Policy

Bay Ridge has gained its first historic district. The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted on Tuesday to landmark an area in the Brooklyn neighborhood along Bay Ridge Parkway between 4th and 5th Avenues. Dubbed Doctors' Row due to its historic and current demographics, the district consists of one block of 54 architecturally consistent row houses. LPC Chair Sarah Carroll said after surveying Bay Ridge, the commission found that this particular block "really does stand out in the neighborhood in terms of high-quality architecture and consistency."
A first for Bay Ridge

Policy

New data from Comptroller Scott Stringer shows that affordability is still declining in New York

Image via Flickr cc

June 20, 2019

New data from Comptroller Scott Stringer shows that affordability is still declining in New York

City Comptroller Scott Stringer has released an updated Affordability Index, an annual look at how the rising costs of basic necessities like housing, transportation, healthcare, and childcare, are squeezing the budgets of New York City households and leaving them with fewer savings. Like last year, the data is far from reassuring, demonstrating that expense costs are rising far more rapidly than incomes. In 2005, the average middle-income single adult had 24 percent of their income left over after expenses. In 2017, that dropped to only 15 percent.
More info

New NYCHA head Gregory Russ will be the city’s highest paid official

Image via Wiki Commons

June 19, 2019

New NYCHA head Gregory Russ will be the city’s highest paid official

After missing two deadlines to fill the position, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday announced that Gregory Russ will be taking over as Chair of NYCHA. Russ, who is currently the head of Minneapolis’ public housing authority and previously led the Cambridge Housing Authority in Massachusetts, will receive an unprecedented salary of $402,628—more than even President Donald Trump makes. That figure comes out to roughly $1 a year for every NYCHA tenant he will represent, as THE CITY reports.
More info

Sunset Park gains four historic districts

535 to 545 48th Street via LPC

June 18, 2019

Sunset Park gains four historic districts

The Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday voted to designate four historic districts in Sunset Park, protecting the Brooklyn neighborhood from potential out-of-scale alterations and development. The noncontiguous areas include Sunset Park North, Central Sunset Park, Sunset Park 50th Street, and Sunset Park South, all standing out for their cohesive and intact architecture, according to the commission.
More here

Policy

Six significant LGBTQ sites in New York City are landmarked

Top, left to right: GAA Firehouse, James Baldwin Residence, LGBT Community Center; Bottom, left to right: Audre Lorde Residence, Women’s Liberation Center, Caffe Cino; Photos courtesy of NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project

June 18, 2019

Six significant LGBTQ sites in New York City are landmarked

Six sites significant to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community of New York City officially became city landmarks on Tuesday. The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to designate the Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse, the Women's Liberation Center, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, Caffe Cino, James Baldwin's Upper West Side home, and the Staten Island home of Audre Lorde. The designations coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, as well as the city's first time hosting WorldPride.
Find out more

New York set to legalize e-scooters and e-bikes

Image via Flickr cc

June 18, 2019

New York set to legalize e-scooters and e-bikes

New York lawmakers reached an agreement on a bill to legalize e-scooters and e-bikes across the state and are expected to vote on the matter this Wednesday, the New York Post reports. The bill would legalize e-bikes and scooters but each city will ultimately be able to decide how to regulate the vehicles. Local governments will also have the power to decide whether to launch shared networks of e-bikes and e-scooters and have complete control over their operations. However, the language in the bill specifically bars New York City from launching an e-scooter sharing system in Manhattan.
More this way

Dorrance Brooks Square Historic District, St. Marks United Methodist Church. Image courtesy of NY State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

June 17, 2019

Historic places in the UWS, Harlem and Sunset Park are recommended for state and national designation

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Friday that the New York State Board for Historic Preservation has recommended adding 18 properties, resources, and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The new nominations include the Upper West Side home of author and civil rights activist James Baldwin, the Dorrance Brooks Square Historic District and the former 32nd Precinct Station House complex in Harlem, and the Fourth Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church in Sunset Park, Brooklyn in addition to 14 other nominated places throughout the state.
Find out how New York continues to recognize varied historic places

