, to New York City Council Transportation Committee, September 17, 2007
- Supporting Intro. 199 to New York City Council Transportation Committee, January 25, 2007
Podcasts
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The Neighborly Substation: Electricity, Zoning, and Urban Design by Hope Cohen, with a foreword by Peter W. Huber
SLIDESHOW
New York City needs power and it needs land. Electrical substations have to be near the businesses
and homes they power, but neighbors don't want ugly, scary substations near them. New York's
competitor cities London and Tokyo demonstrate that substations don't have to be ugly and
scary. Instead of covering acres with electrical equipment, utilities there build substations
into or under office buildings and public spaces. The Neighborly Substation explains how
to update New York's antiquated zoning code to unlock valuable land and build substations
where they need to be, in a manner neighbors will accept.
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Rethinking Environmental Review: A Handbook on What Can Be Done
by Hope Cohen,
with a foreword by Richard Ravitch
New York City's environmental review process was instituted so that public
officials would understand the full environmental implications of a development project and could plan
for any necessary changes to municipal infrastructure and services. Over time, the process has evolved
to become a hindrance to all developers, especially small-scale ones. The Center for Rethinking
Development offers simple and effective suggestions for reform in a report, "Rethinking Environmental
Review."
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