Policy

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

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June 18, 2019

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

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

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

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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

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June 17, 2019

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

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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.
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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

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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

Via Flickr

June 13, 2019

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

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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.
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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

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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

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

Via Wikimedia

June 11, 2019

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

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

Via Wikimedia

June 7, 2019

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

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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

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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.
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Judge halts Two Bridges development temporarily after hearing lawsuits

Rendering: Handel Architects.

June 6, 2019

Judge halts Two Bridges development temporarily after hearing lawsuits

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

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 5, 2019

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

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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

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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

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

Photo via Google

May 31, 2019

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

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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.
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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

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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
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

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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

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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
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’

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City Council Speaker Corey Johnson's comprehensive "complete streets" bill arrives just three months after he proposed a five-year plan to make New Yorkers who take mass transit, walk and bike a priority over motor vehicle drivers. Johnson plans to introduce legislation next week that would require city officials to build 150 miles of dedicated bus lanes and 250 miles of protected bike lanes within a five year period, Streetsblog reports. Johnson said, “I want to completely revolutionize how we share our street space, and that’s what this bill does. This is a roadmap to breaking the car culture in a thoughtful, comprehensive way.”
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Sarah Jessica Parker lends star power to the fight against New York City public library funding cuts

Image via publicdomainpictures.net

May 20, 2019

Sarah Jessica Parker lends star power to the fight against New York City public library funding cuts

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A majority of New Yorkers–95 percent–said in an online survey that Mayor Bill de Blasio‘s proposed $11 million funding cut to public libraries would hurt the city's communities, according to the Daily News; scaled-back hours and reduced programs like free after-school options for teens would curtail staffing and hiring across all five boroughs. Now, actress Sarah Jessica Parker is adding her celebrity firepower to help rescue the city’s libraries with an online campaign, the New York Post reports.
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MTA proposes full-fare MetroCards for NYC students

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May 20, 2019

MTA proposes full-fare MetroCards for NYC students

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"This is a common-sense policy that makes it easier for kids to get to school and does away with needless complexities that have existed for too long," said NYC Transit President Andy Byford in response to the MTA's proposal to replace half-price student MetroCards will full-fare options for students. The MTA Board is expected to vote on the proposal on Wednesday, which would grant K-12 students who live at least a half mile from their school three-trip, full-fare student MetroCards.
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LPC calendars six sites linked to New York City’s LGBT history for possible landmark status

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; All photos courtesy of NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project

May 14, 2019

LPC calendars six sites linked to New York City’s LGBT history for possible landmark status

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The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission voted on Tuesday to calendar six individual sites related to the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in New York City. The proposed landmarks highlight both groups and individuals who have advanced the LGBT rights movement by providing structure for community and political support, as well as raising public awareness. The commission's decision to calendar the sites comes ahead of next month's 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising and NYC's annual Pride celebration. LPC Chair Sarah Carroll said on Tuesday a public hearing to discuss the sites will be held June 4.
Find out more
Bay Ridge’s first historic district moves one step closer to landmark designation

Image courtesy of Landmarks Preservation Commission

May 14, 2019

Bay Ridge’s first historic district moves one step closer to landmark designation

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Bay Ridge residents and elected officials voiced their support for the neighborhood's first historic district during a Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing Tuesday. The commission voted in March to calendar the proposed Brooklyn district, known as the Bay Ridge Parkway Doctors’ Row Historic District. Comprised of 54 architecturally consistent row houses along Bay Ridge Parkway between 4th and 5th Avenues, the district includes a row of limestone-fronted houses–referred to as Doctors’ Row based on both its historic and current residential demographics. This block reflects the neighborhood’s growth from a suburban resort community to an urban neighborhood ahead of the opening of the 4th Avenue Subway line in the early 20th century.
Making the case for historic Bay Ridge, this way
At Green New Deal rally, De Blasio tells Trump his NYC buildings could face $2M+ in annual fines

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May 14, 2019

At Green New Deal rally, De Blasio tells Trump his NYC buildings could face $2M+ in annual fines

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During a rally at Trump Tower yesterday, Mayor Bill de Blasio put the Trump Organization on blast as he promoted the city’s Green New Deal. Under the new climate change legislation, which requires large buildings in New York City to dramatically cut their greenhouse gas emissions, eight Trump-owned properties, referred to as "dirty, inefficient buildings," would cause the Organization to owe roughly $2.1 million in fines annually beginning in 2030. The 27,000 metric tons of greenhouse gasses that these buildings pump out each year is equal to 5,800 cars. After being passed by the New York City Council on April 18, the law is slated to go into effect on May 17.
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NYC Council approves 17 tenant protection bills, including one that closes ‘Kushner loophole’

Via Flickr

May 9, 2019

NYC Council approves 17 tenant protection bills, including one that closes ‘Kushner loophole’

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The New York City Council on Wednesday passed a package of 17 bills intended to protect tenants from landlord abuse. The legislation includes closing the so-called "Kushner loophole," which had allowed landlords to file false paperwork with the city's Department of Buildings. The bill comes a year after President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's family's firm, Kushner Companies, was found to have falsely claimed it had no rent-regulated tenants in dozens of buildings it owned when it actually had hundreds.
Learn about the bills
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