De Blasio and Chuck Schumer call for increased helicopter regulations after last week’s crash

Image via Flickr cc

June 17, 2019

De Blasio and Chuck Schumer call for increased helicopter regulations after last week’s crash

Following the deadly crash of a helicopter in midtown last Monday, lawmakers are calling for greater oversight on helicopters flying over the city, the New York Post reported. “I think we need a full ban on any helicopters going over Manhattan itself,” Mayor de Blasio said on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show last Friday, noting that “exemptions should be made for emergency responders, first responders, uniform services,” and news cameras. On Sunday, Senator Chuck Schumer urged the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to include data recorders in all helicopters.
More info

Real Estate groups plan to file lawsuit if rent reform law passes

Image via Pixabay.

June 13, 2019

Real Estate groups plan to file lawsuit if rent reform law passes

Real estate industry leaders say they will file a lawsuit against the state to challenge a package of bills containing changes to current rent regulations, which expire on June 15, the Observer reports. As 6sqft previously reported, the legislative package headed to both chambers for a vote this week contains landmark changes to current rent regulations aimed at strengthening New York’s rent laws and tenant protections. Industry stakeholders say they'll challenge the legislation on several points including one that makes the rules permanent, rather than having them expire every few years. The lawsuit would also challenge the retroactive nature of a provision to lower the amount landlords can charge for major capital improvements.
The industry fears 'disaster'

De Blasio plans to extend NYC’s limits on Lyft and Uber and make them permanent

As the city's for-hire vehicles (FHVs) rack up nearly 800,000 rides per day, Mayor Bill De Blasio announced on Wednesday the Taxi and Limousine Commission's new plan to extend last year's cap on for-hire vehicle licenses, the New York Post reports. A second cap will be placed on the length of time FHVs can let their cars cruise the city without passengers in the most congested part of Manhattan, below 96th Street. Last August, the city also suspended the issuance of new licenses. The new policies are expected to increase driver salaries by about 20 percent and make traffic in Manhattan below 60th Street six to 10 percent faster.
Find out more

New York reaches major deal to strengthen rent and tenant protections

Image by Jorbasa Fotografie / Flickr

June 12, 2019

New York reaches major deal to strengthen rent and tenant protections

Democratic leaders in Albany announced Tuesday that an agreement has been reached on a package of bills that will significantly strengthen New York’s rent laws and tenant protections. As the New York Times reports, contained in the legislative package headed to both chambers for a vote this week are landmark changes to current rent regulations, which expire on June 15. The new legislation is meant to address concerns about the high cost of housing and the sweeping inequality that has resulted from it. To that end, as the Times explains, "the changes would abolish rules that let building owners deregulate apartments, close a series of loopholes that permit them to raise rents and allow some tenant protections to expand statewide." These changes have long been opposed by the real estate industry, which lost some of its influence in Albany when its Republican allies became outnumbered in the State Senate in the November elections.
Find out the details

In Yorkville, Emery Roth-designed church and Colonial Dames mansion get landmark status

Photos courtesy of the LPC

June 11, 2019

In Yorkville, Emery Roth-designed church and Colonial Dames mansion get landmark status

By Nicole Mondrus

Members of the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted Tuesday in favor of landmarking two historic sites in Yorkville--the First Hungarian Reformed Church of New York at 344 East 69th Street and the National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York at 215 East 71st Street. As 6sqft previously reported, the Hungarian Reformed Church was designed in 1916 by esteemed architect Emery Roth as one of his few religious buildings and his only Christian structure. The Colonial Dames headquarters is housed in an intact Georgian Revival-style mansion built in 1929.
Find out more

Policy

Via Wikimedia

June 11, 2019

The Strand bookstore gets landmarked, despite opposition from owner and community

