Also, I constantly monitor the MLS and setup alerts in different areas I am farming and make aggressive offers quickly and methodically.

Really great service, and we've had very few time when the server was down in the past decade, and the handful of times, it was back up within minutes (and we monitor all of our sites for up-time, so we get alerts when they are down, so it's not like it ever went down without us knowing).

However, as I am monitoring the prices in NYC it is not going down at this point.

From the its bleak financial situation, deteriorating infrastructure, to its reduced (read almost non-existent) city services, etc. etc.

These deals are definitely possible to find, but you just need to make sure you have a solid infrastructure in place before you actively start looking and putting offers in.

For example, if a Boxer property management team wanted to upgrade a building with infrastructure to get LEEDs certified (green building, energy efficient, etc) , would they be able to design and approve a project without consent of investors? 

No one walks away from billions of dollars of infrastructure so the vast majority of these projects will be completed.

Having come from the consulting industry, I am very familiar with large scale, public sector planning and infrastructure improvements.

I recently had this crazy question, "what if I could live here in VA and invest in a market that is closer to my financial situation." but then other questions come up such as how would I see the property, monitor is up dating, and sell it with out leaving VA.

Monitor where your mail goes, etc, etc.