The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted on Tuesday to designate The Strand bookstore as an individual landmark, despite opposition from the store's owner and local community members. Nancy Bass Wyden, who owns the Strand building, did not support designation because she worried that restrictions placed on landmarked buildings would prevent timely construction or renovation of the store in the future. While more than 11,000 people signed a petition opposing the designation, according to Wyden's attorney, the commission voted unanimously in favor of landmarking. "Although this is not the outcome we hoped for, we'll continue to serve our customers as we have done robustly for 92 years," the Strand wrote in a tweet Tuesday.
Full scoop this way

Policy

Via Wikimedia

June 7, 2019

New York City ‘scofflaw’ ice cream truck vendors get served for dodging $4.5M in traffic fines

In the "be careful what you wish for" department, you may be hearing a lot less of that annoying ice cream truck melody as summer heats up. The big news on the soft frozen dessert front this week has been "Operation Meltdown," in which, as the New York Times reports, dozens of ice cream truck vendors throughout New York City were busted for racking up $4.5 million in unpaid parking and traffic fines–and using a tricky shell game to avoid paying them.
Get the scoop, this way

Uber Copter coming to NYC this summer, will offer helicopter trips to JFK for $200

Image: Maxpixel CC public domain.

June 6, 2019

Uber Copter coming to NYC this summer, will offer helicopter trips to JFK for $200

In 2017, Uber announced plans to begin testing four-passenger flying taxi services for a division called Uber Elevate in Dallas/Fort Worth, with more testing planned for Los Angeles in 2020 ahead of the 2028 Olympics. But the ride-hailing service will be bringing helicopter service to New York City much sooner. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that starting July 9, Uber will be offering Uber Copter, a new service, available via the Uber app, that will shuttle passengers between Lower Manhattan and JFK Airport.
Find out more

Judge halts Two Bridges development temporarily after hearing lawsuits

Rendering: Handel Architects.

June 6, 2019

Judge halts Two Bridges development temporarily after hearing lawsuits

State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron has extended a temporary halt on the Two Bridges high-rise development after hearing testimony on several lawsuits aimed at the controversial project in the Lower East Side and Chinatown, Gothamist reports. As 6sqft previously reported, several groups of Lower East Side residents and other community organizations filed a lawsuit against the city to stop four skyscrapers from rising in the Lower Manhattan neighborhood. The lawsuits accuse the city of illegally approving the multi-billion dollar project, claiming the City Planning Commission bypassed City Council authority regarding the land-use review process and that one of the towers violates a 32-year-old deed restriction that ensures housing for low-income residents with disabilities and the elderly.
'An 800-pound gorilla'

June 5, 2019

Advocates support proposed LGBTQ landmarks, but want Walt Whitman’s Brooklyn home included

By Nicole Mondrus

During a hearing on Tuesday, New York City residents, members of the LGBTQ community, and elected officials voiced their support for the landmarking of six individual sites related to the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Advocates say the proposed landmarks would recognize groups and individuals who have advanced the LGBTQ rights movement. Ken Lustbader, co-director of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, urged LPC to preserve the sites. "The Landmarks Preservation Commission's designation of these six LGBTQ sites has the power to provide both a tangible, visceral connection to what is often an unknown and invisible past and the intangible benefits of pride, memory, identity, continuity, and community,” Lustbader said on Tuesday.
Details here

Preservationists call for landmarking of Little Syria vestiges in Lower Manhattan

A man wearing a fez selling drinks in Little Syria in the early 1900s, via Wiki Commons

June 5, 2019

Preservationists call for landmarking of Little Syria vestiges in Lower Manhattan

By Lucie Levine

Three structures on Lower Manhattan's Washington Street--St. George's Syrian Catholic Church at 103 Washington Street, The Downtown Community House at 105-107 Washington Street, and the block's sole surviving tenement at 109 Washington Street--are the last standing architectural vestiges of the once-thriving community of Little Syria. The area served as home to immigrants from Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Moravia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Ukraine, Germany and Ireland that flourished on the Lower West Side in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries. Before that surviving history is lost, local preservationists are calling for the structures to become part of a mini historic district, citing a "landmarks emergency."
Get the scoop

NYC Council considers turning mass gravesite on Hart Island into a city park

Photo of Hart Island via Flickr

May 31, 2019

NYC Council considers turning mass gravesite on Hart Island into a city park

One of the country's largest burial ground may become a city park. The New York City Council is considering making Hart Island, an island located off of the Bronx coast where roughly one million people have been buried since the Civil War, more accessible to visitors. Because the city's Department of Correction (DOC) currently maintains the site and hires inmates from Rikers Island to bury bodies there, access remains restricted. During a hearing Thursday, the City Council introduced a package of legislation aimed at improving Hart Island, including one bill that would transfer control of the land from the DOC to the city's parks department.
Get the details

Policy

Photo via Google

May 31, 2019

MTA’s new tap-to-pay system begins replacing MetroCards today

By Dana Schulz

Before you get too distraught--you'll still be able to swipe (and "swipe again") your MetroCard until 2023. But for those techier New Yorkers, as of noon today, you'll be able to take advantage of the MTA's new tap-to-pay fare system when a pilot launches at 16 Manhattan and Brooklyn subway stations on the 4, 5, and 6 lines between Grand Central-42nd Street and Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center, as well as all Staten Island buses. The new payment system, called OMNY (One Metro New York), will employ e-readers that can accept contactless credit, debit, or reloadable prepaid cards, along with digital wallet apps on mobile phones and wearables. Additionally, Google announced that they've teamed up with the MTA to enable Google Pay as a payment option.
READ MORE

NYC Council votes to close mechanical void loophole

Rendering of 50 West 66th Street; courtesy of Binyan Studios/ Snøhetta

May 30, 2019

NYC Council votes to close mechanical void loophole

The New York City Council on Wednesday voted to close a zoning loophole that has allowed developers to fill multiple floors of a tower with mechanical equipment without counting the floors as part of the building. The so-called mechanical void loophole enabled taller residential towers, and therefore higher, more expensive units, without actually creating more housing. The amendment approved by the Council will count mechanical voids taller than 25 feet as zoning floor area, as Crain's reported.
More here

Policy

Plans to renovate and expand Port Authority Bus Terminal may soon move forward

Image via Wikimedia

May 24, 2019

Plans to renovate and expand Port Authority Bus Terminal may soon move forward

As 6sqft previously reported, in 2017 plans to address the overcrowded Port Authority Bus Terminal–the world's busiest–became focused on renovating the existing midtown Manhattan building rather than relocating it a block to the west. Despite constant squabbles, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the bus terminal, agreed on a timeline, and a study was undertaken to determine costs and a schedule. Options included building a terminal for intercity buses underneath the Jacob K. Javits center, which itself has undergone major renovations. Now, as Politico reports, the two-state organization is moving forward with plans to replace the overtaxed terminal, with a focus on three options as outlined in an unreleased “scoping document.”
Options, this way

NYC bans plastic–but not hot dogs–as Wegmans and Whole Foods take the lead

Image: Michael Kowalczyk via Flickr

May 22, 2019

NYC bans plastic–but not hot dogs–as Wegmans and Whole Foods take the lead

As local politicians scramble to change decades of waste and bad habits, businesses are often in a better position to have an impact on the planet, and some are eager to oblige. Whole Foods just announced they'd be ending the use of plastic straws in their juice bars and cafes and packaging rotisserie chickens in bags instead of plastic cartons, the New York Post reports. And grocery megachain Wegmans says they'll be bagging single-use plastic bags by the end of this year, ahead of a statewide ban. Recently Mayor Bill De Blasio weighed in with NYC's own Green New Deal; the mayor announced in April that the city has passed an executive order intended to mobilize resources to combat climate change. In addition to addressing the more obvious plastic, the plan includes the phasing-out of processed meat purchased by government-run facilities like hospitals and schools–but not street vendors, restaurants or stores.
Hot dogs are safe, for now

Policy

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s new bill is a ‘roadmap to breaking the car culture’

Via City Council Speaker Corey Johnson

May 21, 2019

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s new bill is a ‘roadmap to breaking the car culture’